Analysts are starting to dissect what went right and what went wrong in the outcome of Tuesday's election.

The result was brutal for Vice President Kamala Harris and a bloodbath for Democrats across the country.

Even here, in what was a reliably blue New Jersey, Republicans made inroads with key voting blocs.

Aside from the economy and being tied to Joe Biden's presidency, political experts say Harris's race and gender may have played a pivotal role in her defeat and unconscious racial bias.

Even when voters said or believed that it wasn't a factor.

For more on this, I'm joined by Hyacinth Miller, a professor and expert on black women in politics at Rutgers Newark.

Hyacinth good to talk to you.

So aside from the coalitions of Democrats that the party has relied on for decades, falling through, yourself and others are looking at other factors that may have been at play, with Kamala Harris's defeat.

What might that be when it comes to something like unconscious bias?

So thank you for that question.

I think it's really important for us to discuss it.

The research has shown that voters tend to have either a conscious or subconscious bias when it comes to the opportunity to either vote for or elect a woman candidate.

Some of those, biases can include, not thinking that, being in office is a woman's place and that it's more of a masculine domain better suited to men.

Another set of biases can be cultural or religious.

You know, a woman's place is in the home.

Or would a woman shouldn't be in a place where they're issues to be contested?

Another bias could be toward the fact that she doesn't have children.

And we are socially, geared toward women, are socially geared toward having children.

So her not having children, being her age may make her appear untrustworthy.

So what are some I mean, you just named a couple the childless cat lady remark that was made.

I'm thinking about, her being called a DEI higher.

What are some of the other examples that played out on the campaign trail that maybe the public didn't pick up on, but is an example of unconscious bias or conscious bias?

Well, the fact that many things about the vice president were questioned.

So there were news reports questioning her race.

That is that was a colossal waste of time.

It shouldn't have happened.

She has already established herself to be a black woman and an Asian woman.

And that should have been the end of the discussion.

And, with respect to Trump, there was no question about whether or not, he was a white man.

Another constant refrain that was in the news was her laugh.

She was a crazy woman because her life.

So, you know, the fact that she exhibited happiness was a turnoff to some people.

You talked to voters, who maybe in the past voted Democrat this time voted for Trump.

And they say, you know, it was the economy.

It was immigration.

It wasn't about her being a woman.

How do you counter that when you're looking into these finer points?

I counter that by saying that inflation has gone down.

I counter that by saying, illegal border crossings or undocumented border crossings have gone down.

So if the issue is undocumented immigrants, that's that doesn't necessarily hold water given the facts.

If the issue is the economy, that doesn't necessarily hold what gas prices have gone down.

Inflation has gone down.

Now grocery prices are still high.

She's made a pledge.

She did make a pledge to counteract price gouging.

So if the economy was really the issue, and I don't doubt that it was an issue for many Americans and many residents, but I don't think that was the only issue.

There was something else happening there.

You know, folks have been looking at, obviously, exit polls, demographics of black women still made up the backbone of the vote for Harris, but the inroads were made with, Latino Hispanic voters, Black men, young voters.

So how do you balance that then, if if it is partially anyway, in fact, that voters also weren't ready for a woman or a woman of color?

Well, as a researcher, I'd like to unpack some of that data more, because in the US, we tend to rely on these ethnic categories.

So, Trump increased the numbers of Latino voters that he got.

But who are these Latino voters?

Are they Puerto Ricans or are they Cubans?

Are they from El Salvador or they're from Mexico?

Each of these groups behaves differently.

Are these newly arrived immigrants or immigrants, or immigrant born people who've been here for 20 or 30 years?

Each of these groups has different perspectives on who they want to support and why.

So we really need to get into that data and unpack that.

And as we know, no group is a monolith.

Hyacinth Miller, thanks so much for your insight and your perspective.

Thank you so much for having me.