donald trump referendum

One-third of voting-age Americans are voting today to choose between the man who instigated the largest attack on democracy since the Civil War and the vice president of the most unpopular administration since World War II. Another third, about 80 million, have already made this decision through early voting, which is close to 50% of the 2020 participation and the final third, abstainers, participate in these important elections in the United States and America Neither registered nor expected to take the world.

Uncertainty dominated the final weeks of this tense campaign, with technical glitches in elections in seven crucial states. He will be remembered for the unprecedented four impeachments and criminal convictions of Donald Trump, his two botched assassination attempts, the late resignation of Joe Biden after confirmation of his senility and the rapid rise of Vice President Kamala Harris to the electoral ticket. The enthusiasm of the Democrats in an election that was headed for disaster.

Uncertainty hangs over the outcome, but so does its acceptance by Trump, who has again raised his doubts about the integrity of the election, four years after he declared himself the winner when millions of ballots still had to be counted. There were others and they had declared themselves victims. a fraud. Although none of the 60 complaints he filed were successful in court, his attempt to bring himself to power led to final results. When, on January 6, 2021, hundreds of his followers stormed the Capitol to prevent the certification of his defeat, Trump sat quietly in the White House without taking measures to stop the violence.

The count is expected to be faster than four years ago, but it could be longer if it tightens

The same violence that is inspired by disillusionment Establishment Given the threat election officials have faced across the country, fraud and conspiracy theories may have been rampant throughout the day. But, depending on what happens tonight, it could also begin in the coming weeks during the process of confirming the results in states or its certification in Congress on January 6.

Given what is at stake, a heavy turnout is expected, slightly lower than the historical figure of four years ago (66%). This time, the count is expected to be faster, as the pandemic is behind us and there has been less voting by mail, and some states have approved rules that allow votes to be processed in advance.

With violent precedent, Harris has framed these elections as a referendum on the hatred and division represented by Trump. With his campaign slogan, “We’re not going to go back”, he gives people a look towards the future and is full of contrasts with his opponent. Four years later, he says he is “obsessed with revenge, obsessed with grudges and seeking unchecked power.” When the next president is inaugurated on January 20, “If elected, Trump will enter the Oval Office with an enemies list. “I will leave with a list of pending actions,” he said in his final statement from the scene in Washington, where Trump encouraged his followers to carry out the coup attempt.

Trump kicked off his campaign in Michigan and Harris kicked off his campaign in Pennsylvania, where they are tied in the polls

For his part, the tycoon presents himself as “the only one” who can save the country from bankruptcy, from World War III and from its “extinction”, which he describes as an “invasion” of undocumented immigrants. As the campaign has progressed, he has increased his racist rhetoric: he has said they are “poisoning the blood of the country” and has described them as “animals”, “rapists”, “murderers” or Said “hunter”. He has also increased his attacks on Democrats, whom he now calls “the enemy within” and has suggested that he will use the military and the Justice Department to persecute them; Insults have intensified by calling Harris “mentally handicapped,” “idiot,” or “radical communist lunatic”; And against the press, the “enemy of the people,” who said Sunday in Pennsylvania that he “couldn’t care less if someone took aim at fake news.”

But none of this has delegitimized him and he approaches the referendum with serious chances of winning. Two-thirds of the population answer that the country is going in the wrong direction. Most of the discontent is in their pockets, after three years of high inflation, which skyrocketed due to the reactivation of business after the pandemic and especially after the invasion of Ukraine. In June 2022, it reached a peak of 9.1% year-on-year and, although it now stands at 2.1%, very close to the Federal Reserve’s objective, citizens realize the loss of their purchasing power during Biden’s mandate. It happens.

Harris, who carries the administration’s unpopularity, has tried to distance herself by selling herself as the voice of a “new generation of leadership.” If she wins the election, she will become the first woman president in the country’s history; If he loses, he will be led by the oldest president ever, and the one who facilitated the federal repeal of abortion rights. But, in his effort to build a broad coalition against Trump, he has been lazy and remains a great unknown.

The shadow of the violent example of 2020 is looming over these elections, for which security has been increased.

Both candidates yesterday ended their intensive tour of seven key states that are expected to decide the most unpredictable elections in a century. When the polls open tonight, all eyes will be on three in the Rust Belt (Michigan, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania) and four in the Sun Belt (Nevada, Arizona, Georgia and North Carolina). But a surprise may be waiting in the night: A poll from the prestigious Selzer Center stunned analysts on Sunday, giving Harris a victory in Iowa that no one paid attention to, even the candidates Not even because they assumed Trump would win in both of his presidential campaigns.

Harris gave her closing speech last night in Philadelphia (Pennsylvania), alongside celebrities such as Lady Gaga, Ricky Martin and Oprah Winfrey, and will spend election night at Howard University, where she studied and trained important black figures in history. Has gone. Of the country. Trump did the same in Grand Rapids (Michigan) and will continue the count from Palm Beach (Florida), very close to his Mar-a-Lago residence, which in these four years he has transformed into the White House of Trumpism .