In the end, Donald Trump got what he wanted most: An election that was all about him. Despite warning signs that voters in states across the country had grown weary of him, the president deployed his showman’s instincts to try to persuade just enough of them that his vision of America was the real one.
The nation Trump conjured up in rallies and speeches, campaign ads and tweets, was one in which the coronavirus was disappearing; the economy was roaring back; Black and Hispanic Americans had never had it so good; suburban women cherished his protection; his enemies feared him; and Americans were clamoring for four more years.
Voters didn’t buy it. Former Vice President Joe Biden’s victory made clear what, in hindsight, should have been apparent all along: For most of them, Donald Trump’s America was not the one they saw -- or wanted.
Even so, voters did not issue the broad rebuke against Trump and his party that Democrats hoped for. Rather, they delivered a narrower one aimed mainly at the president himself. On election night, Republicans unexpectedly increased their ranks in the House of Representatives (although Democrats will still control the chamber) and appear poised to hold onto the Senate (unless Democrats win two expected runoff elections in Georgia), which will leave the congressional power structure unchanged.
In essence, U.S. voters decided to replace their CEO but keep the board of directors intact.
That outcome mirrors the dilemma that Sarah Longwell, a Republican strategist who worked this year to elect Biden and Democrats, saw in dozens of focus groups she conducted with suburban women across the country. “The sentiment that we saw again and again with these voters was, ‘I don’t think I can vote for Trump again…but I don’t trust Democrats, either,’” Longwell said.
Trump never had the support of most Americans. He lost the popular vote in 2016. His approval rating never topped 50%. On his signature issues of trade and immigration, public opinion moved firmly against him. Although he inspired undying passion among a vocal minority of fierce supporters, the election showed that feelings about Trump ran deepest in those who despised him.
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