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In the end, the race for the White House was not determined by the Democrats’ celebrity endorsements, a backlash by the Puerto Rican community, Kamala’s Gen Z army, her party’s superior ground game, her running mate’s folksy charm, Donald Trump’s vulgarity or his criminal record.
These may be the issues that have dominated US network news and social media feeds, but they are not the issues that shaped the outcome of the vote.
On Tuesday night, around 11pm UK time, exit polls were broadcast across the news channels here and in the US, focusing not on who people voted for but on the issues that motivated their decision.
The results of that survey were clear as day: a huge majority of Americans felt the economy was not working. Almost half of voters said they felt financially worse off than they were four years ago, nearly three quarters said they didn’t like the way the country was going and around 70 per cent said the economy was either not good, or poor.
At that point, viewers could switch off and go to bed. No incumbent could fight against those numbers. The writing was on the wall, but it was written long before election day.
Nearly 80 per cent of voters said they made up their mind weeks or even months ago.
On CNN, around midnight UK time, a perfectly unassuming voter was grabbed by CNN as he left a polling station in Pennsylvania. Asked who he voted for he replied, “Donald Trump.” Asked why, by an almost incredulous reporter, he said “Inflation mostly, and the state of the economy.”
Perhaps it was as simple as that for him, and tens of millions of others who delivered a Republican victory in the electoral college, the popular vote, the Senate and maybe even the House of Representatives. The MAGA crowd and the loudest Trump supporters draw most of the media’s attention, but they mask a larger, quieter, more diverse group of Americans who simply voted for the man.
It must also be acknowledged that the Democrats’ particular brand of progressive politics, always tolerated more than celebrated by many blue collar voters, appears to have finally run out of electoral road in parts of America where the left needs to win if they’re ever going to take back the White House.
While they learn that painful lesson, Donald Trump – who changed the Republican Party before changing the electoral map, will set about changing America.
