From Politico 10 November 2020, at https://www.politico.com/2020-election/results/
In the first part, I will recap USA elections events briefly – for those eyes were shut for the last week. In the remaining two parts I assess likely short-term events, and the division within the left – from the perspective of the progressive and socialist movement in the USA.
- What just happened?
Obviously, the USA elections results are still being contested. However, a Democratic victory for the Presidential race cannot be denied. It should be noted that still, only 60% of the electorate actually voted. For the left-wing, a real concern should be the reservoir of voters who still voted for a liar – a wannabe tin-pot dictator. Why? A commentator in The Atlantic emphasizes the issue:
“Why didn’t the pandemic recession precipitate a landslide for Joe Biden? That is a central mystery stemming from a narrow – if decisive – loss for President Donald Trump. Even though the unemployment rate is more than double what it was a year ago, even though 1 million Americans a week are applying for jobless aid, even though Congress has failed for six months to pass desperately needed additional stimulus, even though Trump has the worst job-creation record of any president going back to World War II, voters gave the incumbent decent marks on the economy up to Election Day, and he expanded his 2016 vote count by at least 5.7 million.” Annie Lowrey, ‘Why the Election Wasn’t a Biden Landslide‘; Nov 6, 2020; The Atlantic.
Well – no crushing Biden victory then. So who voted for Trump?
“Donald Trump won more than 70 million votes, the second-highest total in American history. Nationally, he has more than a 47% share of his vote, and looks to have won 24 states, including his beloved Florida and Texas. He has an extraordinary hold over large swathes of this country, a visceral connection that among thousands of supporters has brought a near cult-like devotion. ” Nick Bryant, US election 2020: Why Donald Trump Lost.
The ‘Trump-ites’ include a sizeable number of those with a low income. Below are selected data points from an exit poll. While this is not the Marxist definition of a ‘working class’ – I think we recognize the class divide here. At the higher end the interpretation to me, is not so clear. After all in modern America – many of those in the 100,000.00 bracket are just keeping their heads above water. Many are self-employed, or small business owners – and may indeed be in the section of the petit-bourgeois most susceptible to fascism.
Results from interviews with 15,590 voters are shown above. As percentage of exit poll voters. The left-hand pink column is those voting of Trump; and the blue is those voting for Biden. ‘National Exit Polls: How Different Groups Voted‘; reported in New York Times on 3rd November 2020; https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/11/03/us/elections/exit-polls-president.html
I do not propose to go down the rabbit-hole of ethnic identity – and the allegations that there was a major Black shift to Trump. A large majority of African-American voters went for Biden – recognizing the racist filth that Trump spews out. Those that did not, may well be that same category of self-employed small business. The matter of the Latino vote is complex, and I park that for now. Interestingly, a left commentator pointed out to me that the Stimulus checks had been sent out with Trump’s signature:
“Michael Meeropol: “ the STIMULUS spending involved checks mailed directly to people with TRUMP’S SIGNATURE on it — This made quite an impression on too many Americans — many of them really didn’t see that the money being spent to help them in April, May, June and July —- very significant of course — was the result of a virtually unanimous decision by both Houses of Congress — and that Trump’s signature was him taking credit for something he had virtually nothing to do with — it was all Mnuchin, Pelosi with McConnell acquiescing.” (Private communication).
It seems to me, that the legacy of all those years of Democratic government without fundamentally changing the lives of the working class – white and black – is why the predicted Democratic blue wave did not emerge.