[ad_1]
SINGAPORE – As the dust settles after the 2020 US presidential election with Democratic candidate Joe Biden ousting President Donald Trump from the White House, we take a look at some of the reasons that made the incumbent lost the race and led to Biden becoming the president of the United States. 46th president.
Why did Biden win and Trump lost
1. Covid-19
The coronavirus pandemic and the ensuing economic downturn played a central role in Biden’s campaign, allowing him to highlight the incumbent’s mistakes.
With record increases in Covid-19 infections in the weeks leading up to the elections, and with the president contracting the virus himself, it was seen that the Trump administration had made a mistake in handling the crisis.
In the US, Covid-19 has already claimed more than 230,000 lives and the number of new cases continues to rise, with more than 100,000 new daily infections recorded in recent days.
The pandemic has weighed on Trump’s approval ratings, which according to a Gallup poll fell to 38 percent at one point in June, something the Biden campaign took advantage of.
From the president’s repeated downplay of the deadly virus to unsubstantiated claims that Covid-19 was going to “go away … like a miracle,” confidence in the headline took a hit, and another Pew Research poll in October showed that Biden did not have a 17 percent advantage over Trump when it comes to confidence about his handling of the Covid-19 outbreak.
Biden, on the other hand, laid out his approach to tackling the disease based on “fundamental science” from the start of his campaign.
He presented voters with detailed plans to combat the virus, including nationalizing the use of masks, intensifying testing for Covid-19 and submitting proposals for health care and economic recovery.
2. Less is more campaigns
Trump’s presidency has been marked by his often controversial and sensational remarks, some of which were made during his fast-paced presidential campaign that saw him traverse the country in recent weeks.
At one point, Trump visited three states in a single day and held rallies in Michigan, Wisconsin and Las Vegas.
By contrast, Biden adopted a less hectic campaign schedule. In recent months, he has done something unprecedented, taking whole days off from rallies and events, drawing some criticism.
One thing to keep in mind is that Biden is not without error over the course of his nearly 50 years in public office. And cutting down his campaign schedule could have been an attempt to limit his stumbles and blunders, Vanity Fair reported.
Some of his mistakes include mixing former British Prime Minister Theresa May with the late former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, and saying that “poor children” were as smart as “white children” in a 2019 speech, a mistake that some read. as a revealer of outdated views on race and class.
3. Anyone but Trump
The election also became a kind of referendum on Trump.
Biden’s winning message was simply that “it was not Trump,” wrote the BBC’s North American reporter Anthony Zurcher.
“Biden bet his political fortune on the argument that Trump was too polarizing and inflammatory, and what the American people wanted was a calmer and more stable leadership,” he wrote.
“After four grueling years, many voters simply wanted a presidency they could have in the background, an occupant of the White House who behaved in a more conventional manner. They had grown tired of the childish insults, the ugly language and the incessant confrontation They wanted to get back to some kind of normalcy, “added BBC New York correspondent Nick Bryant.
Bryant said Trump won the presidency in 2016 in part because he was a “rule-breaking political outsider” and was willing to say what had previously been “unspeakable,” but this is also the same reason he lost the race in 2020.
Meanwhile, CNN’s lead political commentator David Axelrod said that Trump’s antics over the course of his presidency have not only inflamed his own base, but inspired a massive coalition of Americans who are “determined to end his stormy and divisive government. “
He wrote: “Joe Biden was presented early on as the antidote to Trump’s tough policy: a healer, not a divider.”
4. Stay in the center
In the run-up to becoming the Democratic nominee, Biden maintained a centrist strategy, refusing to endorse government-run universal health care, free college education, or a wealth tax.
His game plan was to embrace the medium and propose gradual changes to various policies, while at the same time staying away from the more far-reaching progressive demands.
“This allowed him to maximize his appeal to disgruntled moderate Republicans during the general election campaign,” wrote the BBC’s Zurcher.
This strategy was reflected in Biden’s choice of running mate. He chose Ms. Kamala Harris when he could have chosen someone with more support from the left wing of the Democratic Party.
Harris, who is now vice president-elect, had in the past rejected some demands from the party’s rising progressive wing, and this could have helped attract moderate swing voters in states like Michigan and Wisconsin.
But Biden moved closer to the left when it comes to the environment and climate change, perhaps calculating that the benefits of attracting younger voters for whom the issue is a priority outweighed the risk of alienating voters in industries. of indecisive energy-dependent states, wrote Mr. Zurcher.
5. More money, less problems
Biden’s campaign had the financial advantage over Trump’s in the final weeks leading up to Election Day, raising a record $ 493.8 million (Singaporean $ 665.9 million) in the two months leading up to the election. November 3.
Armed with a total loot of $ 761.2 million in 2020, the campaign went on a spending spree buying TV, radio and digital advertising in an attempt to take advantage of the Trump campaign that was in a cash crunch during the final stretch.
While the Trump campaign and its committees shared with the Republican National Committee managed to raise $ 1.5 billion since 2019, Trump burned much of that money in the early stages of the contest when voters weren’t paying much attention, the Financial Times reported. .
Trump’s campaign began in October with just $ 63.1 million in cash on hand, a nearly 50 percent drop from the $ 121.1 million it had in September.
Biden’s campaign had almost three times that, $ 177.3 million, ending August with $ 180.7 million in the bank.
While a considerable financial advantage is not the only reason for the victory, it gave Biden’s campaign an advantage in reaching out to voters and carrying his message to the end.
The impact of such outreach was amplified by social distancing and blocking measures, as more Americans stayed home and consumed more media across various platforms.
For live results and updates, follow our live coverage of the US elections.
[ad_2]
