The United States of America presidential election has gone down to the wire, as expected, with crucial swing states yet to be called and so the electoral college votes that determine the winner yet to be decided. It finally comes down to the states of Georgia, Arizona, Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin to decide who will be the next president of the USA. There have been no surprises in the voting until now as the traditional Democrat states voted Biden and the traditional Republican states voted Trump. It is the swing states that are playing a major role in deciding who will occupy the White House for the next four years.
While Democratic Party nominee Joe Biden announced that he was on course to a victory, the Republican nominee, President Donald Trump said that ‘they’ were trying to steal the election. As per US tradition, it is the networks that call the results based on the exit polls and it is a phone call from the losing candidate to the winning candidate conceding the election that seals the announcement of the winner. The losing candidate then addresses his supporters and minutes later the winner makes the grand entry on stage to cheers. All this didn’t happen this Tuesday-Wednesday night in the US. Instead, with many States yet to be called it was Biden who made his appearance in public, while Trump later addressed those gathered at the White House and claimed victory even when many states were yet to declare results.
The last time something like this occurred was in 2000 when the then Democratic nominee Al Gore won the popular vote but lost the electoral college vote as Florida played a key role in giving George W Bush victory in the electoral college. That election result went to the courts before Bush junior was eventually declared the winner. In the US electoral college system of voting, in recent years, Gore has not been the only presidential nominee to win the popular vote but not enter the White House. Four years ago it was Hillary Clinton who didn’t make it in similar manner, though the result was not decided by the courts.
But nothing that took place in the past quite compares with what is transpiring in the United State at the present time. The result is not out yet, and merely a few electoral college votes separate the two candidates as of late Wednesday evening India time. As America awaits the annoucement of who will be its president, Trump is being accused of falsely claiming to have defeated his rival. Refusing to accept the results already declared, he said, “This is a fraud on the American public. This is an embarrassment to our country.” There were, undoubtedly, varrying reactions to this statement, with the fear that this could set the tone for an aggressive Trump presidency, should he win.
This close race is indicative of a deeply-divided America that has seen racism return to the streets. The Black Lives Matter movement that arose in the US after the killing of George Floyd, a Black man, by the police, and then spread across the world has possibly been a key factor in turning votes towards the Democrats and bringing the race so close. The handling of the coronaviruis pandemic by the Trump administration is another issue that has divided the people. The growing number of cases and deaths arising from the Covid-19 infection did turn voters away from the incumbent president. Based on this, the Democrats were expecting to win by a landslide, that didn’t happen. And, not just the Americans, but the world awaits the results of the election.
