THE United States presidential election today, Tuesday, November 3, is drawing very much more than its usual attention from the people of that country as well as the rest of the world for various reasons.
Three days before the election, a record number of over 90 million Americans had already cast mail-in and advanced votes. By election day today, the votes cast will be more than in all previous elections. Young voters are reportedly turning out in huge numbers, along with black, Latino, and other non-white minorities.
Are these the voters listed in various poll surveys as strongly anti-Trump? Or are they the Trump loyalists, mostly white voters without college degrees, who see Trump as the champion of their values, who oppose the growing numbers of migrants, who share his disdain for COVID-19 restrictions and thus resist wearing face masks and practice social distancing?
These conservative elements in American society made a difference in some states in the 2016 presidential elections. They turned out to be the swing votes which gave Trump the Electoral College votes of a number of “swing states.” So that although Democratic candidate Hilary Clinton had three million more individual votes than Trump, the latter got the majority of the 270 votes in the Electoral College.
In this 2020 election, Democratic candidate Joe Biden has a big edge over Republican Trump in poll surveys. But Trump is counting on his support in the swing states to win again.
This election is being held in the midst of a COVID-19 pandemic that has given the US the dubious distinction of having the most cases and deaths in the world. The cases have continued to rise – there were 89,000 new ones in one day this weekend. Perhaps the biggest charge against Trump was that he did not nothing about COVID-19, calling it a Democratic hoax in the beginning, and now moving to lift restrictions imposed by state governments. His latest claim was that American doctors were padding the death figures to make more money.
These and various other local issues will determine which way America’s voters turn today.
The rest of the world will be watching the US elections for various other reasons. The European allies of the US have repeatedly been criticized by President Trump for not carrying their just share of the burden of defending their western alliance. China reportedly feels a Trump victory would alienate more nations from the US and boost China’s economic leadership.
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo recently sought the support of the ASEAN nations in the US rivalry with China but these nations – including the Philippines – have not responded to this move, preferring to cooperate with China’s economic initiatives.
In this season of the COVID-19 pandemic, President Trump has been critical of the World Health Organization’s efforts to stop the virus and has gone to the extent of withdrawing US financial support for the organization.
For all these and so many other reasons, linked somehow to the unusual personality of Trump, the world will be closely following today’s US elections.
