Voters want ‘better,’ not ‘change’
Last week’s election in Britain brings a message for us in the States: Electorates are volatile and unpredictable. Voters are mirroring what is happening around them. Terrorist strikes. Global shifts of power and influence. Bitter, acrimonious partisan debates. And a fundamental question as to where traditional Western democracy fits in a new world order.
In Britain, many are raising a glass of schadenfreude. Conservative Prime Minister Theresa May came to power after then Prime Minister David Cameron called for an ill-advised referendum on Brexit, assuming voters would not choose to leave the European Union. He got it wrong. May called for a “snap election” because she was riding high in public opinion polls. Several terrorist attacks may have changed that popularity. One of May’s unpopular policies was massive cuts for police.
The result of last week was she was severely weakened and is seeking to form a coalition government in an attempt to stay in power.
America is not Britain. For starters, our president faces voters every four years. There are no snap elections. The midterms are the first indicator of where things may go for an incumbent president two years later. That we don’t go to polls so often is a good thing. Whatever anyone thinks of Donald Trump’s presidency, our government is structured to be stable regardless of who sits in the Oval Office.
Pundits and consultants are still trying to figure out what happened last year, even as they now focus on the ongoing investigations into Russian interference with the 2016 presidential race and whether members of the Trump campaign colluded with Russians.
American voters are as unsettled with their place in the world as are the Brits. The dominance of China in global markets, the rise of a Soviet-like Russia and the inability to stop a state-less form of terrorism challenges our democratic values.
Britain narrowly chose to withdraw from the EU. Trump voters were drawn to his “America First” rhetoric. Yet isolationism, while an appealing concept on the campaign trail, is not a practical policy in the 21st century.
British voters may have buyer’s remorse for voting to exit the EU. Some Trump voters may feel the same way about their candidate. But it is unlikely that a change in government in Britain will result in a redo of Brexit. And it is equally unlikely that last week’s sensational Senate testimony by former FBI Director James Comey will result in an immediate resolution of what Trump operatives did during the 2016 campaign or what the president’s intentions were in private conversations with his FBI director.
But the unease with government — in Britain and here — cannot be ignored by elected officials. Citizens want better governance and the only tool they have to get it is at polling places. The Trump administration has stumbled out of the gate and may not be able to find its focus. It is too early to tell. Democrats who see last week as the beginning of the end for Trump and the right wing of the Republican Party should do well to look at May. Public opinion is indeed volatile, but U.S. election cycles are designed to be at least partially insulated from those vagaries.
In the end, voters want “better” which is not the same as “change.” Leaders who understand the difference and can deliver will succeed.