The Register Citizen (Torrington, CT)
After year of disruption, America set to choose a path
WASHINGTON — After a year of deep disruption, America is poised for a presidential election that renders a verdict on the nation’s role in the world and the direction of its economy, on its willingness to contain an escalating pandemic and its ability to confront systemic racial inequity.
But the two men on the ballot, President Donald Trump and Democrat Joe Biden, offer more than just differing solutions for the country’s most pressing problems. The choice before voters is a referendum on the role of the presidency itself and a test of the sturdiness of democracy, with the president challenging the legitimacy of the outcome even before Election Day and law enforcement agencies braced for the possibility of civil unrest.
“There’s more than just your standard ideological difference between the two candidates. There’s a fundamentally different view of what the presidency is and what leadership means for the nation,” said Jeffrey Engel, director of the Center for Presidential History at Southern Methodist University.
Voters appear to recognize the moment: More than 86 million people have already cast ballots, shattering records for early voting.
A Trump victory would deepen the anti-establishment, inward-facing approach to the nation’s challenges that he has ushered in over the past four years — an approach enthusiastically embraced by the president’s supporters and loathed by his critics. The courts, which have been stacked with a generation of conservative jurists during Trump’s tenure, would veer further to the right.
Victory for Biden would be as much a repudiation of the incumbent as it would be a win for the longtime Democratic politician, a former vice president and senator. Though Biden has outlined an agenda that envisions a more robust role for the federal government in American life and a more aggressive effort to combat the pandemic, the core of his campaign centered on him being a temperamental contrast to Trump.
Control of the Senate is also at stake. Competitive races from Maine to Arizona give Democrats a chance to retake the majority from Republicans. Democrats are expected to easily maintain their grip on the House.
The election is being held at a moment of bitter partisanship in America, and whichever candidate wins the White House will confront the challenge of governing through deep divisions. If anything, the campaign has clarified how stratified the U.S. has become, with Trump’s base of support coming from overwhelmingly white voters at lower income and education levels. More highly educated Americans, particularly women,
and voters of color, most notably African Americans, have all but abandoned the Republican Party during Trump’s four years in office.
Trump faced a particularly fierce outcry from Black Americans after his response to the largely peaceful protests that erupted across the country this summer over racial injustice in policing. The president highlighted the sporadic outbursts of violence and argued that white, suburban neighborhoods would be overrun by mayhem if Biden were elected.
Biden has condemned Trump as racist. Biden also has made explicit appeals to Republicans, seeking to draw support from those who may have taken a chance on Trump but have been turned off by his divisiveness and fierce personal attacks on his critics.
The Democratic nominee has proved to be an alluring alternative to some of those voters, given his more moderate record and campaign agenda, and his more traditional approach to foreign policy, including U.S engagement in the kinds of multilateral institutions such as NATO that Trump has flirted with abandoning.
Dan Giesen, 56, of Minneapolis, said he was a conservative voter before Trump became the Republican nominee four years ago, leading him to vote for third-party candidate Evan McMullin. Last week, Giesen was waiting in line to cast his vote early for Biden.
“I think we can deal with partisan differences when our institutions and our norms are in place, but I think that those are being seriously eroded under Donald Trump,“he said.
Biden heads into Tuesday’s election with an edge in public polling, including a comfortable national lead and a narrower advantage in some of the battleground states that will decide the contest. He has multiple paths to victory and has devoted
significant resources to the Upthat are not socially distanced per Midwest states where and only sporadically wearing Trump surprised Democrats masks. His message to Amerfour years ago, but also to states icans has been that the U.S. is such as Arizona and Georgia “rounding the corner” on the that for years have been reliable virus, despite the fact that cases Republican territory. are on the rise in most states
Though Democrats are wary and the U.S. is setting daily of overconfidence, given records for confirmed cases. Trump’s upset in 2016, party Sixty-five percent of Amerleaders see significant differencicans said the president has not es in this year’s election. Biden is taking the pandemic seriously viewed more favorably by voters enough, according to a midthan Hillary Clinton was four October poll from The Associatyears ago. And the pandemic, ed Press-NORC Center for Pubwhich has upended nearly every lic Affairs Research. aspect of American life, saddled Despite the pandemic’s toll on Trump with overwhelmingly his political fortunes, Trump’s negative reviews from voters on campaign is banking on strategy his handling of the crisis. similar to 2016. Advisers con
“In the last 10 days of 2016, tend that Trump will draw out the story was, ‘What’s the FBI new voters who haven’t particigoing to do about the newly pated in politics previously or in reopened Hillary Clinton email some time. His campaign is also investigation?’“said Sen. Tim banking on some voters ultiKaine of Virginia, who was mately looking beyond their Clinton’s running mate in 2016. personal qualms with the presiNow, Kaine said, “they’re talking dent to back his policies. about COVID and how it’s afThat was the case for Tom fecting communities.” Redford, 79, who cast his ballot
The pandemic indeed turned for Trump on Thursday outside Trump’s plans for this election of Richmond, Va. Redford said year inside out. he’s the only Trump supporter
The president opened 2020 in in his family and doesn’t much strong position, with a robust like the president personally. economic record and the GOP “But everything he’s done is unified behind him after he great — everything, including survived an impeachment trial what he’s done on the coronavicentered on his request for rus,“Redford said as he waited Ukraine’s help digging up dirt in a line of more than 200 peoon Biden.ple.
Since then, the coronavirus The president’s pathway to has gripped the nation, causing the 270 Electoral College votes nearly 230,000 deaths and inneeded to win the White House fecting more than 9 million is narrow. He needs to hold onto Americans; both are the highest Florida, a perennial battleconfirmed counts in the world. ground, as well as nearly all of The U.S. economy cratered, and the territory he carried in 2016. though it has recovered someHe’s spent the final days of the what, the unemployment rate campaign on defense, making rests at 7.9% and businesses stops in states such as Georgia across the country are worried and Iowa, where he won comabout surviving the winter, fortably four years ago. given that infection rates are on The challenge for Trump is the rise. engineering a late shift in the
Trump himself contracted the race when so many voters have virus in October and was briefly already cast ballots. By Saturday, hospitalized. Since then, he’s the early vote tally represented been barnstorming the country, more than 60 percent of all the holding large rallies with crowds votes cast in the 2016 race.