Education levels were key

BEIRUT: The news that Republican nominee Donald Trump won the 2016 US presidential election reverberated around the world, although the repercussions are yet to be fully understood.

What is clear is Trump’s decisive victory revealed the shifting demographic makeup and deep sociopolitical divides in American society.

White voters overwhelmingly gave Trump the keys to the White House: exit poll data says they made up 70 percent of all voters, and 58 percent of them voted Republican.

While Trump’s campaign was undoubtedly helped by the whipping up of xenophobic sentiment there were many other powerful factors bubbling under the surface which have influenced the 2016 election result.

As was the case with Brexit, level of education was the most important factor in determining how Americans voted.

The US, despite its wealth and resources, remains one of the most ignorant countries on earth: one American adult in five believes the sun revolves around the earth, two-thirds can’t name the three branches of government and more than half don’t know which parties control the House and Senate.

A politician like Trump appeals greatly to voters failed by the school system. He is proof that businessman-like determination is enough to succeed, regardless of temperament or qualifications.

Trump’s ideological platform is the straightforward evolution of the sentiment of the Tea Party’s right-wing backlash to Obama’s election and a Democrat administration in 2008.

The unprecedented number of votes cast for independent candidates Gary Johnson and Jill Stein is also a major indicator American voters are fed up with what is in practice a twoparty voting system that does not adequately reflect their political beliefs.

A Stanford University psychologist said in August: “( Trump’s supporters are) responding to dynamism, to force, to movement, to smiling, to facial expressions that convey authority.

“Trump does it with more force. He does it with more energy. Energy is contagious.” – The Independent