WHEN Barack Obama proffered his election-day olive branch to a divided country on November 8th, it sounded rather trite: “No matter what happens, the sun will rise in the morning.” But in the dark of a night that, state by state, delivered a coruscating verdict on Mr Obama’s legacy and elected Donald Trump to the White House, those words started almost to feel optimistic.
Most pundits had predicted a comfortable victory for Mr Trump’s Democratic rival, Hillary Clinton. Opinion polls put her around four percentage points ahead, and her paths to the necessary 270 electoral college votes looked easier and more numerous than the narrow way Mr Trump seemed to have mapped for himself. Early voting returns, which suggested a heavy turnout by Hispanics, whom Mr Trump has frightened and offended, seemed to confirm that advantage. So did the first exit polls in the dozen or so battleground states, some of which contained snippets to suggest voters considered Mr Trump unelectable. Polls for ABC News suggested 61% of voters considered him unqualified to be president; only 34% said he had the right personality and temperament. But they went ahead and elected him...Continue reading
Source: United States http://www.economist.com/blogs/democracyinamerica/2016/11/watch-out-world?fsrc=rss
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