USA Six reasons for Trump's election victory

For many people in other countries, it may be hard to understand why millions of Americans want to see Donald Trump in government again. But there are reasons:

The personal factor

Although Donald Trump is a billionaire and has been part of the American elite for decades, he comes across as approachable to many US citizens. He talks like the guy at the bar who sometimes slips out the wrong word. He says what he thinks freely and can also bang the table. And he's known as a fighter, and not just since the assassination attempts on him. These seem to be qualities that voters also want to see in the White House. By contrast, the professionalism of Vice President Kamala Harris and her ability to remain focused are perceived by some as elitist and inauthentic.

However, this does not mean that most Americans like or even love Trump. In fact, polls suggest that the majority have an unfavorable impression of his personality. For these people, Trump is often still electable. On the one hand, because some do not want a saint as president. Secondly, because Trump represents positions that are important to them.

The Democrats' doomsday rhetoric for a second term in office for the convicted felon Trump did not appeal to many - after all, the 78-year-old was already in the White House for four years and did not start any wars or destroy the American economy. Back then, scandals, chaos and controversies are easier to dismiss.

Money, money, money

Probably no society in the world is more committed to turbo-capitalism, which relies heavily on liberalized markets, minimal government intervention and the idea of free enterprise. The economy is always at the top of the agenda for many voters. But in the election campaign, this rarely meant (strong) growth or the general direction of the economy. It was much simpler: how expensive are yogurt, eggs, potato chips and beer in the supermarket - and how much does petrol cost?

As a result of the coronavirus pandemic, inflation had driven up prices - and not just in the USA. Every voter felt this in their wallet every day, even if wages caught up over time. Many blamed the economic policies of President Joe Biden and his deputy Harris. They expressed their frustration with their vote, putting their personal finances above issues such as personal virtues or democratic values.

The left behind

Trump's most loyal base are mainly white men without a university degree. Statistics show that the income of this group in the USA in 1980 was well above the American average - today they are clearly below it. In a society in which the tech and financial industries are concentrating the country's immense wealth even more in metropolitan areas, especially on the coasts, the system no longer works for workers in formerly industrial states such as Pennsylvania.

However, Trump has now also made gains among other population groups, including Latinos, who were previously a very important target group for the Democrats. Harris was not able to score as strongly as hoped with this large voting bloc of people with a Latin American background. And even among black men, incumbent President Joe Biden did better four years ago than his deputy Harris, according to initial data.

The fear of "business as usual"

There is a saying in the USA: sometimes you have to break eggs to fry an omelette. In other words: Sometimes you have to break things to fix them. Harris was seen by many as the establishment candidate. Trump, the anti-system man, promised radical change during the election campaign: everything would be different under him as president, whereas Harris, as a member of the current government, stood for "business as usual", was the argument.

This struck a nerve: many in the USA have the impression that something has to change. They felt addressed when Trump gloomily described the USA as a country in decline that is being overrun by migrants. The 78-year-old seems to have an unerring instinct for what worries people. In post-election surveys, 73% of his voters said that the most important thing for them was that Trump could bring about necessary change.

Harris, the vice president, did not manage to distinguish herself sufficiently from incumbent President Joe Biden. There was not much that she had done differently in the past four years, she said during the election campaign. In addition, she did not have much time to make herself known with her own ideas. It is quite possible that the debate will now break out among the Democrats as to whether Biden's withdrawal from the presidential race came too late - and ultimately cost Harris the victory.

No black woman as president

There are sections of the population who still cannot imagine a woman leading the most powerful country in the world. It is true that more women have assumed political leadership in the USA in recent years, for example as governors. But especially in the southern states and other conservative and often rural parts of the country, many think differently. In the so-called Bible Belt, evangelical Protestantism is an integral part of the culture - and feminism is almost a dirty word for many. The fact that Harris has no biological children does not go down well there either.

In addition, racism and discrimination against blacks and other minorities are structurally deeply rooted in many parts of the USA, as statistics from all areas of society repeatedly show. Taken together, this amounts to a kind of racist chauvinism that is likely to have cost Harris votes. Trump deliberately exploited this resentment during the election campaign.

According to post-election surveys, Trump won more votes than Harris among evangelical Christians, Protestants and Catholics by a large margin. Many Trump voters therefore made their voting decision based on who they thought would lead. Harris voters, on the other hand, were more interested in who had good judgment, for example.

The global political outlook

There was much speculation before the election as to whether the Middle East conflict would cost the Democrats votes. For many Americans of Jewish origin, Biden's support for Israel did not go far enough - and for many citizens of Arab origin, it went too far. This is reflected in the post-election polls: A large majority of Trump voters said the US should support Israel more.

However, the fact that Trump wants to keep the USA largely out of international conflicts may have been even more decisive. For example, he promises to end the war in Ukraine quickly - probably with dire consequences for the country attacked by Russia. However, some US citizens see this primarily as meaning that less of their tax money will have to flow there.

SDA