In one of the major miracles of American political history, Joe Biden fairly and decisively won the 2020 presidential election with a popular vote lead of 5 million votes (and counting), as well as projected electoral college victories in key ‘blue wall’ Midwestern battleground states ranging from a lead of over 20,000 votes in Wisconsin to almost 150,000 votes in Michigan. On top of this, Biden has been projected to win the Republican states of Georgia and Arizona, and despite recounts that may take place in these states his lead seems robust and difficult to overcome.
It now appears that Biden has flipped a total of five states that Donald Trump won in 2016. Moreover, Biden’s lead over Trump is now at 50.9%, which tops Reagan’s popular vote victory of 50.7%, and is the highest percentage for a challenger since FDR in 1932. Trump lost the presidential election in as emphatic a manner as is conceivable given the over-representation of small states in the electoral college renders Democratic Party landslides extremely difficult, and the incumbent advantage which places a dauntingly high barrier in the way of a challenger wanting to dislodge a first term president.
Moreover, the overarching narrative of the election was one where optimal outcomes were somehow secured in the face of imminent disaster. Bernie Sanders was threatening to take an insurmountable lead in the Democratic nomination race (an outcome that would have left Democrats with a candidate compromised by health issues not to mention ideological vulnerabilities), but somehow centrist Democrats managed to coalesce around a Biden candidacy after Jim Clyburn of South Carolina (an influential Black lawmaker) endorsed the former Vice President. Amy Klobuchar, one of the frontrunners to be Biden’s running mate, exercised maturity in stepping aside to let a woman of colour be chosen instead, a decision that allowed Kamala Harris to be chosen and strengthen Democrats vote totals in battleground states with cities with significant Black populations.
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