Finally.
The presidential election will be over on Tuesday, and most Americans will consider it a blessing. That’s because the campaign has been so relentlessly negative and depressing, and because both major-party nominees are so unpopular.
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What won’t be over are the divisions and anger. Millions of American are fuming at the status quo, furious at the Washington establishment and dissatisfied with both Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton and Republican candidate Donald Trump. Neither has been able to inspire much trust, and prospects for any extended honeymoon for the new chief executive are bleak. The campaign, overall, has been an utter failure in bringing America together, and this means another extended period of stalemate in Washington, just what most Americans say they don’t want. Many Americans believe that Washington “has lost its mind” and is mired in partisanship and enmity, which is immensely frustrating to the public, says Republican strategist Kevin Madden, a former adviser to Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney in 2012. Says Bill Galston, a political scientist and former White House adviser to President Bill Clinton: “There has been an obliteration of the line between campaigning and governing,” and there has been a rise in “hyper polarization.”
Clinton and Trump are the two most unpopular major-party presidential nominees in polling history. Sixty-one percent of Americans see Trump unfavorably and 53 percent see Clinton that way, according to the latest Reuters/Ipsos poll. An overwhelming majority of Americans agree that the nation is heading in the wrong direction, but they disagree on what to do about it. America is split ideologically among liberals, conservatives, libertarians, moderates, radicals, reactionaries and other factions.
Our national dyspepsia is likely to get worse. That’s because the winner of the presidential race will actually be merely the survivor, discredited by millions of Americans. Every effort will be made by the opposition to block the winner’s agenda in Congress and to disable the new administration in as many ways as possible.
[OPINION: The U.S. Has Survived Worse Periods of Partisanship and Dysfunction]
“Given today’s partisan environment, the result will be a mess,” writes historian Julian Zelizer of Princeton on CNN.com. “It is already clear that if Clinton is in the White House and Republicans control at least one chamber of Congress, there will be a blitz of investigations that could make Bill Clinton’s experience seem like kids play.” [President Bill Clinton was impeached by the House for lying about having an affair with a former White House intern and acquitted by the Senate.]….When the dust settles from this contentious and bitter election, we are much more likely to find the nation in a period of even greater gridlock and discord than we’ve seen in the past eight years.”
The country in many ways consists of two parallel societies. “More and more Americans live in distinct partisan worlds and are unwilling to venture into new territory,” Zelizer writes. One is based on an old paradigm in which power is concentrated in the hands of an establishment dominated by aging white men and elites such as Wall Street and big business, but an emerging new world is rooted in diversity and tolerance of cultural change such as more power for minorities and women. Geoff Garin, a Democratic pollster who has been advising a pro-Clinton political action committee, argues that the long-term demographics favor the new America since the country is growing steadily less white, more diverse and apparently less conservative. But conservative strategists say Trump’s rise shows that new coalitions can form and confound the prognosticators.
Egged on by the media, which rewards conflict with coverage, Campaign 2016 has been very personal, based on perceived character flaws and weaknesses. This has prevented either candidate from building a mandate based on ideas and or rallying people around specific solutions to the nation’s problems. Clinton accuses Trump of being erratic, ignorant and unfit for the presidency. Trump says Clinton is so corrupt that he would arrange for her to be thrown in jail if he wins the White House. The effect has been very negative for each candidate as voters tend to believe the worst about both of them.
[PHOTOS: The Big Picture — October 2016]
Among the areas that need attention from the next president are reforming the immigration system, changing the tax laws to make them more equitable, cutting the deficit and easing the national debt, strengthening the military, winning the war against terrorism, reducing climate change, and bolstering Social Security and Medicare. Even more pressing is something intangible but just as important as any policy — restoring civility and adding a spirit of conciliation to public life. Yet Americans are increasingly talking past each other and refusing to even listen to arguments from people who have different views. This makes for a harsh and suspicious political climate where paranoia and anger thrive.
“It’s not just polarization,” political scientist Norman Ornstein of the American Enterprise Institute told the Washington Post. “It’s tribalism. People on the other side are enemies, not just adversaries, who threaten your way of life.”
This is the likely legacy of the 2016 election.
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After the Election Bitter Polarization Will Remain originally appeared on usnews.com
