IES Cantabria. Learning English. (Santander): US Election 2020.

Sunday 8 November 2020

US Election 2020.

Analysis of US Election 2020. Adapted from BBC News

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/nov/07/joe-biden-speech-us-election-win-kamala-harris

When America sneezes, the world catches a cold.

Joe Biden has been elected president of the United States.

President-elect Biden now has 279 Electoral College votes, taking him past the 270 needed to win. Donald Trump has 214. Mr Biden will become the 46th president in January, pending the outcome of any legal challenges.

Mr Biden's running mate, Kamala Harris, will make history as the first woman vice-president, as well as the first black and the first Asian American vice-president.

High turnout

Mr Biden is also leading the national popular vote with 50.5% to Mr Trump's 47.7%, a lead of over four million votes. The president-elect has received more votes than any candidate in US election history - just short of 75 million. Mr Trump has also increased his vote tally compared with 2016 by almost 8 million votes, to over 70 million this year. Preliminary figures show the highest turnout since 1900, with 66.4% of eligible voters turning out compared with 60.1% in 2016.

The figures suggest the proportion of total voters who are white has fallen by six percentage points on 2016, while remaining the largest group by ethnicity. The proportion of white voters backing Mr Biden has risen by five points on Hillary Clinton's figure at the last election, but Mr Trump still takes the largest share of this group, the preliminary polling suggests. Meanwhile, Mr Biden appears to have gained support among under 30s and the middle-aged.

key issues

Nationally, more than a third of voters said the economy was the most important issue in deciding who to choose as president, with a further 20% naming racial inequality and 17% saying the coronavirus pandemic.

However the issues were split along partisan lines with more than four times as many Trump voters saying the economy was the deciding factor, and Biden voters answering racial inequality and the virus. Voters were evenly split on how the US economy was faring, with 48% saying it was in "excellent or good" condition and 50% saying it was "not so good or poor".

Similarly, 50% said that the US was doing "somewhat or very badly" at containing the pandemic and 48% thought the country was doing "somewhat or very well".

The possibility of voter fraud has been raised repeatedly by the Trump campaign but a large majority of voters (87%) told the researchers they were confident that votes in their state would be counted accurately.

VOCABULARY TO USE (adapted https://www.cristinacabal.com/?p=14236)