The polarization of place and the depolarization of race in American politics | Hacker News Reader

The polarization of place and the depolarization of race in American politics

theatlantic.com

9 pointsafiori15 comments

There's a lot of reason to doubt the exit poll data for this election. It's easy to waste ( virtual ) ink and grab headlines, but it'd be more honest to admit that we don't really know and jumping to conclusions probably isn't helping anyone.

https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/exit-polls-can-be-misle...

The article acknowledges this: "Exit polls also found that Black and Latino men in particular inched toward Trump in 2020, but these surveys are unreliable." Its argument is based on comparing results across counties with different demographics.

I think I saw a demographic map that showed he actually won with white male voters and lost with everyone else. Cannot find it anymore though.

I strongly believe that the common analysis we read in mainstream media was pretty off the course and this is already better. Democrats did a welfare program for the urban white population and told them nice stories.

This is a case of people not in touch with their base at all, but democratic policies are still much more friendly towards minorities than their republican counterpart. Still, many people felt it was needed to give a warning shot. It was a very large shot in hindsight...

There are people celebrating that kids are now being freed from governmental facilities. Aside from the stereotypical redneck, these are low information voters too.

I am from Europe and my perspective is probably off too, but it didn't lead to surprises in contrast to more "official" stories.

He got more minority votes than any other republican though.

https://nypost.com/2020/11/04/despite-racist-charges-trump-d...

"Nationally, preliminary numbers indicated that 26 percent of Trump’s voting share came from nonwhite voters — the highest percentage for a GOP presidential candidate since 1960."

"Kids now freed from facilities" The same people who worried about cages will be as silent about Biden using them as they were when Obama made and used them.

Then again, incumbent losing election in USA is historical fail. Losing popular vote twice is too.

And the same people who gloated about deliberate cruelty are already starting to act like the cruelty is suddenly bad. The same people who yelled about Clinton emails were clapping epical corruption the whole time.

Biden is not president yet and you are already trying to claim some moral high ground.

"incumbent losing" based on elections with rules changed at the last moment by activist judges and a growing list of inconsistencies... with at least one whistleblower who saw illegal actions in one state. (Illegal votes affects "popular vote" too.)

"Cruelty and emails" and the people talking "unity" are the ones who were silent when Obama built cages, droned hospitals and called 1/3rd of Americans "deplorables", "gun toting rednecks" and now "chumps" and "ugly"...

"epical corruption" The difference is there's hard proof of Clintons (and Biden's) corruption... there's still no hard proof of Trumps "corruption". Even leaked taxes has nothing illegal mentioned.

"Moral high ground" when comparing Democrats vs Republicans its easy to claim high ground against Democrats... They set a VERY low bar. So low that they lost to Trump.

Of course in a larger than usual turnout election the second place numbers are also going to be larger than before. No demographic is a unified, single minded block of voters. The term Latinos is particular groups so many communities of different race, background, and country of origin as to be nearly meaningless.

But that does not excuse the fact that Trump's policies and public statements were undeniably racist, and filled with fascist and white-supremacy call outs for far right extremist groups. And the whataboutism on the cages is just tired far-right propaganda.

There is a difference between one administration building a 72-hour processing facility and "Parents of 545 children still not found three years after Trump separation policy" (https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/oct/21/trump-separa...)

Trump won among white people, males of all races, and people without higher education.

But that's been true forever. It's the changes since last time that are the big news here. Trump outperformed with every race/gender combo except white men. Who predicted that? He got the largest share of minority votes by a Republican since 1960, which was before the Civil Rights Act reshaped political demographics in the US.

Also, lost popular vote both in 2016 and 2020. Also, clearly lost electoral college in 2020. Despite being incumbent which is an advantage in America.

While we are noting how successful he was, let's also note he lost. Any let's also note that his opponent Biden was quite successful.

That's an overstatement. Biden barely won against a clown in the middle of a pandemic. I'm glad he did, but it's an anemic victory, American politics is realigning, and if people don't want to see that, the inevitable result will be another Trump, except probably a competent one next time.

You disagree with me and i disagree with you, but I still find it ridiculous that your comment was downvoted.

Trump is clown, but represents what a lot of people want. What you perceive as clown, they perceive as the right kind of masculine man. Yes, if women acted the same she would be called hysterical and emotional. But, these things are not fair and in his case it is interpreted as strength. Even sexist remarks and racist ones are seen as relatable, it is sort of stuff many people say in private.

What you see as lies, they see as smart things to say.

Beating incumbent is quite a lot. Also, based on what I read in conservative journal I read, Biden won in election where he was painted Marxist progressive litterally communist. And pedophile for some reason. His past costed him some black votes, but somehow he is still radical pro-rioting progressive sjw.

It does not matter whether Trump is capable or clown. Truth did not matter. His narcissism is asset and advantage. Biden was not fighting just Trump, but the machine behind him. The media machine (alex jones, etc) invested in Trump and radical republican wing.

On some level isn't this good? Place is at least somewhat changeable while you can't change your race. In the long term - ethnically segregated parties sounds like the worst of all bad options.

Yeah, coast supremacy is getting really tiresome.

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