The American presidential election is just days away, and the seemingly endless campaign that began almost two years ago will be over. Many in the US and around the world are looking forward to an end to what many have said is the most divisive American presidential campaign in decades.
The acrimonious rallies and speeches and debates that started at the beginning of the primary election season 16 months ago have polarized American voters. Since the nominating conventions last summer, supporters and critics of Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton have become louder and more strident with every passing day.
Accusations of all kinds have been hurled across the boundaries of civility, insults have made front page news, and charges of moral and legal corruption have dominated broadcast, print, and internet coverage. A letter writer to the New York Times recently asked, “when – oh, when – will this ever stop? I’m desperate,” the writer said, “for silence.” Campaign fatigue has created a national exhaustion.
The last few months have been particularly divisive, with sides being taken and positions becoming more rigid and defiant, at the cost of time for talking about the nation’s problems at home and abroad.
Donald Trump has claimed to speak for millions of Americans who see themselves as victims of bad trade agreements brought on by globalization. He has said he would end those agreements, but has offered few details as to how he would solve voters’ problems.
His proposals for resolving illegal immigration by building walls on the country’s borders and limiting access to Muslims from around the world have aroused angry reactions from within and outside the United States. Polls of Hispanic voters show that most will vote for Clinton – and Muslims are equally upset with Trump’s proposal for “extreme vetting” of Islamic emigres. His supporters say such proposals are justified by concerns over economic impact on American workers, and anxiety over terrorist threats.
Hillary Clinton has spoken up for women, African Americans, and children, but her campaign has been forced to spend much of its time trying to defend against perceptions of bad judgment while she was Secretary of State. Countless broadcast hours and oceans of ink have been devoted to her use of e-mails and a private server, along with her decisions on the Libyan revolt, private speeches to Wall Street bankers, and foreign contributions to the Clinton family’s charitable foundation.
She has been investigated by the FBI whose Director, James Comey, said her e-mail usage was reckless but not illegal, and that no laws were broken. This finding has further enraged Trump and his supporters who maintain the investigation – along with opinion polls that show him losing ground, along with the election process itself – is “rigged.”
Trump says Clinton has broken laws and should be in jail. Clinton says Trump should be anywhere but in the White House, saying that he lacks the experience, moral character, and understanding of the Constitution required to be President.
In the most recent and sensational distraction of this campaign, women have come forward to give new life to old allegations of sexual impropriety on the part of Donald Trump. Clinton says these charges show that Trump lacks a moral compass; Trump says it’s all lies, that he’ll sue his accusers after the election, and that Hillary Clinton’s husband, former President Bill Clinton, has done far worse.
Opinion polls show that the accusations against Trump may be having an effect, as Clinton’s lead gradually widens. This prompted Trump to say in the last televised debate that the election campaign is rigged in Clinton’s favor, and that if she wins, he may not concede defeat. In more than 200 years no US presidential candidate has made similar statements, and both Democrats and Republicans have criticized Trump for threatening to violate the traditions of American elections.
The overall worsening of the tone of the 2016 presidential campaign has prompted a range of scholars and historians to question the health of American democracy.
Others respond that America’s political fights have sometimes been worse, citing the disastrous Civil War in the mid-19th century and the hot and cold wars of the 20th century. As the current campaign draws to a close, there is increased tension – but an apparent consensus that the strength of the nation will be sustained after the election on November 8.
