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William Otis's avatar

My guess is that people voted for the status quo, not because they like it, but because they believed the alternative was probably going to be worse. This is not a particularly cheerful comment on the quality of candidates, but it's certainly not irrational.

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skyzyks's avatar

You should have ended your essay with the penultimate paragraph. You simplified too much and wandered away from the core of it in the last paragraph.

Given increasing polarization of the electorate coupled with a significantly increased number of non-competitive congressional districts, not incidental to the rise of foot-voting, the political landscape resembles the barren landscapes surrounding the entrenched armies at Verdun in 1916. The advance of each side is checked by the other. Each side then blames the other and both sides find the current state abhorrent. Both sides are correct. This has been building for the better part of 20 years through 4 presidents. Biden and Trump are simply the denouement.

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