The US election, while shocking, was not a repudiation of democracy | Austin Sarat

Contributing sentiments towards policy:

71% : Sixty-five per cent of Trump voters said the most important thing about Trump was that he has "the ability to lead".
64% : That shift in sentiment benefited Trump.
58% : That is made clear by the fact that it now looks like Trump will win the popular vote as well as a substantial electoral college victory.
52% : " Trump was able to capitalize on the fact that only "28% of US adults are satisfied with the way democracy is working in the country."
44% : In a free and fair election, Trump prevailed not because democracy failed but because the people wanted him back in the White House.
43% : Importantly, that includes "87% of 2020 Trump voters". Those who were concerned about democracy and voted for Trump have a distinctive view of what is needed to fix our form of government.
41% : Abortion (14%) and immigration (11%) ranked as the next-most-important issues, while just 4% named foreign policy".
41% : They cast their ballots for him even though only 24% of them thought that Trump cares about people like them.
40% : We need to take a cold, hard look in the mirror and not be blinded by our own revulsion at Trump and all that he represents.
40% : Trump won them overwhelmingly." Moreover, 75% of the voters said that inflation had caused their family moderate or severe hardship.
34% : Like many others, I have spilled a lot of ink writing about the threat Trump poses to American freedom and the American way of life.
26% : Many Americans might think that Trump didn't destroy democracy the first time and that he said a lot of things that he did not do.
25% : Trump offered fear and hatred.
20% : " What was clear to commentators who warned that the election of Trump would be a body blow to American democracy was anything but clear to the electorate.
16% : As the Washington Post noted at the time, "more of them trust Trump to handle those threats than Biden.
10% : But it seems that Trump succeeded in muddying the waters by accusing the Biden/Harris administration of threatening democracy.

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