Too volatile to call
A year ago when Donald Trump announced that he would be running for president, most experts and pundits laughed off the notion of a Trump presidency. During the course of the campaign the same people have had to eat their words on numerous occasions due to the effectiveness of Trump’s campaign strategy that has given him a serious shot at winning.
The undeniable reality of this election is that both candidates are disliked with historically low approval ratings. Trump does not do himself any favours by continuously proving how unqualified he really is to be commander in chief, however that matters very little to his voter base that consists of mostly uneducated white males whose subliminal tendencies of racism, bigotry and violence have been brought to the surface by Trump’s campaign.
On the other hand there is Hilary Clinton who has run a more conventional campaign by sticking to issues and facts but the bane of her campaign remains the email scandal. In both cases it has been more about the controversy that has determined the poll numbers – not the primaries, conventions or debates.
Trump took a beating in the polls when a ‘hot mic’ recording of him surfaced where he is boasting about assaulting women and getting away with it due to his celebrity status. This came just before the second debate, followed by multiple women accusing him of sexually assaulting them. It seemed that the election was all but over when a fresh inquiry was opened by the FBI after finding another set of Clinton emails on the laptop of one of Hillary’s aides.
Democrats have shown legitimate outrage over the partisan attitude of FBI Director James Comey for opening an inquiry so close to the election-day. This election has displayed the extent of divisiveness in America but, more importantly, it has shown the power of media and technology to steer an election. The reach of the social media and the vulnerability of internet security has truly made this election too volatile to call.
