As the world watches US election results come in, many people are anxious that national polls which have shown Joe Biden with a sizable lead for months will once again be shattered by a last-minute comeback from Donald Trump..
But this is not 2016. Donald Trump is not a reality TV star barnstorming the country with fresh promises to revive local economies and vanquish every imagined enemy. He is an impeached president whose record is a failed response to a global pandemic that has left America grieving unnecessary deaths and struggling to survive in an economy where the richest have seen their wealth increase while everyday Americans face eviction, hunger and loss of healthcare. However strong Trump may look to himself and his adoring crowds, he is politically weak.
Yes, Republicans have engaged in extreme efforts to suppress votes and will fight in court for days to come to have legitimately cast ballots thrown out. We who know that a dying mule always kicks the hardest must be vigilant. But we cannot forget our power.
Nearly 100 million Americans had already voted before polls opened this morning, promising a historic turnout. Of those who already voted in 2020, a quarter did not cast a ballot in 2016. Despite long lines and barriers that were designed to deter them, Americans are marching to the voting booth in 2020 as a broader and more diverse electorate than this nation has ever seen. With this demonstration of power, we have the capacity to not only elect new leadership, but also to demand that Democrats and Republicans address the needs of everyday Americans.
The Rev Dr William Barber is the co-chair of the Poor People’s Campaign and author of We Are Called to Be a Movement
Sarah Smarsh: ‘White working-class women are waking up’
I have an aunt who has turned over a bright new leaf in her 60s: where previously she waved off the election process as a rigged waste of time, she now is heavily invested in our political moment. A Democrat in a Republican-majority state, she had long felt that the electoral college meant her vote didn’t count in national elections. In recent years, though, she follows the news, eagerly discusses politics and votes with gusto.
In her home state of Kansas, which today has a Democratic governor and a neck-and-neck race for US Senate, an October poll showed Trump’s lead had shrunk to single digits from 20 points in 2016. Trump will likely win the state again, but local elections are in play for Democrats as “red” states across the country show signs of transformation.
Perhaps sensing that she is part of that shift, my aunt recently told me that her one regret in life was not having paid attention to politics sooner.
To my mind, it was not apathy but the unrelenting trials of her life – born into poverty and abuse, a single mother by age 15, decades in the underpaid food-preparation industry – that kept her sidelined in our democracy. Regardless, she takes responsibility for her actions, or lack thereof.
When my aunt told me about this one regret, it occurred to me that she, a real pistol with strong convictions who could argue you into the ground with a Bud Light in one hand and a smoke in the other, would have made a fine government official had she been born into better opportunities. Instead, her voice and so many like it were drowned out by the deafening grind of capitalism’s gears.
Today my aunt lives in a three-generation, biracial household and takes care of her grandson while her fortysomething daughter works at Target. She is pro-choice, anti-The Man. What woke her up to her own power, in large part? Witnessing Donald Trump’s ascent and despising everything he represents.
Polls have shown erosion of support for Trump among white working-class women. However, millions of white, working-class, eligible voters never voted at all – and should not be presumed conservative.
They are voting now. From my vantage, an inordinate number of liberally minded white working-class women, specifically, have decided against all messages to the contrary that their voices should be heard and that their votes might count. There is too much at stake to think otherwise.
Sarah Smarsh is a journalist and author. She lives in Kansas
William J Barber II: ‘We must remember our power’
As the world watches US election results come in, many people are anxious that national polls which have shown Joe Biden with a sizable lead for months will once again be shattered by a last-minute comeback from Donald Trump..
But this is not 2016. Donald Trump is not a reality TV star barnstorming the country with fresh promises to revive local economies and vanquish every imagined enemy. He is an impeached president whose record is a failed response to a global pandemic that has left America grieving unnecessary deaths and struggling to survive in an economy where the richest have seen their wealth increase while everyday Americans face eviction, hunger and loss of healthcare. However strong Trump may look to himself and his adoring crowds, he is politically weak.
Yes, Republicans have engaged in extreme efforts to suppress votes and will fight in court for days to come to have legitimately cast ballots thrown out. We who know that a dying mule always kicks the hardest must be vigilant. But we cannot forget our power.
Nearly 100 million Americans had already voted before polls opened this morning, promising a historic turnout. Of those who already voted in 2020, a quarter did not cast a ballot in 2016. Despite long lines and barriers that were designed to deter them, Americans are marching to the voting booth in 2020 as a broader and more diverse electorate than this nation has ever seen. With this demonstration of power, we have the capacity to not only elect new leadership, but also to demand that Democrats and Republicans address the needs of everyday Americans.
The Rev Dr William Barber is the co-chair of the Poor People’s Campaign and author of We Are Called to Be a Movement
Sarah Smarsh: ‘White working-class women are waking up’
I have an aunt who has turned over a bright new leaf in her 60s: where previously she waved off the election process as a rigged waste of time, she now is heavily invested in our political moment. A Democrat in a Republican-majority state, she had long felt that the electoral college meant her vote didn’t count in national elections. In recent years, though, she follows the news, eagerly discusses politics and votes with gusto.
In her home state of Kansas, which today has a Democratic governor and a neck-and-neck race for US Senate, an October poll showed Trump’s lead had shrunk to single digits from 20 points in 2016. Trump will likely win the state again, but local elections are in play for Democrats as “red” states across the country show signs of transformation.
Perhaps sensing that she is part of that shift, my aunt recently told me that her one regret in life was not having paid attention to politics sooner.
To my mind, it was not apathy but the unrelenting trials of her life – born into poverty and abuse, a single mother by age 15, decades in the underpaid food-preparation industry – that kept her sidelined in our democracy. Regardless, she takes responsibility for her actions, or lack thereof.
When my aunt told me about this one regret, it occurred to me that she, a real pistol with strong convictions who could argue you into the ground with a Bud Light in one hand and a smoke in the other, would have made a fine government official had she been born into better opportunities. Instead, her voice and so many like it were drowned out by the deafening grind of capitalism’s gears.
Today my aunt lives in a three-generation, biracial household and takes care of her grandson while her fortysomething daughter works at Target. She is pro-choice, anti-The Man. What woke her up to her own power, in large part? Witnessing Donald Trump’s ascent and despising everything he represents.
Polls have shown erosion of support for Trump among white working-class women. However, millions of white, working-class, eligible voters never voted at all – and should not be presumed conservative.
They are voting now. From my vantage, an inordinate number of liberally minded white working-class women, specifically, have decided against all messages to the contrary that their voices should be heard and that their votes might count. There is too much at stake to think otherwise.
Sarah Smarsh is a journalist and author. She lives in Kansas