Pandemic blog 39: pandemic election

Oh yeah, we had an election. Joe Biden won. I could have written about it but actually a lot of other people were also writing about it. I did do an interview for the Atlantic the day before Election Day, on how to think about “probabilities” as they apply to non-repeated events like elections.

COVID didn’t dampen turnout; in fact, it was the highest-turnout election since 1908. (Taftmentum!) A lot of people are interpreting this as a signal of the high level of interest in the election, and the high level of enthusiasm of Trump fans for Trump, and of Biden fans for flushing Trump. The enthusiasm is real! But also: millions of people voted by mail, many, like me, for the first time. And voting by mail is really easy and convenient! I wonder whether some people will keep doing it even when there’s no pandemic. (I don’t think I will; I usually vote early in-person at the library that’s a few blocks from my house, but if that option weren’t so convenient, I really might.)

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One thought on “Pandemic blog 39: pandemic election

  1. I think the Biden vote reflects the enthusiasm of Trump’s anti-fans rather than anything about fans of Biden. Or maybe you really think there were lots of Biden fans who are also fans of down-ballot Republicans.

    Universal voting by mail amounts to a rejection of the secret ballot and of personal identification of voters as essential. That’s a big change.

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