These details are often cited by those who challenge the election results - how could the cellar-dwelling candidate nobody gave a damn about possibly collect the most votes in history? But I warned all through the election not to underestimate the size of the Weary Biden vote.
https://twitter.com/ChrisStigall/status/1351132255448653827
All through the campaign, Trump supporters predicted a huge "Shy Trump" vote would turn out on Election Day and confound the pollsters. And they did! But as I feared, it turned into a heavyweight bout between the Shy Trump and Weary Biden votes.
Leaving aside the ongoing debates about ballot irregularities in some states, there was clearly a large pool of Biden voters who didn't care much about him, or even about politics overall. They were just tired of Trump drama, exhausted and demoralized from the pandemic.
They key to the election was the overwhelming desire to "return to normal." Biden didn't really have to prove he could do that. His campaign just needed people to believe Trump couldn't do it. Trump's campaign didn't adjust until far too late.
A lot of people are deeply cynical about politics in general, with very good reasons. The cynic vote was easy to turn against Trump. They didn't pay much attention to his solid accomplishments in office. For them it was all about the rhetoric and media coverage.
Some of the same forces underlying Mask Mania were at work too. People don't like to feel helpless and frustrated. They wanted to lash out, exert some control, make a statement against the pandemic. Voting against Trump was a means of doing that.
In the end, the heavyweight bout between Shy Trump and Weary Biden voters was very close - 60,000 voters in a few key states, something like that. But it seems inexplicable and baffling to observers who assume intensity of support is key to turnout, and turnout is everything.
Intensity and turnout are usually vital, but this time a lot of those Weary Biden voters were more energetic about voting against Trump than voting FOR him, and they weren't interested in turning out for big demonstrative public events. Voila - turnout without intensity.
Of course, there will be no talk of weak "mandates" or demands for "power-sharing." Biden will govern as if he won 90% of the vote, as Democrats always do, and the media always demands. The events of the past few weeks will give him even more power to rule, and suppress dissent.
And so the Weary Biden vote brings us the paradox of the most powerful statist government in our lifetimes - perhaps in all of U.S. history - installed by a maddening election where all of the visible enthusiasm was for the other candidate.
... followed, alas, by a Senate runoff where the weary and demoralized GOP voters stayed home. Joe Biden, the president nobody wanted, will bring you the almighty government you cannot refuse, and few will recall voting in favor of what is about to happen to America. /end
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