About two-thirds of Canadians surveyed this month said American democracy cannot survive another four years of Donald Trump in the White House, and about half said the United States is on the way to becoming an authoritarian state, a poll released on Monday said.
The November U.S. election is likely to pit President Joe Biden against Trump, who is the clear frontrunner to win the Republican nomination as voting in the presidential primary race kicks off in Iowa on Monday.
Sixty-four percent of respondents in the Angus Reid Institute poll of 1,510 Canadians said they agreed with the statement: “U.S. democracy cannot survive another four years of Donald Trump.” Twenty-eight percent disagreed.
The Jan. 6, 2021 attack on Capitol Hill by Trump supporters seeking to block certification of Biden’s 2020 election win shocked many Canadians, and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau publicly blamed Trump for inciting the mob.
Not enough.
Tens of millions of Americans look at the choice between Biden and Trump and choose Trump. That’s insane.
It’s nearly half the US population that wants Trump in charge. That’s terrifying.
It’s also scary that a lot of the Americans who live in left-leaning states aren’t all that concerned. They somehow think that because their state is left-leaning and their neighbours share their political views, that somehow a second Trump presidency wouldn’t affect them much.
This is the death rattle of the most entitled, largest, generation in America. They do not care where America will be in 10 years because they won’t be alive and they think it’s hilarious. It’s a geriatric tantrum.
45-64 year olds only went for Biden by 1 percentage point in 2020, 49% for Trump, 50% for Biden. And for 30-44 year olds it was only 45% for Trump, 52% for Biden.
This isn’t just a problem with old people, even though they’re the only group that went for Trump overall. There are still a lot of younger people voting for Trump who won’t be dying off for decades. The people who voted for Trump are a slight minority and the minority will be getting smaller over time. But, many of them are hoping that the GOP will break the system so the minority can rule over the majority, even if that means no more democracy.
I think as long as there are two parties, elections in America will always be close. Add gerrymandering and violently polarizing rhetoric into the mix and you have our current situation. In regards to a solution, I don’t think there is one. America is a country founded on an unwavering belief in individualism. We often overlook the obviously correct decision instead deciding to take the “road less traveled” even if it makes zero sense to do so. Anything to be different! Americans also love to gamble and we view the obvious decision as having worse odds.