The 2020 Presidential Election Verdict. Issue 2 (22nd April 2021)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Burden, Barry C.
• Is Part Of: Presidential studies quarterly. Volume 51:Issue 2(2021)
• Page Start: 244
• Page End: 272
• Publication Date: 2021-04-22
• Subjects: Executive power -- United States -- Periodicals; Presidents -- United States -- Periodicals; 320.473
• DOI: 10.1111/psq.12715
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0360-4918

Abstract

Abstract: President Donald Trump entered the 2020 campaign with liabilities that made his reelection bid daunting. Despite an enthusiastic support base, Trump was soundly defeated in both the popular vote and the Electoral College. Trump's perceived mismanagement of the coronavirus pandemic and uprisings over racial inequality prevented him from altering the trajectory of the campaign that had been set in his first election. A unified Democratic Party rallied behind former Vice President Joseph Biden as the candidate most likely to defeat Trump and restore normalcy. Although Republicans fared reasonably well in subpresidential races, the verdict of voters resulted in the rare removal of an incumbent party after just 4 years in the White House.