The message from the 2020 election? The US still stands divided | Martin Kettle

Few saw this knife-edge US election result coming. But no one can say they weren’t warned. Overall, the 2020 election bears a striking resemblance to the one that took so many by surprise four years ago. The belief that 2020 would be decisively different from 2016 turns out to have been based on a very human but ultimately very foolish triumph of hope over experience. In politics, we have been reminded, hope is not power.

Four years ago, as now, the pointed pretty consistently in one direction. Then, as now, the results did not reflect their confidence. That’s certainly the fault, in part, of . But the polls never intend to get the result wrong. They have a vested