As one of the most thrilling elections ever in the United States heads toward denouement, reporters are starting to shuffle uneasily. Whoever becomes president, stories and faces behind the vote totals must be sought.
In 2016 that resulted in a massive migration to the quiet belt, the industrial states in the northern part of the US. Hillary Clinton had called the residents there deplorables, while Trump's Make America Great Again found enough resonance to help him win.
Around the steel mills in Erie County, Pennsylvania, and the ailing General Motors plant in Lordstown, Ohio, the answer had to be found as to why oppressed America had put a real estate mogul in the saddle. Heavy fellows in old-fashioned dinners weren't sure of a quiet breakfast because of journalists looking for the white working class, which was sometimes dismissively referred to as "Appalachian Safari." The motivation for this was genuine. That group of voters has been overlooked, in the news coverage, in the polls and in politics.
New route
The course of the current elections is plotting a new route. The warm jacket can stay at home. Florida, Texas and Arizona: the sun belt is now definitely the new center of gravity of America.
Of course, the industrial north also plays an important role in these elections. Trump's losses in Michigan and Wisconsin may cost him the presidency. Ultimately, though, everyone is keeping a close eye on Maricopa County, Arizona, and Clark County, Nevada, as the decisive places in identifying the White House resident. Florida and Texas were already clear on election night, although margins were narrow there too. Texas, like Florida, will be a crucial battleground state from now on, where candidates from both sides will have to campaign intensively. The road to Washington now runs with a long loop via the south.
The south is also home to new mysteries. The increased Latino support for Trump, for example, will lead to much research and articles, much like the white working class did before. Comprehensive explanations are not enough. Cuban and Venezuelan voters in Miami widely voted for Trump. In Arizona, Biden won the Latino vote by an overwhelming majority. Nevada voters are largely Hispanic migrants working in Las Vegas hotels. Each group has its own electoral dynamics. Dinner can be exchanged for the cantina.
Shift already underway
Looking back, this shift southward was already well underway. Trump's most likely opponent in the Republican primaries was Texas native Ted Cruz. Then the Democrats had their Texas wonder boy in the guise of Beto O'Rourke, who mobilized large groups of voters for their party. Both are young compared to Trump and Biden, and can shape their party for a long time to come.
Several recent political issues have been rooted in the states where many residents rarely see the mercury drop below 15 degrees during the day. The immigration debate centers on America's southern border, the site of Trump's controversial border wall. The future of America's fossil industry is determined in the south. Climate warming and water scarcity are also mainly affecting the south and must be resolved there first.
The residents of growth cities such as Phoenix, Arizona (home to the largest university in the US) and Houston, Texas (the `` prophetic city, '' according to researcher Stephen Klineberg in a book with this title) will shake their heads with compassion as the gaze shifts. farther south - they've long known they live in places that embody America's future. The sunny south is more diverse, more languages are spoken, and it receives most of the residents who come from elsewhere in America to work or to retire. Trump himself moved from New York to Florida last year.
Jobs
In the south, the number of jobs is growing and money is being made. Between 2000 and 2015, the number of jobs in North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Tennessee, Kentucky, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, and Texas combined increased by 13.5%. In the north, employment contracted by 1.3% in that period. The southern states have already had a greater share of the US economy than the northern ones in the last decade. This is a historic shift from the old twentieth-century industry to that of the twenty-first century: tech, healthcare, services. Politics in America is now slowly aligning with that reality. Trump vs. Biden was the last election with the twentieth century at stake, fought between two personalities belonging to that era.
https://fd.nl/weekend/1363493/deze-...n-amerika-definitief-zuidwaarts-is-verplaatst
