Some early thoughts on the American election results:
1) What Bradley effect? Obama won white men 57-41– that’s five points higher than Bush managed in 04. So much for the idea that this election would expose America’s racist underbelly. I wonder if those who have been banging on about it for the last few weeks will now ask if Obama’s “improbable journey” would have been possible in any European democracy?
2) No conservative wipeout. McCain looks like ending up on 47% of the national vote – a huge figure, given this has perhaps been the Republicans’ worst year for a generation. So we have almost half of America voting conservative – yet there will be a Obama-Biden White House and a Reid-Pelosi Congress. Such an imbalance should create the conditions for a conservative fightback in the 2010 midterm elections.
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