This year’s US presidential election campaign has broken the mould, apparently. Never before have two ‘anti-establishment’ candidates in the shape of Donald Trump and Bernie Sanders put up such a challenge, one securing his party’s nomination and the other coming close to doing so. It is all a symptom of the ‘anti-politics’ mood that has swept Western democracies.
There is just one thing wrong with this analysis. If Americans are so fed up with the established parties, why is there no credible third party candidate who is going to come within an ace of challenging the two main candidates? It ought to be a golden opportunity for outsiders. Not only is there apparently an ‘anti-politics’ mood, but Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump constitute possibly the least appealing duo at any election in modern times. Both are deeply disliked within their own parties, not to mention among the US population as a whole.
Yes, I know there are plenty of other candidates to choose from – dozens will be standing here and there across the country.
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