Election day: everything you need to know
(Luca Angelini from the «Prima Ora» newsletter) America goes to the vote today and, writes Massimo Gaggi in his editorial, «in the most contested elections of the post-war period, the United States is at stake, in addition to the White House and control of Congress, a substantial part of the stability of the institutions and the credibility of their democracy. Whatever the outcome of the vote, as long as it is clear and uncontested, the Americans and the West will have to get used to a superpower in trouble in carrying out the role it has had so far in the world or which could even dramatically change course”.
Correspondent Viviana Mazza adds that both contenders, Kamala Harris e Donald Trumpthey presented the challenge as «one apocalyptic clasha existential battle». Proving that America remains more polarized than ever and, as political scientist Ian Bremmer fears, «the post-election period is particularly dangerous, as almost half of the country will consider the result illegitimate. Regardless of who wins, tens of millions of Americans will find evidence that their political system is broken. And they’re not entirely wrong. While America’s economic and geopolitical fundamentals are resilient, its political dysfunction will reverberate around the world».
It is therefore not surprising that the world itself – not just the Western world – is a rather interested spectator, as Paolo Valentino recalled. Even more so since, up until the end, the polls gave the contest between Harris and Trump as one among the most balanced ever. «All measurements are within the margin of error – confirms Andrea Marinelli -. From the poll averages, the former Republican president seems to have a slight advantage, but the findings of the last three days show the vice president’s rebound after weeks of fogging.” There are seven “swing States”, those which, given the complex electoral system, can decisively tip the scales to one side or the other: Wisconsin, Michigan, Pennsylvania, North Carolina, Arizona, Georgia e Nevada. We will also need to keep an eye on the turnout because, writes Mazza, “a lot will depend on the number of voters”.low-propensity» (who have never voted or who usually don’t) who will actually go to the polls».
Each state has its own voting and counting systems, so it is impossible to predict what time the name of the winner will be known with certainty. The most pessimistic hypothesis is that it could take daysif there will be problems in the counting or if recounts will be requested (in 2020, Biden was proclaimed winner only on Saturday, after the assignment of Pennsylvania; in 2016, however, at 3 in the morning in Italy it was clear that Trump would become president, with the victory in Wisconsin).
To complicate matters, Americans will also vote to renew all 435 seats in the Housewhere the mandate lasts two years, and one third of the Senatethis year 34 seats, where the mandate lasts six. The possibility that the new occupant of the White House finds himself with a hostile majority in Congress (today the House has a Republican majority and the Senate a Democratic majority) is anything but remote, given that in both houses a turnaround. Then there are those up for grabs 11 governor’s chairsthousands of state and local offices, and as 150 reference: citizens will be called to express their opinion on abortion in 10 states, in particular in the swing states of Arizona and Nevada, in 4 on the legalization of marijuana and in Arizona to approve more stringent measures on immigration.
Il Courier will accompany you on all its platforms starting late today. In addition to the constant updates on / from the correspondents and the editorial team, as the first results arrive, there is a long live broadcast on CorriereTv visible from the site’s homepage, on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and YouTube. On Instagram and TikTok there will then be a story of the night in the Foreign editorial office, which will close a first edition at midnight, a second at 3 and a third exclusively digital dedicated to subscribers which will be visible on the Corriere app starting at 7am tomorrow morningmore or less at the time when the First Hour will also arrive. The America-China newsletter due out at 1.30pm will be entirely dedicated to the vote. The daily podcast «Giorno per Giorno» will also have a second special edition, available on the website and on all podcast platforms, tomorrow from 5pm.
