November 2020 Volume 2

WASHINGTON UPDATE

2020 Election: Where Do We Stand Now? By SteveHaro, MehlmanCastagnetti Rosen & Thomas

eight percent among Black voters in 2016. In several key states, Trump's showing among Latinos likely delivered him victory: in Florida, Biden won Latinos 52 to 47 percent (Clinton won by 27-points in 2016); in Texas, Latinos chose Biden over Trump by 19 points, which is a significant decline from Clinton's 27-point margin in 2016. • Trump won 57 percent of the white vote, which is the same percentage he won in 2016. • Thirty-five percent of voters said that the economy was the most important issue in deciding their vote. Of those voters, the president won 65 percent. • Biden and Trump tied among white voters with college degrees, while Trump won white voters without college degrees by 29 points (in 2016, he won this demographic by 37 points). • The two candidates effectively tied among all men 49 percent (Trump) to 48 percent (Biden). In 2016, Trump beat Clinton by 11 points among men. • Women chose Biden over Trump by 13 points, which is the same margin of Clinton’s victory in 2016. • Biden won seniors by one point: 49 to 48 percent. • Among voters who made their presidential choice in October or later (11 percent of the electorate), Trump won by 16 points (51 percent Trump/35 percent Biden/14 percent third-party candidate). • There were more “shy Trump voters” than “shy Biden voters.” Nineteen percent of Trump voters said they kept their support for Trump a secret frommost of their friends, compared to just eight percent of Biden voters. Senate Going intoNovember 3rd, Republicans controlled the United States Senate by amargin of 53 to 47. As of this writing, Republicans turned one seat (Alabama) and Democrats turned two (Colorado and Arizona) bringing the total to 50 Republicans and 48 Democrats. Both races in Georgia did not manage to have a candidate reach 50 percent plus one of the vote, which means that both seats will

We are a divided country … and it’s hard to see us unifying anytime soon . That is one of the key lessons to be garnered from our national election on November 3, 2020. Votes are still being counted and congressional races still have yet to be called, but as of this writing, Joe Biden has defeated President Trump, the United States House of Representatives will remain in Democratic hands (albeit with a smaller majority) and the United States Senate will likely remain in Republican hands (albeit with a smaller majority). Divided government will continue. What that means for policy is tough to define at this point, but we’ll do our best to try. First, let’s break down the elections and what was on Americans’ minds as they cast their votes. Then we’ll take a look at potential policies Washington could tackle as we close out 2020 and start 2021. What Happened: Record Turnout, Close Races White House If everything holds as it currently stands, the Electoral College map will shake out to be 306 to 232 in favor of Joe Biden, which is the same Electoral College count in 2016 when President Trump won. Biden won all the 2016 Clinton states and managed to flip Wisconsin, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Arizona, Nebraska-2 and likely Georgia (GA has not been called yet and is likely headed to a recount); while Trump flipped Maine-2. Joe Biden has received the highest number of votes of any presidential candidate in the history of the United States (75,624,101 so far) with Donald Trump receiving the second-highest number of votes ever (71,225,055 so far). Votes continue to be counted. An estimated 66.4 percent of eligible voters cast a ballot (that number will likely increase as votes continue to be counted), which is the highest voter turnout since 1900. It’s important to note here that in 1900 when 73.7 percent of eligible voters went to the polls, women were still not allowed to vote. On the minds of Americans & how the presidential vote broke down: • Trump won 32 percent of Latino voters and 12 percent of Black voters. Compare that to Trump's 28 percent among Latinos and

FIA MAGAZINE | NOVEMBER 2020 7