Dani Rodrik

Opinion | Joe Biden’s election win over Donald Trump obscures Democratic Party’s long-term issues

Their candidate won a record number of votes, but Democrats face criticism for not doing better and for policies seen as both too liberal and too conservative

Concerns over social issues and losing good jobs to technology and globalisation could come back to haunt Democrats if they remain unaddressed

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US President-elect Joe Biden and his family salute the crowd on stage in Wilmington, Delaware, on November 7. The surprising strength of the vote for sitting President Donald Trump suggests the Democratic Party’s celebrations could be short-lived. Photo: AFP

Dani Rodrik

Published: 1:30am, 11 Nov 2020Updated: 3:37am, 11 Nov 2020

As Joe Biden secured victory in the US presidential election after a few suspenseful days, observers of American democracy were left scratching their heads. Buoyed by polls, many expected a landslide for the Democrats, with the party capturing not only the White House but also the Senate.

How did US President Donald Trump manage to retain the support of so many Americans – receiving an even larger number of votes than four years ago – despite his blatant lies, evident corruption and disastrous handling of the pandemic?

The importance of this question goes beyond American politics. Centre-left parties everywhere are trying to revive their electoral fortunes against right-wing populists. Even though Biden is temperamentally a centrist, the Democratic Party platform has moved to the left – at least by American standards.

A decisive Democratic victory would have been a significant boost to the moderate left’s spirits. Perhaps all it takes to win is to combine progressive economic policies with attachment to democratic values and basic human decency.

The debate is already on about how Democrats could have done better. Unfortunately, their victory does not yield easy lessons. American politics revolves around two axes: culture and economics. On both sets of issues, there are those who fault Democrats for going too far and those who fault them for not going far enough.

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The culture wars pit the country’s socially conservative, predominantly white regions against diverse, metropolitan areas where so-called woke attitudes have risen to predominance. On one side we have family values, opposition to abortion and gun rights. On the other, we have LGBTQ rights, social justice and opposition to systemic racism.