The stakes of democracy are always high. Yet, the 2020 election carries a weight that American voters have not felt in decades. With 230,000 COVID deaths in eight months, an economic recession that parallels the Depression era, unnaturally powerful and devastating fires, hurricanes, and storms, a contentious Supreme Court nomination and nasty constitutional disputes, the weight of a vote feels unusually heavy. Every voter has something at stake.
Although so much is on the line, our two potential outcomes remain relatively unclear. How long will it take to count mail-in ballots? Would the president accept a loss? What happens if the election goes to the courts? Most importantly, how does America begin to rebuild after a year of death, disease, racial injustice, economic fallout, record-breaking political polarization and partisan divide, and overall exhaustion? What does life after the 2020 election look like?
Clare Malone
Senior Political Writer, FiveThirtyEight
Jeremi Suri, Ph.D.
Mack Brown Distinguished Chair for Leadership in Global Affairs, The University of Texas at Austin, and author, "The Impossible Presidency: The Rise and Fall of America's Highest Office"
Dan Moulthrop
CEO, The City Club of Cleveland
