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The 2020 presidential election is over

The 2020 presidential election is over

We are now less than one month before the 2020 Presidential election – even less than three weeks.  More than fifty years of political involvement has taught me one truth at this stage of an election.  For all intents and purposes, it is over.  The results are baked in.

Oh, we will not know the results for several weeks – maybe even a long time after Election Day.  And yes, in politics anything can happen.  I mean, who expected Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg to die before the inauguration of the next President?  Who knew that the highly anticipated investigation of the investigators would result in nothing – no indictment and not even any regulatory discipline?  Who knew that emails would turn up implicating former Vice President Biden in a whopper of a lie about his son’s dealings in Ukraine?  Who could have predicted the Covid-19 Pandemic?

The vaccine card has already been played and there are no more Middle East treaties to be signed before Election Day.  The Covid-19 Pandemic will slough along, and the economy will continue to perform well, but without any significant developments.

More importantly, the number of undecided voters has shrunk to a precious few.  By the time you reach the last month of an election season, the vast majority of the voters (some 99 percent) will have already made up their minds.  They know who they will vote for even if the pollsters still see them as undecided.

If there is any unsettled issue, it is turnout.  Early voting and mail-in ballots suggest an extremely high interest in this year’s election.  Often in the past, we have heard of unusually high voter interest only to be disappointed in the final numbers.

Time after time, we have heard projections of a high turnout by younger voters.  So far, it has not happened.  We heard the same about minority voters.  It never came to pass.  Trump is President of the United States because there was a low turnout among young folks and blacks in the ghettoes of Scranton and Detroit.

Though Democrats like to blame voter suppression, the interesting statistic is that blacks turned out in higher numbers in the south, where the alleged voter suppression is supposed to be taking place.  But minorities in the inner cities stayed home in greater numbers – in places where Democrats have an unfettered ability to turn out the vote.

More than 12 million Americans have expressed a contempt for the campaigns by voting early.  They have no interest in any new developments or any October surprises – and besides, October is half over.  These folks are not going to respond to literature drops, television advertising or robocalls because they have ended their curiosity and consideration.  They have voted.  For them, the election is over.

Current prognostication suggests that Biden is ahead, but there is no way of knowing.  We can conjecture about the outcome and engage in rude social media exchanges all we like, but it no hace diferencia.   The election is essentially over – at least in the collective hearts and minds of the American people.

So, who is going to win?  I have no idea.  Listening to the pundits is an exercise in futility because they will make their predictions based on political biases and wishful thinking.  A better indicator is the Las Vegas bettors.  Unlike the talking heads on television, these gamblers are putting their money where their mouths are. The gamblers are risking real money on the outcome.

If you expect to get insight from the gamblers this year, you will be disappointed.  While there is movement on a day-to-day basis, the gamblers are rating the campaign as a tossup.  Despite all the constant anti-Trump news reports emanating from the Fourth Estate, the gamblers give the President a 50/50 chance of spending the next four years in the Oval Office.

This year’s election is now like the Oscars.  The winners have already all been decided by the people, but we must wait for the envelope to be opened to see who those winners are.  And the opening of that envelope next month is likely to be a long and controversial process – especially if the vote for President is very close.

Unless you are among those operatives who are charged with getting out the vote, you can sit back, switch to the Disney Channel and relax.  The 2020 election is already decided.

So, there ‘tis.

Editor’s Note: Larry’s opinion notwithstanding, several of us at Punching Bag believe there are many surprises still in the works.

Cheers, Joe G.

About The Author

Larry Horist

So, there ‘tis… The opinions, perspectives and analyses of businessman, conservative writer and political strategist Larry Horist. Larry has an extensive background in economics and public policy. For more than 40 years, he ran his own Chicago based consulting firm. His clients included such conservative icons as Steve Forbes and Milton Friedman. He has served as a consultant to the Nixon White House and travelled the country as a spokesman for President Reagan’s economic reforms. Larry professional emphasis has been on civil rights and education. He was consultant to both the Chicago and the Detroit boards of education, the Educational Choice Foundation, the Chicago Teachers Academy and the Chicago Academy for the Performing Arts. Larry has testified as an expert witness before numerous legislative bodies, including the U. S. Congress, and has lectured at colleges and universities, including Harvard, Northwestern and DePaul. He served as Executive Director of the City Club of Chicago, where he led a successful two-year campaign to save the historic Chicago Theatre from the wrecking ball. Larry has been a guest on hundreds of public affairs talk shows, and hosted his own program, “Chicago In Sight,” on WIND radio. An award-winning debater, his insightful and sometimes controversial commentaries have appeared on the editorial pages of newspapers across the nation. He is praised by audiences for his style, substance and sense of humor. Larry retired from his consulting business to devote his time to writing. His books include a humorous look at collecting, “The Acrapulators’ Guide”, and a more serious history of the Democratic Party’s role in de facto institutional racism, “Who Put Blacks in That PLACE? -- The Long Sad History of the Democratic Party’s Oppression of Black Americans ... to This Day”. Larry currently lives in Boca Raton, Florida.

4 Comments

  1. Old Sarge

    The diehard party voters have made their choice long ago. They will vote the party line no matter what. They will refuse to listen to anything else. Many would be willing to vote for the one who will lead us into the next holocaust as long as he/she was in their chosen party. I know many such people. They go to the voting booth, vote the straight ticket, deposit their ballot and go home. They don’t even read the proposals because they are written in Legalese. A language they don’t understand.

    • Thomas Owen

      Well hopefully these people with for the Republicans. I would vote for Sanders before I would vote for Biden. You know the system has been corrupted when they have an old senile, lying, subversive greasy scum running in Biden. Harris sucks too.

  2. nikki sanders

    In my County they are already opening the absentee & early votes. I am very concerned this has “locked in” those whose ballots were “harvested” who might wish to show up Nov 3 to vote in person. Now their ballot is comingled with thousands of others & cannot be located to be withdrawn.

  3. Tommie

    I knew about the Biden’s since mid 2019….. Nobody would listen….. Watch “Riding the Dragon” on YouTube….. By Peter Schwiezer…..(?) Very eye-opening..