The Wall That Trump Torn Down: How a Newcomer to Politics Did What Republicans Couldn't Do Before Him

Political life in the United States revolves around two main parties - the Democratic and the Republican. And control of the White House over the past 40 years has more often gone into the hands of the former. All this thanks to the so-called blue wall.

Photo: Shutterstock

Indirect presidential election system, when a candidate who gets even one vote more than his opponent receives the support of 100% of the electors from the state, it allows to divide the regions into red (where the Republican always wins) and blue (where the Democrat constantly wins). There are also wavering states that usually decide the outcome of an election.

American political experts often use the term "blue wall". It is used to refer to the 18 states in the United States and the District of Columbia in which the Democratic Party consistently won presidential elections from 1992 to 2012. George W. Bush was the only Republican president elected during this time and was able to collect the majority of the electoral college votes in 2000 and 2004, winning only in states outside the blue wall. The wall is easy to see in the infographics of the 2004, 2008 and 2012 election results.

Infographics: ForumDaily

Infographics: ForumDaily

Infographics: ForumDaily

Blue Wall States (in descending order of population, current electoral votes are shown in parentheses): California (55), New York (29), Illinois (20), Pennsylvania (20), Michigan (16) , New Jersey (14), Washington (12), Massachusetts (11), Maryland (10), Minnesota (10), Wisconsin (10), Oregon (7), Connecticut (7), Hawaii (4), Maine ( 4), Rhode Island (4), Delaware (3), Vermont (3), and District of Columbia (3). This is a total of 242 votes. That is, to win, you still need to win 28 votes in the vacillating states. Often one or two regions are enough for this.

The wall that Trump destroyed

But Donald Trump broke the blue wall. Apparently, he needed building materials to create a wall on the border with Mexico 🙂

During the 2016 presidential election, many political experts suggested that it was the “blue wall” that gave Hillary Clinton the right to be considered a serious favorite in the race. However, Republican candidate Donald Trump was able to win (albeit by a small margin) in three blue wall states - Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, and he also managed to take 1 electoral vote in Maine. He's also part of the blue wall, but he divides his votes among district winners rather than the entire state. As a result, he was elected president with 304 electoral votes.

Infographics: ForumDaily

The last time before 2016 any of these states voted for the Republican nominee, when George W. Bush defeated Michael Dukakis in 1988, taking over California, Illinois, Pennsylvania, Michigan, New Jersey, Maryland, Connecticut, Maine, Delaware and Vermont ... In Minnesota, the GOP nominee has not won since 1972. The District of Columbia has voted for the Democratic nominee in all elections since joining the electoral college in 1964.

It is difficult to say what caused this election outcome: the contradictory figure of Clinton, who was not liked by all supporters of the Democrats; or, nevertheless, the atypical campaign and unusual behavior of Donald Trump for politics, which prompted some to support him in place of the professional politician Clinton. The issue of gender should also not be ruled out.

"I think American voters are more sexist than racist," saidVoice of America“Michael Steele, who made history in 2002 by becoming the first African American to be elected to a state leadership position.

“In the case of Barack Obama, we saw that they preferred a black man over a white woman,” he recalls, referring to the 2008 election, when Obama overtook Hillary Clinton in the Democratic nomination.

Be that as it may, but the democratic "blue wall" fell under the onslaught of Trump.

Biden rebuilt the wall

In the 2020 elections, judging by preliminary voting results, Democrats managed to revive the wall. Joe Biden collected the votes of all the traditional 18 democratic states, some of which lost Clinton 4 years ago, and also managed to join the traditionally red Arizona and, possibly, Georgia (now there count the votes due to the too small gap between the candidates, but according to preliminary data after the first count, Biden won there).

Infographics: ForumDaily

Trump disputes Biden's win in many of these states, saying the Democrat took away "traditionally red areas," but in reality Biden returned a "blue wall" to Democrats. Only Arizona and, possibly, Georgia “repainted” this year.

Again, it is difficult to say what caused the restoration of the blue wall. Perhaps this is Biden's compromise candidacy, who has been in politics for a long time, and, as insiders say, is sympathetic even to many Republicans. Or perhaps too harsh and bellicose statements by Trump, which alienated some of the more liberal supporters from him.

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