If people agree it was tumultuous why was the race still so close?
I really think adding little adjectives like that undermines the respectedness of the NYT
I really think adding little adjectives like that undermines the respectedness of the NYT
It wasn't all that close. Of six elections (including this one) since 2000, at least 3 and possibly 4 (votes are still being counted) were closer in popular vote, and 3 were closer in electoral vote (based on what has been called so far, regardless of how the uncalled states go.
But it was particularly actively contested, with both high turnout and high passions on both sides, which is exactly what “tumultuous” means.
The fact some previous was closer, doesn't mean this one wasn't close, not sure how we even need to point this out on a site like hackernews.
We didn't wait for days because it was close; races which were much closer were called much sooner.
We waited because calls are made by projections, which are based on statistical extrapolation, which are sensitive to patterns of comparable comparable ballots, and the high mail in count and partisan divide in mail-in ballot usage made projection much more difficult than it normally is.
> Biden has ~50.6%, if that's not close I don't know what is.
A >3 percentage point margin isn't close by standards that make any sense applied to US Presidential elections.
That said, even if it was particularly close, the bigger point is that that wouldn't be evidence that it wasn't tumultuous, since “tumultuous” isn't in any way opposed to “close”. That it also wasn't particularly close is a secondary issue.
Furthermore tumultuous does not equate to unpopular. Perhaps his supporters enjoy the chaos.
There is no doubt that Trump's presidency was tumultuous and there is no doubt that the race was indeed quite close.
News and media has manufactured consent and outrage since their inception.
They're directly responsible for uncovering heinous crimes and for causing them.
Any choice in publishing one news is simultaneously an active a choice in not publishing another. Furthermore, there is not one singular truth to report in the vast majority of news, in particular of political nature.
The solution is not to find another news outlet that feels more like truth. Instead, find a few different news outlets and understand their biases.