9 November 2016
The election of Donald Trump as America’s 45th president has strong parallels to Brexit but the impact will be much bigger, in Europe and the world. One main reason for the surprise at the polls was the participation of people who in the past had rarely voted. That is a lesson that could echo all over Europe, where the Italians will hold a constitutional referendum next month, the Austrians will vote for president and the French are about to hold a presidential primary among centre-right candidates. “It’s no longer ‘the economy, stupid,’ it’s ‘identity, stupid,’” said Professor Tim Bale. “What we are seeing here is what we saw in the Brexit referendum, which is that identity and cultural politics are even bigger determinants of people’s politics than we thought possible.”
