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The World Ahead | United States in 2024

An unpopularity contest between Joe Biden and Donald Trump looms

The coming year is likely to bring even greater malaise among American voters

Image: Chantal Jahchan

By Idrees Kahloon

Ask voters how they really feel and you find that the state of America’s union is unusually dismal. In September 2023, when the Pew Research Centre asked Americans to reflect on their country’s politics, 65% of respondents said that they were always or often exhausted; 55% said they were typically driven to anger; just 10% expressed frequent flashes of hope; only 4% found themselves regularly excited. When asked to describe politics in a single word, many plumped for divisive, corrupt, messy or bad. The coming year is likely to bring even greater malaise.

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This article appeared in the United States section of the print edition of The World Ahead 2024 under the headline “Armageddon election”

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