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Los Angeles Times

Los Angeles Times

As Trump's lead in popular vote shrinks, does he really have a 'mandate'?

Los Angeles Times
Summary
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74% Informative

The latest tally from the Cook Political Report shows Trump winning 49.83% of the popular vote, with a margin of 1.55% over Vice President Kamala Harris .

Scholars of American politics have long been skeptical of the idea of a presidential mandate.

Even if we accept the premise of a mandate, there is little consensus on when a candidate has achieved it.

In the last four decades , no president has won the popular vote by double digits.

But politicians including George W. Bush and Barack Obama have increasingly tried to justify their agendas by invoking public support.

When Trump speaks of his supposed mandate, he is not an outlier, but is drawing from bipartisan history.

VR Score

78

Informative language

75

Neutral language

39

Article tone

semi-formal

Language

English

Language complexity

53

Offensive language

not offensive

Hate speech

not hateful

Attention-grabbing headline

not detected

Known propaganda techniques

not detected

Time-value

short-lived

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