And they’re off! US election campaign begins

It has been almost 17 months since Hillary Clinton launched her latest attempt to become president of the United States. Both of America’s major parties have since held months of debates, primaries and conventions to choose and present their candidates for November’s general election.

‘I am at least somewhat sure this presidential election has been going on since Hannibal’s elephants crossed the Alps,’ wrote Emma Roller of The New York Times yesterday. But only now, in the first week of September, has the official campaign period begun.

The next two months will be bitter. Donald Trump is an unpredictable alpha male who has no experience of elected office. Clinton, the first female nominee from a major party, is an experienced politician supported by an enormous staff and ‘the greatest fundraising machine ever’.

Polls suggest they may be the two most unpopular presidential candidates in history, and both faced stinging criticism as the campaign opened. Last week the FBI issued a report on Clinton’s ‘extremely careless’ handling of classified information. The report included evidence that she, or those acting for her, may have unlawfully destroyed federal records.

And yesterday the UN’s human rights chief compared populists like Trump to Islamic State. Zeid Ra’ad al-Hussein accused them of the ‘banality of bigotry’ and said they sought ‘to recover a past that in reality, did not exist anywhere, ever’.

The candidates are expected to split voters sharply by gender, age, race and education. With both sides desperate to win, engagement has risen. Activity on Facebook has quadrupled and the audience for some political debates on TV more than trebled compared to the 2012 election.

But all this has arguably polarised opinions further. Clinton has faced pressure from the far left, while Trump’s candidacy has been accompanied by the rise of the ‘alt-right’ — a disparate online movement, a few of whose participants promote white supremacist views.

Endgame

Some say the process will debase political debate. Trump is a simplistic demagogue and Clinton is an uninspiring alternative. The election is unleashing extremists and dividing voters by who they are, rather than what they believe. Whoever wins, America will emerge divided, weaker and damaged by an aggressive, negative campaign.

Ignore the pessimism, say others. Real politics is not always pretty, nor should it be. Above all it needs to be open and vigorous. Middle ground politicians all sound the same and turn people off. This race will be a chance to choose between two massively different world views. It could be the best thing that has happened to Western democracy this century.