Democratic States and Undemocratic Outcomes; The US Election in Perspective

In recent times, democracy in the United States of America has been increasingly eroded by a variety of systemic inconsistencies. The 2020 election is the most recent in a long list of political failures, each arising from the deeply undemocratic outcome of practices touted as upholding democratic values. This paper hopes to analyse how the results (and conditions) of the election were indicative of (i) erosion of state legitimacy (ii) mounting partisanship and polarisation, or the party obsession with power and ideological control and (iii) gerrymandering; or the splitting of congressional districts to benefit a specific political party. This paper also aims to establish that fair election conditions are the backbone of a liberal democracy, and that so far as the conditions of America suffer from the aforementioned ailments, the 2020 election and indeed all future elections will become increasingly undemocratic, leading to the inevitable deterioration of America’s political environment.