Electorate Tremors: The Era of the Angry Voter Is Upon Us

Voters are outraged about intense global competition that has put local factories and other workplaces on notice, reducing jobs and wages. Voters in democracies worry about losing control over communities, and they blame all facets of globalization. “The outrage is directed against elites in politics and in the business community, against the established political parties, against the ‘mainstream media,’ against free trade and, of course, against immigration,” notes an essay in Spiegel International. “In an era when increasingly complex free trade agreements or unknown EU commissioners are determining peoples' own living conditions, voters once again yearn for borders, national legislative control and closed economies.” The educated largely profit in a border-free world and the uneducated struggle. In an era of uncertainty and deepening inequality, voters have become unpredictable, too, and the essay points out the trends threaten democracy especially as perceptions emerge that political leaders have failed to deliver solutions. – YaleGlobal