The American presidential elections are tests of public opinion, which ask of those who do happen to vote a startlingly simple question: why should I support this candidate rather than that one? The normal answer under normal circumstances has invariably been: because I share the candidate’s prejudices and will thus vote for him – never her; because he looks and talks like a president, and is likely to make me and my nearest and dearest feel safer, more secure, and hopefully better off.
It also helps a candidate’s chances – or at least the incumbent’s – if the US happens to be engaged in a just war against a ruthless and aggressive enemy. America after all is a nation of patriots, and as such is more likely to fall in behind a president leading the country at a time of national emergency, as President George Bush most obviously is.
