Biden or Trump: What do Europeans think?

[Arkitect]

So a YouGov survey came up with this…

Minority of Europeans think US election will be free and fair

…in Britain, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, Spain and Sweden, in only one of these countries – Italy – are more than a tenth of voters confident that the American electoral process will prove irreproachable.

In the other six, support for the view that the 3 November elections will be “completely free and fair” ranges from 2% in Germany to 7% in Spain. In no country do more than 44% feel the vote will even be “completely or mostly” free and fair.

In years gone by the split would have been more even, I suspect even G. W. Bush had broader appeal.

Then came Trump. Mr Chaos. Mr Rage.
And we over here on the other side of the Atlantic now doubt the fairness and freedom of a US election. A US election.

 

[Thomas Veil]

I’ve thought more than once that this country needs international election monitors.

Yeah, us.

 

[Alli]

I keep waiting for @Scepticalscribe to announce that she’s been invited over to monitor us.

 

[Scepticalscribe]

So a YouGov survey came up with this…

Minority of Europeans think US election will be free and fair



In years gone by the split would have been more even, I suspect even G. W. Bush had broader appeal.

Then came Trump. Mr Chaos. Mr Rage.
And we over here on the other side of the Atlantic now doubt the fairness and freedom of a US election. A US election.

Yes, this shredding of the international reputation - as a standard bearer for democracy and democratic values - of the US is one of the most startling and unsettling things about the effects of the appalling administration of the corrosively corrupt and utterly repellant Mr Trump.

I’ve thought more than once that this country needs international election monitors.

Yeah, us.

Agreed.

However, potential political unrest apart, compelling health concerns re Covid (and insurance considerations) mean that many western governments are reluctant to send monitors/observers to the US.

 

[Scepticalscribe]

I keep waiting for @Scepticalscribe to announce that she’s been invited over to monitor us.

I was invited to put my name forward for selection in early August and declined to do so.

Usually, I wouldn't have been selected for an EOM (election observation mission) in the US - and there is no guarantee that I would have been selected on this occasion, either.

Normally, observing an election in the the US would have been seen as "an easy gig", not physically dangerous and not politically unstable, - however, neither of those conditions apply this year - and therefore, the monitors or observers chosen would usually be older, experienced, (usually male) who are also often, dare one say it, "well placed", well connected, frequently parliamentarians, whose experience is legitimate and necessary, but who are rarely sent on what are euphemistically termed "challenging" election observation missions.

In general, I am not chosen for "easy" elections - it would be seen as a waste of resources; however, this year, the election in the US is anything but easy.

Not only is it physically dangerous (on account of the pandemic, it is more dangerous than almost any other western country, and health care or treatment costs for observers who fall ill could be stratospheric), but it is politically unstable, with no guarantee of a "free or fair" election, no guarantee of a correct (and credible) count, and no guarantee that one side will accept the results without seeking to trigger political unrest and possibly violence.

Actually, should a monitoring body such as the OSCE/ODIHR issue a "preliminary report" (issued the day after the election with initial findings, usually around six weeks to two months in advance of the formal 'final report') with findings at variance with the wishes of the incumbent, I would expect that - given that neither Mr Trump nor Mr Pence have stated that they will respect the outcome of the election (which I presume they now, if only privately, probably expect to lose) - that it is possible that the safety of election monitors/observers may not be guaranteed, and they could be threatened, which would call for a immediate evacuation.

Ironically, (given that a revolution is taking place there at the moment), I was once evacuated at an hour's notice, from the third city of Kyrgyzstan (Jalalabad) where I had spent a few months in a senior position while observing the election of 2011, when violence (which I believe was stirred up and fomented with a view to extracting concessions from the victors - i.e. it looked worse than it was, but our superiors were quite correct in choosing to order our evacuation, had my analysis not been correct, the consequences could have been ugly) broke out immediately after an election.

 

[Huntn]

So a YouGov survey came up with this…

Minority of Europeans think US election will be free and fair



In years gone by the split would have been more even, I suspect even G. W. Bush had broader appeal.

Then came Trump. Mr Chaos. Mr Rage.
And we over here on the other side of the Atlantic now doubt the fairness and freedom of a US election. A US election.

Sadly I’m with you. Less than a month remains before we’ll know if there is a correction.

There are completely, disheartening, shocking events taking place In the US at the hands of a despicable human being, still functioning as a half-assed careening, raving lunatic POTUS, who is incompetent, ignorant, racist, inept, destructive, and completely corrupt and self serving with the help of a host of politically motivated enablers. That would be the GOP If you are wondering.

The election of President Trump has done more damage to this Nation, than any other single event In our lifetime, as one of our major political parties break bad, rejecting, but then adapting to the Head Conman, trying to poison us, and bringing out the absolute worst in our nature such as White Supremicists and Red Hats spouting bull shit phrases designed to undermine and tear us down collectively, with their Koolaid toasts and Armageddon visions.

His words are poison, everything he touches withers and dies, yet he who has been hoisted into the position of power by millions of losers*, not a majority, but enough to make you wonder just who in the hell those dipshit, asshole psychos are, enough of them there to shatter your view of just what makes for a responsible, major, nuclear equipped country. “Are they fucking insane ???” you might ask. Is our existence as the major species on the planet in jeopardy?

* Losers (noun plural)
lu-zer
1: Selfish, myopic, and hypocritical when self benefit is perceived.
2: Can possess wealth but be so self centered, willing to profit at others expense, to a point where a breakdown of society may occur, yet whose only metric of the health of the Nation Is the stock market.
3: Working class who vest themselves in a lying conman to help them out of their economic woes.
4: Hypocrites who claim to support democracy and the US Constitution while actively undermining it, and supporting Facism by promoting disrespect for rules, laws, morals and established authority.
5: Christians who mouth Jesus, but practice The Devil.

 

[Scepticalscribe]

I have just been taking a look at the OSCE/ODIHR site, the election observation arm of the OSCE.

They have an EOM (election observation mission) team in the US, but it is woefully understaffed, in terms of numbers, in terms of 'experience', and in terms of possible political "heft" or "weight".

Apart from France (who have sent a few at Core Team, i.e. federal level) and Germany (who have sent observers at LTO - i.e. state level), there are no observers from western Europe, - some of the heavy hitters there would be the Scandinavians, the Brits, Irish, Dutch, - presumably because their governments declined to submit names for nomination (as mine did).

The most senior positions - which would observe at federal level - are contracted, and I had been invited to submit an application (but declined); the next level down, state level, - which is where I have served in several elections, and where names are submitted by your sending authority, i.e. government, thus, you are seconded, has just 30 names, almost all- with a few exceptions from Germany - from eastern Europe, (not juts Poland, but also Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia), or some of the states of the former Soviet union (Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan) .

There are fifty states, and observers work in pairs; for Russia, in 2016, we had all of the "oblasts" covered and a team of around seventy LTOs, not 30.

There will be no STOs - Short Term Observers - who travel for around ten days to a fortnight - the people who actually visit PS on E-Day, and who also observe the count.

The NAM (Needs Assessment Mission) which the OSCE sent to the US early in the summer to determine what sort of election observation mission would be recommended, concluded by recommending that an election observation mission be sent to the US comprising of 100 LTOs (which would be around right - there are fifty states after all, although not all are of equal size (geographically, or population wise), or importance, though I would have recommended perhaps 110 LTOs - they have 30 - and 400 STOs (it seems that they have none).

 

[Huntn]

On this topic, Trump is the largest single threat to voter rights in the US we have ever witnessed.

• If I lose the election it’s rigged.
• Send watchers to polls to seek out corruption, you know it’s there. (Paraphrased)
• Efforts to undermine the US Postal Service.
• Asserting mail in voting is inherently fraudulent.
• Vote twice!
• I’m against mail in ballots unless it’s in a State that likes me. And btw, I‘m using the mail to vote! (Paraphrased)
• Probably more to add.