In the 2020 election some Democrats, buoyed by misleading polls and their own hopes, believed that Joe Biden might win a landslide. But a quick look at recent history reveals how improbable those predictions were.
We live in an era of closely contested presidential elections without precedent in the past century. During the past nine contests stretching back to 1988, not one candidate has won by a landslide—a margin defined as 10 percentage points or more in the popular vote. …
By the standards of the past three decades, Joe Biden won a substantial though not overwhelming victory. CONTINUED
William A. Galston, Brookings Institution