(CN) — When the polls close Tuesday, America will have a new president — even if the nation is not yet certain who.
The result will be close and contested. Some will weep with joy. Others will look for something to break. In some ways, this man-made event will be the opposite of last year’s solar eclipse, which united Americans and caused internet traffic to vanish by as much as 60% along the path of totality. Instead, the results of this election will drive Americans online, to rant, rave, plan protests, sign petitions, and scroll, scroll, scroll through seemingly infinite coverage.
This has been one of the most engaging elections in U.S. history largely because the candidates, Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump, offer Americans — and the world — radically different assessments of where the nation is failing as well as distinct promises for the future.
“Harris is basically painting this picture of America where the future is bright, it’s positive, it’s upbeat, which makes people feel good and works really well,” said Dave Schultz, a professor of political science at Hamline University in St. Paul, Minnesota.
Schultz has long argued successful political campaigns run on optimism, or what he calls the Annie effect, referring to the enduring promise that the sun will come out tomorrow. Trump by nature turns this playbook on its head.
“Trump has this kind of dark narrative, of doom and gloom, and the silver lining is he says ‘elect me and America will be great again,’” Schultz said.
While many news-making firsts — including a second assassination attempt and a change in the candidate lineup — shaped the last 100 days leading up to election, along with last-minute star-studded and meme-driven endorsements, Schultz said voters quickly settled back into well-worn and polarized political preferences, putting most polls too close to call.
Undecided and swing voters still have a choice, but it’s not who to vote for.
“Partisan preferences are so hardened at this point, the swing vote decision is, ‘do I swing in and show up to vote or do I swing out and decide not to vote?’” Schultz said.
On the tally sheet, Trump promises America an era of tough on crime, strong isolationist policies, limiting immigration, increasing tariffs on foreign imports, and rolling back environmental protections restored under President Joe Biden. Harris is strongest on securing abortion rights, protecting Democratic institutions and supporting allies entangled in global conflict. She is expected to build on environmental and social policies laid out by Biden.
“Under Harris, I believe it’s more the same,” said Cyndi Bludnick, a 68-year-old Libertarian from Aurora, Colorado. “She’s done nothing to fix all these issues that she says she’s going to fix once she becomes president. My view is, if people realistically look at those four years Trump was in office, they will realize that they were better off.”
With a Republican mayor and a Democrat in the statehouse, it’s no surprise residents of Aurora are as divided as the rest of the nation.
“I’m so over Trump, and his mean-isms and his ugliness and his racism,” said Rhonda Quinteros, an engaged regular at Aurora City Council meetings. Quinteros was infuriated to see Trump use her hometown to spread fear about immigrants in the wake of a viral video depicting men carrying rifles through an apartment building.
“That’s not Aurora,” Quinteros said, adding that she’s not just voting against Trump. Her eyes lit up while talking about Harris.
“Harris brings a positive attitude, and that’s what I appreciate more than anything else,” Quinteros said, smiling.
Many Americans are persuaded by the candidates’ broader emotional appeals: Hopeful Harris wants to bridge broad divides across the nation, while tenacious Trump will see that his supporters prevail.
Tim Blessing, a history professor at Alvernia University in Reading, Pennsylvania, observed another subtle difference in how each candidate tailors their message in ads — along demographic versus moral grounds.
“Harris is saying that America is divided by race, gender, ethnicity, and that she will be able to smooth over those divisions,” Blessing explained. “Trump on the other hand is saying that America is divided by those who keep the law and those who break the law, those who are entrepreneurial and those who are not, those who are religious and those who are not. And he’s saying that he will remove the people who exacerbate those divisions.”
Savvy voters know the question isn’t just what each president would do if elected to office, but what they can accomplish given the makeup of Congress.
Jackson Carpenter, founder of marketing and political consultancy firm Cultural Currents Institute out of San Antonio, thinks the other branches of government would check what he sees as Harris’ “worst instincts” better than some of Trump’s more controversial promises.
Harris needs Congress to fulfill her promises of reducing grocery prices and extending tax credits for first-time home buyers. Presidential power alone however likely enables Trump to levy tariffs on foreign goods and otherwise shape national security priorities.
“He could do that with a stroke of a pen. Harris’ worst instincts are things that she would need Congress to come along on, and I just don’t think they will,” Carpenter said.
Although his firm serves the full political spectrum, Carpenter identifies as a Republican.
More than 75 million Americans voted early this year. That is roughly half the number of people who participated in the 2020 election.
Despite high voter turnout — and political donations upward of $16 billion — artist Evan Weissman sees a contradiction in the messaging. On the one hand everyone’s voice matters, on the other the election will mathematically be decided by a handful of swing-state voters.
“If you’re a Republican in Colorado, it doesn’t matter, and the same goes if you’re in Wyoming and you’re a Democrat,” said Weissman, founder of the civics nonprofit Warm Cookies of the Revolution. Based in Denver, the nonpartisan group inspires Coloradans to be involved in their government.
While he didn’t say the election doesn’t matter, Weissman focuses on finding other tangible ways people can shape their community, no matter who is in the White House.
“Whoever’s president is huge,” Weissman said. “But I’m more interested in how a community thinks about how we take care of each other and how a community thinks about how do we deal with someone who’s broken our trust? How do we teach each other forgiveness? What does it mean to become an adult?”
On Friday, the organization is hosting a post-election dance party in Denver, planned in advance without knowing who the prevailing candidate will be. In between sets, attendees will write themselves a postcard, reflecting on how they feel and what they plan to do about it. The notes will arrive in the mail sometime during the new president’s first 100 days in office as a reminder of what they thought and felt and wanted in November — and that they can still do it.
“We have so much work to do,” Weissman said. “No matter who wins.”