Will 2016 be seen as a fluke if Trump decisively loses to Biden?

[President Johnson]

If Donald Trump goes down in a landslide to Joe Biden next month, which seems likely at this point, will the 2016 presidential election be seen a fluke? By landslide I mean Biden wins by six points or more and exceeds Obama's 2012 number of electoral votes (332). Since I doubt pundits will only attribute to Trump's defeat a result of his disastrous handling of the pandemic, they may point out that Trump never throughout his term had a positive approval rating on average.

I think the election of 2016 may be very well seen as a fluke, in which unique factors all combined resulted into a bare 77,000 votes victory: An unpopular opponent who had tons of baggage (some earned, mostly blown up), Russian interference and the Comey letter. Trump's election wasn't even a true mandate, since he lost the popular vote by nearly three million. It should also be noted that Trump received less votes percentage-wise than Mitt Romney (46.1% versus 47.2%) and barely more than John McCain (45.7%) or Michael Dukakis (45.9%).

Before the 2020 election, pundits and journalists have been cautious due to 2016, by a decisive Biden victory would wash this away pretty quickly. I have a feeling we'll be reading some examinations next month how anyone could have ever thought Trump had a real shot at reelection and that his likely loss was already foreseeable ever since 2017, when America realized it had made a terrible mistake by electing this man.

[HagridOfTheDeep]

Not a fluke, really. More like a stunning and scathing indictment of the American people.

[○∙◄☻¥tπ[╪AV┼cVê└]

If Republicans win 2024, then 2020 will be seen as the fluke.

[Turbo Flame]

Yes. In fact despite my little following of politics back then, I knew Donald Trump was winning that Election because I didn't hear good things about Hillary Clinton back in 2012. Plus, I didn't think people were ready for a female President. That's why I knew Donald Trump was taking that one home.