Professor Gary Gerstle is currently Paul Mellon Professor of American History and Fellow of Sidney Sussex College. Professor Gerstle set the scene by describing how enormously important the result of the election is for the USA and the world. As we know Biden and the Democrats are tipped to win and take the Senate. If this is the case it will avoid the situation where President Obama found it almost impossible to pass any legislation in his second term in office. He then painted a rather sombre picture with Democratic voters, many of whom are taking COVID-19 seriously, submitting a large number of postal votes which could take up to seven days to count and recount. On the other hand, President Trump is encouraging Republicans to vote in person. If President Trump (who cannot conceive losing anything!) claims that the postal votes have been rigged and takes the case to the Supreme Court, the appointment of Amy Coney Barrett could just win the day!

‍