No mandate for Trump. 49.9% is not half, and most certainly is not a big win. Harris -Walz got 48.3%, not a win, but for a two-month campaign, they came amazingly close to victory.
A less than 50% victory means NO MANDATE!
Likely the margin between them will shrink some more. ”
The only thing is, what Trump did this month is a lot like what Joe Biden did four years ago — but with less of the general public on his side. Biden won the vote by about four-and-a-half points, making inroads with GOP demographics and capturing the swing states while his party held the House and retook the Senate by the narrowest possible margin. There was no talk back then of a Biden blowout.
And appropriately so: Biden may have had a popular majority, but it too was a squeaker.