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Former U.S. President Barack Obama sat down with Trevor Noah on The Daily Show on Thursday night. Obama talked about post-midterm results, shouted out young voters, and noted that it turns out America prefers “normal” after all.
“I like to think that part of what happened in this election is people said, ‘OK, you know what, some of this stuff is getting a little too crazy,” said the former President, referring to Democrats securing the Senate last week. “It turns out that there is, you know, a majority of the country that does prefer normal, not crazy. And that’s a basis for hope.”
Obama also emphasized the power of more younger voters participating in the 2022 midterms, compared to 2014 when he was in office. “Trump comes in, and suddenly 2018, 2020 and now this one, you see young people come in, and they’re typically voting at a rate of 70-to-30, 60-to-40 Democrat to Republican — and that makes a huge difference,” said Obama. “So their enthusiasm is what really drove this election.”
The former president also touched on how the fundamentals of democracy are being questioned, particularly when it came to elections. “Democracy requires, by definition, getting along with people who don’t agree with you,” he said.
The interview wrapped up with Obama giving Noah, who will be leaving The Daily Shownext month, with some expert insight: “You’re already following one piece of advice that I’ve had — you’re leaving while your poll numbers are high.”
