It hardly requires a stretch of the imagination to consider the possibility that the 2020 presidential election will be accompanied by a degree of confusion. We are already witnessing the difficulties in quickly determining results for recent primary elections. Problems include; safely conducting in-person voting, recruiting polling location staff, timely delivery of absentee ballots, agreement on a cutoff time for accepting absentee ballots and counting unprecedented numbers of absentee ballots. In addition, while the election is national, managing the process is local.
Most of us can remember the 2000 presidential election, otherwise known as the “Florida fiasco”. Currently, final results for New York’s June 23 primary are still not available. Apropos the foregoing, it should be noted that Joseph Stalin is reputed to have said, “it’s not the people who vote that count, it’s the people who count the votes”.
Investors should be prepared to navigate through the possibility that there may not be a clear cut result for the 2020 presidential election on Nov. 4. Markets don’t like uncertainty so we could see some short term choppiness. Longer term, perhaps the best defense is adherence to a well-constructed portfolio strategy that may prove to be more successful than a knee-jerk reaction to fluctuating news flashes.
All comments and suggestions are welcome.
Walter J. Kirchberger, CFA