Editorial: Interesting times ahead after Trump triumph

President-elect Donald Drump. Photo / AP

Many people around the world are still wondering how on earth Donald Trump was elected as President of the United States.

It is safe to say that Hillary Clinton was the choice of many around the world. She had her issues with honesty and all that, but the general feeling seemed to have been that she was a better bet than the unpredictable Trump.

However, Americans had other ideas.

It was the victory that no one saw coming, as all the polls beforehand - even the partisan Fox News - had Clinton ahead. Whether it was outdated methodology or the "hidden vote" (ie, voters too embarrassed to admit voting for Trump), either way the Clinton camp misread the mood of the nation.

Expert opinion was that gender would decide this election, with the popular reasoning that most women would be turned off by Trump's attitude towards women. What happened instead was that the election was decided by class - the working class, in particular.

Trump successfully tapped into the fears and uncertainties of the white working class, who felt marginalised and ignored. And working class women (the so-called waitress mums) were not put off by his views and turned up to propel him into the White House.

Recent presidential elections have shown that after a president has served two terms (eight years), voters seem to go for the exact opposite to him.

Democrat Bill Clinton was replaced by the hawkish George W Bush, who in turn handed over the reinsto the first African American President Barack Obama, who will now step down for billionaire conservative Trump.

While Trump's conciliatory acceptance speech certainly would have settled some nerves, the world will be watching to see how he does as 45th President of the United States.

There is a lot riding on this.