Slicing up the American electoral pie

The stunning outcome of the US election boils down to a lesson in Political Science 101 - how social cleavages determine nation building which in the case of the 2016 contest was decided largely by the rural-urban divide.

WATCHING the election on CNN as it unfolded on the day of reckoning, it was initially not a surprise to see the US electoral map covered mostly in a sea of red showing support for the Republican Party fronted by Donald Trump. One would have thought then, it would be those pockets in blue centred on larger urban populations that would determine the final outcome. In the end, the Democrat party's candidate Hillary Clinton di…