In recent elections, incumbents in Canada, Australia and Singapore had a Trump card

[SINGAPORE] US President Donald Trump’s tariff policies have polarised America, but in other countries, they may have done something quite different: rallied voters behind their incumbent governments.

Last year, more than half the world’s population went to the polls in more than 60 countries – and most sitting governments were ousted or weakened, in what some pundits dubbed the “incumbency curse”.

The UK’s Labour Party crushed the Conservatives in a landslide win last July, ending 14 years of Tory rule. Trump rode the anti-incumbent wave to victory last November, defeating former US vice-president Kamala Harris.