The real winner of this election may not be who takes office, but who isn't in power during a crisis. If a recession, geopolitical conflict, or major disaster happens under the next president's watch, it’ll hurt the party in charge and set the stage for their opponents to rebound (see covid). In that case, the "loser" of this election could come out ahead in the long term. Considering we're overdue for an economic correction, the real winners of this election may be the 2028 candidates - potentially Vivek or Newsom. This is, of course, extremely speculative, as macroeconomics are notoriously difficult to predict. Another point is that both candidates have moved toward the center - Trump to the left and Kamala to the right, as most presidential candidates do after the primaries - but this phenomenon seems stronger than usual this time. My prediction: In 2028, both Republican and Democratic candidates will lean more toward the extremes after seeing 8 years of "politics as usual" fail under Biden and then either Kamala or Trump. In particular, the right will take an overdue shift into more social conservatism, after two decades of political discourse and social values shifting left.