The Presidential election is an important part of being an American citizen. Each vote counts to possibly change the course of the country’s future and that of the next generations. These candidates are hoping to be the next leader of the U.S.
Before getting into the candidates one needs to know how they are being judged according to Ballot Pedia, with more than nine hundred candidates, there needs to be a system to distinguish the strong from the weak. The main aspects officials are looking at include; credentials, what jobs they have held in the past and the successes and failures they have obtained, polling; and whether the candidate won at least one major presidential primary debate off of poles. Finally, fundraising and media coverage; how well-known is the candidate to the public during their campaigns.
First the Democratic candidates; the democratic party focuses on social and economic equality and favors more state government power over the economy on large scale issues. Democrats are known to back social security, easier access to health care, better public education and subsidized housing. Notable democrats include President Joe Biden (2020-2024), Barack Obama (2009-2017), and John F. Kennedy (1961-1963)
The Democrats in this election have three main contenders, returning President Biden, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Marianne Williamson.
Biden’s accomplishments include; becoming the 46th president of the United States, Vice President to Barack Obama in 2009 and representing Delaware in the Senate from 1973-2009. In his time as president, he has passed numerous acts such as the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022. While acting as a ranking member in the Senate he led the effort to pass Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act. Biden stated in his campaign ad that he hopes to prioritize making child care and elderly care more accessible, protect social security and medicare, keep the right to abortion on a national level of government, minimum tax for billionaires, ban assault riffles and support voting rights. As of Sept 18, Biden has an approval rate of forty percent as reported by FiveThirtyEight.
The next candidate is, Kennedy Jr. As a member of the Kennedy family politics run in his blood. Kennedy Jr. is an author and a lawyer and is now starting a career in politics.
“We will scale down the war machine and bring our resources home. We will rebuild our water systems, repair our roads, modernize our railroads, and clean up our environment,” Kennedy Jr. said in his campaign video.
Other goals he has include cleaning up the government, as well as ending censorship of the economy and surveillance of the people by the national government. In his campaign, Kennedy Jr. has focused on his fundraising in Los Angeles during the month of September. The efforts of his campaign have not been widespread during his run with many of his events being small and not well known to the people.
The last Democratic candidate in this election is Williamson; an author and former 2020 Democratic presidential primary candidate. The focus of her campaign is on lessening economic issues providing universal health care, free higher education, increasing minimum wage increase and paid parental leave.
“I am motivated by a moral commitment to the tenets of liberty espoused in the Declaration of Independence and the Gettysburg Address,” Williamson said in her campaign.
She has also been outspoken in her dislike of corporate greed in the government. Williamson’s campaign events so far have been held from Michigan to Texas, most of which have not been successful she has the lowest receipts and contributions from her campaigns.
The Republican party has a few more candidates than the Democratic and has a few more notable candidates. Republicans typically support lower taxes, free market capitalism, deregulation of corporations and lower national government regulation.
Mike Pence, former Vice President under Donald Trump and long-term representative in the House of Representatives is a Presidential candidate this year. After years of unsuccessful attempts, Pence was accepted into the House of Representatives in 2000 representing Indiana’s second Congressional District; Pence was later elected Governor of Indiana in 2012. Central themes of his campaign are, fixing the economy to decrease gas prices, decreasing taxes and banning abortion. Pence is known to credit his Christian background to his success. If accepted his goals are, to keep the tax cuts made during the Trump administration, reduce fiscal spending to support investment in domestic energy production and increase the security around the Mexican border. Pence has been well known in the media with many highly publicized remarks and highly spectated events. Pence has had the most active campaign going all over the country to promote his running for the presidency. With a favorability score of 30%, his chances do not seem favorable.
Asa Hutchinson is the second republican candidate, a former Arkansas governor, successful businessman and attorney; he represented his state in Congress from 1997 to 2001, was one of 13 House managers during the Clinton impeachment trial and was the director of the Drug Enforcement Administration from 2001 to 2003. Hutchinson served as Arkansa’s 46th governor from 2015 to 2023. He made Arkansas known as one of the leaders of computer science education and cut taxes by over 250 million dollars. Hutchinson is having a very confident campaign, with appearances made across the country. A main goal of his presidency is to make a dent in the federal debt,
“We want to be able to reduce federal spending so we’re not leaving the next generation a $32 trillion debt,” Hutchinson said in a statement in Hanover New Hampshire
Hutchinson is facing an issue with his slow start to the polling being behind his other republican candidates however he stays hopeful by saying Donald Trump’s support is “inflated.” Hutchinson also has an unfavorable score with more than 15% in favor of him as president.
Ron DeSantis is the last candidate, ranked second of the Republican Party candidates according to the Washington Post. DeSantis is the current governor of Florida, which has been ranked low on the quality of health care, school funding and long-term elder care, along with the lowest teacher salaries and unemployment benefits. As of recently, DeSantis’s popularity is on the incline in Florida with unemployment decreasing through the Florida Job Growth Grant fund where 66 million dollars have been given to 22 communities to create more jobs and education opportunities for Floridians. DeSantis has been committed to recovery from Hurricane Michael awarding more than $222 million to impacted communities to help rebuild from the damage. DeSantis is known for his passing of the anti-abortion bill making it illegal to have an abortion in the state of Florida. Abortion is a controversial issue in the U.S. and might be a reason he loses votes, especially from the female population. Along with his banning of abortion, DeSantis is also strongly against the discussion of sex and gender identity in schools saying “Florida is where woke goes to die.” DeSantis received a favorability score of 35%.
While these are quick bits of information about the candidates new voters are encouraged to do their own research about the candidate’s stances on issues important to the individual and to follow the campaigns of both sides in order to truly know what you are voting for.
