A record number of candidates has challenged President Trump for the upcoming presidential election. Here is a brief guide to the major candidates:
Donald Trump (R) was the first to file for candidacy in January of 2017. Previously known as a businessman and a TV star, he took everyone by surprise when he first entered politics. Despite his lack of political experience, he won the presidency in 2016 and is the favorite for the Republican nomination as he has the majority of support from republicans. He is known for his famous “America First” promise, which he intends to follow through on with policies such as decreasing illegal immigration through a border wall, and stopping unfair trade policies with foreign countries. As a conservative, Trump also believes in eliminating Obamacare and reforming Medicaid, banning abortion (except in cases of rape and incest or if the mother’s life is endangered), decreasing environmental regulations, protecting second amendment rights, arming school employees in the case of a school shooting, and ending US military involvement overseas. On foreign policy, he has harsh stances against Iran and Venezuela, has expelled Russian diplomats, approved weapons’ sales to anti-Russian forces in Ukraine, and shut down Russian diplomatic facilities, while ironically expressing a desire for warmer relations with Russia.
Bernie Sanders (I) is a senator from Vermont. He is known as a candidate whose stances are very progressive. For example, he has praised socialist dictators in the Soviet Union, Cuba, and Nicaragua. As a radical progressive, he endorses slowing population growth to fight climate change, Deffered Action for childhood Arrivals (DACA, which protects children who come illegally to the US), eliminating the fossil fuel industry, increasing abortion access, LGBTQ rights, establishing free college, stricter gun laws, and giving voting rights to incarcerated and formerly incarcerated people. He also supports the Green New Deal, Medicare for all, loosely enforced illegal immigration, eliminating the electoral college, and a substantial wealth tax on the wealthy. Strangely, he supports new trade deals that are fair to U.S companies, and less foreign military intervention similar to what Trump has stated.
Joe Biden (D), was the Vice President of the United States under Obama. He is often seen as a relatively centrist candidate compared to the increasingly left moving field. For example, he doesn’t fully endorse medicare for all of the green new deal, drawing criticism from other democratic candidates while gaining endorsements from voters in the center. He also supports a higher tax on the wealthy, legal access to abortion, LGBT rights, and stronger border security (though he opposes President Trump’s proposal for a border wall). Also, despite Biden’s popularity among Democrats, he has been accused of behaving inappropriately with women and children.
Pete Buttigieg (D) is the mayor of South Bend, Indiana. He supports eventually moving to Medicare for All while keeping private insurance, Obama’s “Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals” (DACA), entering the Paris Climate accord, carbon tax, access to abortion, LGBTQ rights, a ban on assault weapons, wealth taxes, and raising the national minimum wage to $15 an hour.
Michael Bloomberg (D) is a former mayor of New York City. He opposes Medicare for All, wealth taxes, and The Green New Deal (calls it unrealistic). However, he does support substantial increases in gun control measures (though he doesn’t support a mandatory assault weapons buybacks), protection for so-called “dreamers” living in the U.S, environmental proposals less radical than the Green New Deal, abortion groups, LGBTQ rights, and less corporate regulation by the government.
Andrew Yang (D) is an entrepreneur and author from New York. He is most famously known for his proposal for Universal Basic Income (UBI), which would give every American household $1,000 a month. He is considered a slightly centrist candidate as he supports policies like stronger border security; however, he also supports Medicare for all, a path to citizenship for so-called “dreamers,” a carbon tax, acess to abortion, more support for LGBTQ rights, innovation for gun safety measures, and taxing wealthy companies.
Elizabeth Warren (D) is a senator from Massachusetts and is known as a major candidate who is progressive. She supports left-wing proposals such as Medicare for all, The Green New deal, access to abortion, LGBTQ rights, stricter gun laws, lofty wealth taxes, and complete college debt forgiveness. She has been criticized for the extreme costs of her healthcare proposals, and recently, she has been declining in popularity after delaying the release of her campaign funding details. Moreover, she has claimed to be of
John Delaney (D) is a former U.S. representative from Maryland. He supports a public option for healthcare (opposes Medicare for all), stronger border security, stricter gun laws, universal pre-K, guaranteed education from pre-K to at least 2 years of higher education, banning conversion therapy for LGBTQ individuals, access to abortion, a federal carbon tax, and re-entering the Paris Climate accord. Because Delaney does not support radical policies such as Medicare for all, but supports ideas such as stronger border security, he is seen as a more moderate candidate.
Tulsi Gabbard (D) is a U.S. representative from Hawaii. She supports Medicare For All, a pathway to citizenship for DACA, more measures on middle eastern refugees, moving away from fossil fuels, access to abortion (though she expressed opposition to abrotion early in her career), eliminating four-year college tuition for families that make less than $125,000, ending U.S military involvement in foreign nations, stopping the U.S-China trade war, and higher taxes on the wealthy.
Amy Klobuchar (D) is a U.S. senator from Minnesota. She supports a public option for healthcare, greater border security, a pathway to citizenship for undocumented immigrants, rejoining the Paris climate accord, access to abortion, LGBTQ rights, and increasing teacher pay. She also supports Reducing student debt by increasing options to refinance student loans, (she doesn’t support free college), universal background checks and a voluntary buyback program for guns, and steel and aluminum tariffs. She has criticized Trump’s trade war, the act of keeping U.S troops overseas, incentivizing U.S companies to move foreign operations back to the U.S, little regulation that hinders small business growth, and raising the minimum wage to $15 per hour.
Tom Steyer (D) is the founder of Farallon Capital Management. He supports Medicare for All, stricter gun laws, access to abortion, fighting climate change, and higher taxes, especially on the wealthy.
Michael Bennet (D) is a U.S. senator from Colorado. He supports a public option for healthcare (He helped introduce a plan called “Medicare X” in the Senate). On immigration, he supports a pathway to citizenship for illegal aliens (he does not support decriminalized border crossings). Among Democrats, Bennet is relatively moderate on climate change, as he does not support and progressive climate proposals. However, he does support tax credits for those who invest in renewable energy. He also supports LGBTQ rights, a ban on assault weapons, legalizing marijuana, and he opposes Trump’s steel and Aluminum tariffs.
Joe Walsh (R) is a former U.S. representative from Illinois. He supports repealing Obamacare, getting “tougher” on illegal immigration, banning abortion, the idea that “ marriage can only exist between one man and one woman,” the right to bear arms, repealing Trump’s tariffs on China, maintaining good relationships with Israel, and reducing taxes.
Bill Weld (R) is a former governor of Massachusetts. He supports more funding for Medicaid, rejoining the Paris climate accord, access to abortion, LGBT rights, stricter gun laws, legalizing marajuana, less government spending, repealing trump’s china tariffs, and tax cuts.
Though Trump is the ultimate favorite to win the Republican nomination, much uncertainty remains as to which candidate can win the Democratic nomination. Recent polls show Joe Biden with a clear lead with 28.2 percentage points, followed by Sanders at 19.2 and Warren at 16.4. The rest of the candidates are in single digits. Many have attributed Biden’s success to his past political achievements. He is seen as a key political figure because he has served as vice president under President Obama. Moreover, his success is prominent because of his more moderate stances, as the majority of the Democratic field has moved towards the left in recent years. Many democrats, including candidate Bernie Sanders, have openly called themselves socialists and have openly supported abolishing capitalism. Many have also endorsed policies such as Medicare for all, the Green New Deal, and open borders. However, the radical policies of the modern left has driven away many centrists voters.
it is still unclear how well any of the Democratic candidates stand against President Trump. A recent Firehouse Strategies and Optimus poll shows Trump leading all Democratic Primary frontrunners in three battleground states: Pennsylvania, Michigan, and Wisconsin. He is leading frontrunner Joe Biden by five points among voters in these states, and progressive candidates such as Warren by nine points, and Sanders by six points. Moreover, a recent Gallup poll has shown Trump’s approval rating rising while support for impeachment dropping. Recent Quinnipiac University, NPR, and Gallup polls also show the majority of independents opposing impeachment, greater increasing Trump’s approval rating. It appears that the ongoing impeachment inquiry is backfiring against the Democrats, as the majority of voters in the three states opposed the inquiry.
In the wake of the recent UK elections, where the labor party led by socialist Jeremy Corbyn suffered a big defeat, questions remain on the electability of the left-leaning democratic candidates. Many point to the similarities between Sanders and Corbyn to suggest a repeat of far-left defeats in the U.S. This leads Americans to question which of the Democratic Candidates are too far left, and which ones are more moderate. A Business Insider Poll found Sanders to be the most left-leaning, followed by Booker, Castro, and Warren. Micheal Bennet and John Delaney were seen as the most centrist candidates while Joe Biden was ranked in the right in the middle of the field. Whether left-leaning candidates can stand a chance against Trump is uncertain. While the Democratic party shifts leftward, many voters are still centrist. Former President Barack Obama recently warned of the party’s leftward shift and how it can lose centrist voters. For example, the idea of decriminalizing border crossings has garnered attention for many Democratic candidates such as former candidate Julian Castro, although only 27 percent of Americans say it would be a good idea, according to an NPR poll. Many centrists, such as former Tampa Bay Mayor Bob Buckhorn, state the leftward shift will lose voters in swing states such as Pennsylvania, Michigan, and Wisconsin, which Trump is currently leading.
In conclusion, the leftward shift of the Democratic Party is hurting their chance of beating Trump in 2020. The further left the party shifts, the stronger Trump appears to grow. Only time will tell what will happen next.
Article by Alex Zhang of Cabin John Middle School
Images courtesy of Wikimedia Commons