With the United States Primaries coming to a close, many Americans now wait for the Superdelegates to cast their vote, 18-21 July, for Republican delegates and 25-28 July, for Democratic delegates, on who to make the next candidates for the 2016 Presidential Election. Though ballots have already been cast across the county as for whom is believed to be best suited for the position, either Hillary Clinton, Bernie Sanders, or Donald Trump, many still do not know all of the issues each candidate is campaigning to change. On top of all this, every American has his/her own idea regarding what issues should be a major focus during the next 4-8 years. With so much to consider who then meets the qualifications to be the next President of the United States?
This may be the first election where people are voting because of who they do not want rather than who would make the best president.
The Democrats
I will start with the Democratic nominees since much of the anticipation is directed towards this contest.. Although Hillary Clinton has already become the presumptive Democratic nominee, I will also give an overview on Sanders’ political Agenda, as his campaign still remains active.
Bernie Sanders focuses his platform around the following: Income and wealth inequality, making college tuition free and debt free, creating decent paying jobs including living wage and expantion of social security, climate change, fair and humane immigration policy, racial justice, women’s rights, AIDs and HIV free generation, LGBT equality, medicare for all, lowering perscription drug prices, disability rights, and reforming Wall Street.[1] Bernie centers his campaign around the domestic issues America currently faces, only noting global concerns when addressing immigration and the effects it will have on America.
Hillary Clinton takes the same approach and features critical issues concerning America domestically. Clinton stands to: Prevent addiction and substance use, raise Autism awareness, find a cure for Alzheimer’s disease, finance reform, campus sexual assault awareness, climate change, criminal justice reform, disability rights, early childhhod education reform, strengthening K-12 education, making college affordable and taking on student debt, affordable health care, immigration reform, HIV and AIDs prevention, LGBT rights, Labor and workers‘ rights, national security, paid family leave, protection of animals and wildlife, racial justice, raising incomes and fighting inequality, social security and medicare, voting rights, Wall Street reform, and women’s rights.[2] Any of these issues sound familiar to what Bernie wants to change? The majority of Hillary‘s platform resembles that of Sanders’, but she takes a less general approach to tackling the concerns of Americans and highligths some environmental projects as well.
The Republicans
For Donald Trump there is an equal distribution between domestic and international issues Americans are concerned about. Trump’s campaign is focusing on: Have Mexico pay for the building of a wall on the United States border to Mexico, reform healthcare by getting rid of Obamacare and implementing a free market within the healthcare industry, reform U.S-China trade, gauranteeing veteran care wherever and whenever, tax reform by giving tax relief to middle class and making tax code easier to use, protecting Second Amendment rights, and strengthening immigration laws and bringing jobs back to American people.[3] Trump plans to use his experience with economics and business to his advantage towards the issues he addresses. Each candidate has his/her own unique set of skills and experience that will benefit them as president, but what experience best suits the needs of what the people would like to see changed?
Every American has an image in their mind…
Every American has an image in their mind of what the next President of the United States should look like and what that individual should be focusing on. In a 2014 national survey of what Americans would like to see in their next president, the biggest positive was a canditate with some military service (44% more likely to vote for) and the biggest negative was being an atheist (53% less likely to vote for). Other factors that play into this elecetion can be seen where being a governor and having business experience have identical value, with 33% more likely to vote for, and having extensive experience in Congress can actually hurt someone’s chances with likeliness of voting for that person dropping from 55% to 44% between 2007 and 2014.[4]
Just looking at this information there is no clear canditate that can pull ahead from the others based on experience. So let’s see if looking at the critical issues Americans want addressed will make a difference. At the start of the election cycle, data showed, immigration, same-sex marriage, education, gun control, taxes, economy, health care, climate change, foreign policy, and environment as a top priority.[5] At the begining of March 2016, a poll was taken to see what critical issues should take priority during this election. The data showed that when presented with an open ended question asking what the most important problem this country is facing today, they responded with general economy, government reform, unemployment, healthcare, immigration, racism, terrorism, and federal debt needed immediate attention.[6] Within a few short months, a dramatic shift has occured from the focus being a broad focus on issues to a greater concern on economic and security.
With the people’s concerns being taken into account with the values and positions the candidates take, has any one person stood out amongst the others? Not really, but with voters taking stong positions on who they would like to see elected president, this may be the first election where people are voting because of who they do not want rather than who would make the best president.
Hillary Clinton -Photo: Marc Nozell
Bernie Sanders -Photo: Jonathunder ( GNU Free Documentation License)
Donald Trump -Photo: Michael Vadon
[1] „On the Issues,“ Bernie Sandres, accessed 28 June, 2016, http://www.berniesander.com/issues/.
[2] „Issues,“ Hillary Clinton, accessed 28 June, 2016, http://www.hillayclinton.com/issues/.
[3] „Positions,“ Donald Trump, accessed 28 June, 2016, http://www.donaldjtrump.com/postions.
[4] „For 2016 Hopefuls, Washington Experience Could Do More Harm than Good,“ Pew Research Center U.S. Politics & Policy, last modified 19 May, 2014, http://www.people-press.org/2014/05/19/for-2016-hopefuls-washington-experience-could-do-more-harm-than-good/.
[5] Lindsey Cook, „What’s the Top Issue for 2016? Depends Where You Look,“ USNews, last modified 29 June, 2015, http://www.usnews.com/news/blogs/data-mine/2015/06/29/whats-the-top-issue-for-2016-depends-where-you-look.
[6] „Most Important Problem,“ Gallup, last modified 6 March, 2016, http://www.gallup.com/poll/1675/most-important-problem.aspx.
