This week was the New Hampshire Primary, and it ended with two big winners: the obvious republican win was Donald Trump with 35% of the vote, and a slightly surprising victor from the democratic party, Bernie Sanders. Bernie Sanders is one of more popular candidates, specially when it comes to those who have more liberal views. His main points during his campaign have been aspects that most of the middle class and a lot of other people would probably find appealing, such as taxing the rich, bringing down big Wall Street businesses, and making college tuition free. However, Sanders faces two big obstacles that are keeping him from becoming president. First of all, there is the matter of running as a democratic candidate while facing a republican majority in our government. In light of recent events, specifically those involving immigration laws and conflicts overseas with ISIS and the refugee crisis, there are a lot more people turning to the republican candidate, the aggressive Donald Trump. Trump has made remarks such as how he’s going to behead ISIS and steal their oil, and while his ideas may seem very extreme to some; they offer a sense of protection and assertiveness that people need to feel secure when all this is happening around the world. The next issue is that while Bernie advocates for things that the majority of people might want, they still do not feel his influence. Sanders’s main supporters tend to be extremely liberals, and while he does have a lot of democratic voters, he fails to inspire other groups of people. When Obama was running for president he had a lot more support from different groups, and he was able to convey his goals and aspirations as president without leaning too much to a liberal or conservative side. And even if Sanders won the presidential election, he would still have to face the republican majority in the White House, and attempt to persuade them to allow his plans and to cooperate with them. If he failed to collaborate and share some ideas with the republicans, he might have the same problem Obama has now in the White House. Thus, there is not much diversity in terms of beliefs within Sanders support groups, and this is specially true about the young voters. The young vote is a huge reason as to why Sanders will most likely not win the presidential candidacy. Of all the candidates, Sanders has probably the most support from young voters, and this is mostly because of his views on the price of education, and his plan for college students to live debt free. The main problem stems from the fact that the young vote is unreliable. In general, only about 20% of young people vote in the elections. If that percentage increased, then there would be an actual impact made by having the young vote. Due to these conflicts, one cannot comfortably say that Sanders has a winning chance in the presidential election. At the same time though, these are problems that could be fixed, and unless Sanders attempts to take into consideration how to correct these issues, he will have to rely on persuasion and strong speeches to win over more people and gain more support.
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etn5024 says
The Presidential campaigns and elections as election year approaches are always a fascinating time full of controversy and competition. This year is particularly interesting because it will be a true turning point after having the same president for eight years now. There is a clear split with there being two candidates at such extremes of each other. After recent events the two men have a lot to touch on turing campaigning such as the crisis in Syria and the economic state of the country. There is an issue with voting in the country with young people. Young people need to vote but they need to be informed to make an educated vote. This would make a huge difference in the election and future of the country.
Cecilia says
I’ve lost a lot of respect for the elections this year–and I’m not sure if this is because I’m actually paying attention to what’s going on because I want to be informed and I also know I’ll be voting this year, but I just find it so horrific that we don’t have any moderate candidates who could win the election–Sanders is very liberal and Trump is very conservative and I feel like there’s a good chance these two men will face off in the presidential elections. Bloomberg said he would step in as an Independent if this ends up happening, so at least he’ll appeal to the more moderate population, but even then, the term “president” isn’t more than a nominal title for someone. Obama was blocked in every decision he took by Congress and so presidents don’t really have as much power as we believe they do, because there are so many checks and balances to the point the government is inefficient. I personally like Sanders, but I don’t know if the rest of the country (right-leaning individuals) are ready for him at all.