For my civic issue blog this week, I will be talking about the 2020 presidential election and who is running! The main question I will be trying to tackle in this blog post is Why is this pool of nominees historically high? Though many dropped out of the race, why did we start with so many candidates? My goal of this post is to enlighten you on who is still running in the race for office and what they stand for, along with understanding why so many people decided to participate.
For starters, currently, there are two Republicans running for office (picked by President Trump), alongside five Democrats. Since Mr. Donald Trump is a Republican, it is not uncommon that there are less Republicans running for President than Democrats. The party currently in power does not want to look divided or weak, therefore having significantly less people run for office compared to the party not in power. Though there are only seven people at the moment running for president, there started off with 28 Democrats and four Republicans. This number of Democrats was extremely large, in fact historical.
Let’s talk about who’s still in the race for President and some of the main points they stand for. First up is, current president, Donald Trump. Donald Trump has been serving as our president at the moment since 2016. His main accomplishment since being elected is cutting taxes. He has been focusing heavily on getting rid of policies set in place during the Obama administration. “President Trump would be the oldest president ever if he wins a second term” (Gluek). Next, and the only other person running for the Republican party, is William Weld. Weld is a 74 year old male who “Ran for vice president on the Libertarian Party ticket in 2016” (Burns, Flegenheimer, Lee, Lerer, Martin). Some main points of Weld’s campaign is hoping for a wider range of visas and working permits, keeping abortion legal, and supporting the legalization of marijuanna. According to Business Insider, “the reality is that Weld is probably not going to be the Republican nominee for the presidency in 2020” (Perticone and Zeballos-Roig), mainly because Trump has the advantage of already being in office.
(William Weld pictured left, Donald Trump pictured right)
Moving to the Democratic party nominees, Joseph Biden is up first. Joseph Biden is running against Donald Trump as a Democratic nominee. He has served as vice president to Obama and has run for president twice before. “If Biden were to win this Presidential election, he would be the oldest president in history at his inauguration, at age 78” (Gluek). Main points of Biden’s campaign are increasing existing taxes on upper-income Americans, boosting defense spending, letting states decide on legalization of marijuana, expanding Medicare (not for all, though), and lastly raising the national minimum wage to $15/hour.
Next, running for the Democratic party, is Bernie Sanders. Bernie Sanders came in second place in the 2016 Democratic primary. One main belief of Sanders is that Medicare should be available for everyone and there should be free tuition for all public universities. When coming to age, “Senator Bernie Sanders, one of Mr. Biden’s chief rivals for the Democratic nomination, is about a year older than Mr. Biden” (Gluek).
Next up is Michael Bloomberg, a 78 year-old re-registered Democrat. An important thing to note about Bloomberg is he “re-registered as a Democrat in October 2018, nearly two decades after he left the party to run for mayor as a Republican” (Burns, Flegenheimer, Lee, Lerer, Martin). Some main points of his campaign include (but are not limited to) raising the federal minimum wage to $15/hour, making two years of college free, expanding college debt programs, banning assault weapons, expanding Medicare coverage, and letting states make the decision on the legalization of marijuanna.
In addition to the previous three Democratic nominees named, Tulsi Gabbard is also running. Gabbard is more notoriously known for supporting Sanders in 2016 and for her past in stating “anti-gay statements and her past work for an anti-gay advocacy group” (Burns, Flegenheimer, Lee, Lerer, Martin). Some notable points of Gabbard’s campaign include raising the federal minimum wage to $15/hour, making college free, expanding debt-fixing programs, banning assault weapons, and having few (if any) limits on abortion. Gabbard also believes in Medicare for all, legalizing marijuanna, getting rid of the national defense budget, and bringing our troops home. Tulsi Gabbard is currently ranked 5/5 in the Democratic race.
Last but not least running for the Democratic party is Elizabeth Warren. Warren has big plans to end lobbying, increase taxes on the wealthy, finding money to direct to opioid and substance use help, and addressing the nation’s housing crisis.
As previously mentioned, these are only seven out of the original twenty-eight Democratic candidates running. Why did so many people feel the urge to run? This is an extremely difficult question to answer, but according to PolitiFact, “One obvious explanation for the big Democratic field is Trump’s weak approval ratings and the intense opposition Democratic voters express toward him”(Jacobson). Since the majority of the Democratic party is not a fan of Mr. Donald Trump’s work, many feel the need to run against him to try and increase the chances of him not getting reelected. Another possible reason for the large primary field for this upcoming election could be “the declining ability of party elites to shape the race” (Jacobson). According to PolitiFact, candidates are starting to feel as if they do not need much support from party establishment to do well in these types of election, encouraging candidates to jump into this race without a lot of party support. Trump winning office in 2016 places a large role in this idea, which was not very prominent beforehand.
All in all, there are a lot of different characters running in this race. There are a lot of different factors that can go into why more people ran/are running than usual. A question I think about is how will the number of candidates now compare to that of next week, two weeks, and so on? How many more will drop before the process of elimination? I find it extremely interesting that the number of Democratic candidates was historically large. I hope you all enjoyed reading about this topic and I cannot wait to hear your thoughts and opinions!
EDIT: After writing this blog post on Tuesday night, Michael Bloomberg dropped out of the race. Therefore, there are currently only four Democrats running alongside 2 Republicans.
WORKS CITED:
https://www.politifact.com/article/2019/may/02/big-democratic-primary-field-what-need/
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2019/us/politics/2020-presidential-candidates.html
https://www.businessinsider.com/who-is-bill-weld-bio-age-family-key-positions-2019-5
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/us/elections/joe-biden.html
https://www.politico.com/2020-election/candidates-views-on-the-issues/joe-biden/
https://www.politico.com/2020-election/candidates-views-on-the-issues/michael-bloomberg/
https://www.politico.com/2020-election/candidates-views-on-the-issues/tulsi-gabbard/
Hi Ariana,
I think it’s really interesting that you chose to focus on the current understanding of the presidential candidates and also acknowledged their platforms because a lot of times people exclusively follow party lines or do not learn about candidates’ policy opinions.
I like how you also acknowledged the number of Republican presidential candidates. I agree with the claim that the Republican party would not allow many presidential candidates to not seem weak or not unified, however, I wonder if the Republican party fully supports Trump. Throughout his presidency there have been many criticisms of Trump not only by Democrats but also Republicans, and I am curious as to whether the Republican Party motives are calculated to support trump or not appear weak.
With this past Tuesday also being Super Tuesday, I think the current political climate is thriving and every decision made by the Democrat presidential candidates can make or break their campaigns. To say Biden was victorious would be an understatement. I personally predicted he would win the Democrat nomination and Biden ultimately reminds voters of the Obama era, which many Democrats still look fondly at. I think people will support Biden because of his influential time spent being Obama’s VP, and a lot of people that dislike Trump were huge Obama fans.
I think the reason why there were so many diverse candidates, especially prominent female candidates, was because of the success of electing Barack Obama for two terms. I think the country was happy that someone other than a white man was elected and with the election of Trump, people are looking to combat this referral to pre-Obama times. Buttigieg had a successful campaign until recently, but I expect to see him run again because of his young age. On Tuesday he said, “We need leadership to heal a divided nation, not drive us further apart. We need a broad-based agenda that can truly deliver for the American people, not one that gets lost in ideology.”
I really enjoyed reading your blog this week!
-Lauren
https://www.newsweek.com/heres-where-2020-democrats-stand-super-tuesday-polls-1490125
Hi Ariana,
While I enjoyed reading your blog this week, I am a little surprised to see that you didn’t really touch on Joe Biden, who after Super Tuesday appears is the main Democratic candidate at this current moment in time. After writing a blog before Super Tuesday, I was quite shocked to see the turn of tides for the party after Tuesday’s polls came in.
And after the polls, all but Biden and Sanders are left which to me is quite shocking going forward. Being a Delaware Native and a twenty minute drive from the Former Vice President’s alma mater, I am somewhat biased for Good Old Joe. However, I do not think anyone was ready for all of the candidates to drop out immediately after.
The other day, me and my roommate were talking about the results of Tuesday’s poll and he told me that Warren was still in the race to split up the Sanders vote. However, after she dropped out, I think we can make a fair assessment as to who will have the best shot at winning the nomination. I personally believe that the nomination will come down to the running mate. While there are some rumors that Biden will end up taking Kamala Harris from California to be his running mate. To these ends, I believe that Biden would be smart to take Harris to secure the California delegates and further cement his nomination for President.
According to an article in Vogue on the issue, the article describes why Biden might pick Harris: “Biden famously has a strong connection to African American voters, as seen in his winning the majority-black state of South Carolina, and Harris could work toward ensuring that African Americans continue to come out in full force for him.” To these ends, the article has a point. Biden has been very vocal about gathering African American support for his nomination. One of the reasons that many suggest is why he won the Southern states on Super Tuesday. If Biden takes Harris, he could very well kill two birds with one stone in the sense of gathering the African American Vote, and the Women’s vote.
However, only time will tell if Biden decides to go down this route to secure a potential Democratic Nomination later in the year. But for now, let’s keep our eye on the upcoming polls from now till April to find out what actually happens.
Link: https://www.vogue.com/article/six-women-biden-should-pick-as-running-mate
Lauren,
I really like the points you make in your response to Ariana’s post. I think it will be interesting to see if republicans shift to support a different candidate other than Trump because of all of the criticisms he has endured. Also, I think it was interesting how you brought up the diversity of democratic candidates. I agree that Obama kind of led the way to allow more diverse people to run for presidency. I find it really inspiring how a woman and a gay man made it so far in the presidential campaign. This is something that would have never been plausible even 10 years ago.