Presidential candidates for 2020
Visions for American differ, strong opinions persist for 2020 nominees
Furthermore, many are angry about the things Trump has done. Perhaps this is why many students responded with statements like, “Donald Trump is not fit for President,” and, “Trump is a homophobic, rascist, sexist piece of garbage.” However, Trump also has many supporters. About 22.9% of the students who took the Fargo North High Presidential Election survey would vote for Trump. About 58.2% said they were knowledgeable about Trump’s platform.
One student said, “Donald Trump has the best tax plans and policies, he is pro-life, doesn’t support taxing the rich any further and supports making American manufacturing prioritized over international work, creating more American jobs. He also is doing a good job against China in the trade war.”
Another student said, “Trump says some wild things, but what he has done for policy (peace in the Middle East, lower taxes, and a great economy before COVID-19) is great.”
Many students who don’t like Trump, support Biden.“I’m running as a proud Democrat, but I will govern as an American president. I will work with Democrats and Republicans and I will work as hard for those who don’t support me as for those who do. That’s the job of a president. It’s a duty of care for everyone,” said Joe Biden, the Democratic presidential nominee. Biden’s campaign has a plan, called ‘The Biden Plan,’ for almost everything. His main focus areas are to beat COVID-19, to create jobs and economic recovery for working families, and to give every American affordable health care. Biden also has a plan to ‘secure our values as a nation of immigrants, improve racial equity, tackle the climate emergency, support students beyond high school, advance LGBTQ+ equality,’ and much more. 57.9% of the students who took the FNH Presidential Election poll said they were knowledgeable about Biden’s campaign. Furthermore, Biden has the majority of support as he won 52.9% of their ‘votes.’ One student said their reason for supporting him was, “He [Biden] has said that he would work towards getting free/less expensive healthcare for everyone and having the first year of college free. He is overall the better choice anyways. He also supports the BLM movement, he is pro-choice, pro-LGBT, and he agrees we need to have more gun control.” Many Fargo North High students who support Biden have a strong dislike towards Trump.
One student said, “Donald Trump is racist, homophobic, and sexist. The way he speaks to women is dehumanizing and disgusting. He even sexualizes his own daughter. As a woman, seeing someone as him as president is so sad and degrading. I can only imagine how much worse a person of color or member of the LGBT+ community must feel… Although Joe Biden isn’t my first choice, I can’t stand the thought of another four years with a president who doesn’t value the American people equally.”
Of course, Biden has opposition as well, some students responded with, “I don’t trust that Joe Biden is a moderate candidate,” “I would never in my life vote for Biden,” and, “Biden is a corrupt moron.” Furthermore, some fear that Biden has dementia, which would harm his ability to be president.
With there being strong opposition towards both Trump and Biden, it is worth noting that these are not the voters’ only options. It is possible to vote for a third party. However, the age old saying, “If you vote for a third party, you’ll waste your vote,” has deterred many voters from this route. According to the FNH Presidential Election Poll, only 12.9% of the students would vote for a third party, while 55.9% said they might.
One student who supported the decision to vote for a third party said, “I would [vote for a third party] if I really agreed with their platform and thought they would do a good job as president.” However, another student said, “I feel like I’d be wasting my vote, because there is not a huge chance of them [a third party candidate] being elected. So I’d rather choose between liberal or conservative and make sure my vote counts for one of them.”
Some students who would normally be more comfortable voting for a third party, said they wouldn’t this time because of the ‘decisive climate’ in this election. Many students expressed frustration towards America’s two party system. One student said, “With our two party political system, people become so religious to their party that they don’t care who is running. They will always vote for the same party. This means there will never be a chance for a third party candidate to win because there will never be enough votes for them… This is the reason I don’t support our two party system.” However, the third party candidates should certainly not be looked over, especially if, in this heated presidential election, the voters find themselves not supporting either of the major parties.
Jo Jorgensen is running for the Libertarian party. She supports individual freedom in America. Only 1.1% of the FNH students who took the poll would vote for her and 54.1% have never heard of her. Many others who had, knew very little. Jorgensen’s focus areas are COVID-19, economic prosperity, health freedom, peace, and meaningful criminal justice. She advocates for the Libertarian policy of a smaller government in order to fix the United States’ current problems involving high debt, non-stop wars, high healthcare costs, high imprisonment rates, a broken retirement system, harmful tariffs, harmful energy policies, and much more. Jorgenesen’s website says, “Big government mandates and programs created these problems. To solve them, we need to make government smaller – much, much smaller.” In regards to COVID-19, Jorgensen said, “The solution is to remove red tape and regulations so that consumers can get treatments and test products as quickly as possible. As we entered the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression, federal lawmakers passed the Cares Act, giving away trillions to corporations and special interests and thwarting our long-term recovery. This will cost the average taxpayer much more than they get in short-term cash, and will make it harder for small businesses to recover. Instead, we must get government out of the way so businesses can rebuild as quickly as possible and allow Americans to get back to work.” In regards to the economy, Jorgensen said, “America now needs a swift economic recovery. We can accomplish this by ending the many ways in which government stands in the way of job creation: massive over-regulation, occupational licensing, government permitting and zoning requirements, and high government spending.”
While Jorgensen aims to reduce government interference, Howie Hawkins, the Green Party’s presidential nominee, plans to use the government to solve many Americans’ problems. Hawkins received 0% of the vote from the student poll and 64.1% had never heard of him. His focus areas are COVID-19, peace, economy, political democracy, social justice, criminal and civil justice, media democracy, and tax justice. In his ‘COVID-19 measures for the duration of the crisis,’ Hawkins advocates, among other measures, for medicare to cover all COVID-19 testing and treatment, and for the US to send $2,000 a month to all adults over the age 16 and $500 per child. In his ‘Economic Bill of Rights’ Hawkins advocates for job guarantee with a guaranteed minimum income above poverty at a $20 minimum wage, affordable housing for all through universal rent control and public housing, medicare for all through a community-controlled national health service, lifelong free public education (Pre-K through College), and secure retirement with double social security benefits. If one wishes to vote for Hawkins in North Dakota, they’ll have to write his name in.
There are many other candidates running for president in the 2020 election, however, Donald Trump, Joe Biden, Jo Jorgensen, and Howie Hawkins are the top four. They all believe they have America’s best interests at heart and they hope to help Americans through their platforms and policy plans. Despite this, there is strong hatred for both Donald Trump and Joe Biden from both sides of the political spectrum. Perhaps the most important part of this election is not how Americans vote, but rather how they greet the new president. The strong political tensions within America will probably do more harm than any president ever could. Therefore, be sure to stay informed and keep your hatred in check.
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Laura Simmons is a writer for Fargo North High's Scroll. She takes Orchestra and Latin as well as Journalism for her electives. She is also active in multiple...
