By Anastasia Burton
It would seem as though the US Presidential Election this year will be between Joe Biden, who is 77, and Donald Trump, 73. I can’t wrap my head around how the US can be called one of the most progressive countries in the world and still elect ancient men over women and younger candidates. How is it that they still haven’t had a female president? I know that Hilary Clinton is not really ideal either, but how come there are no younger presidents being elected? It’s bothersome how Americans would rather vote for a human fossil over someone who is actually striving for change and will live long enough to see those changes affect Americans.
Considering how hard Americans protested Trump and his policies, one would expect him to be nowhere near the position of the winning candidate in the 2020 elections. Trump gave us many great memes but was he a good president? No. Looking at the statistics, it is unlikely that Trump will be re-elected (unless he gets some sources involved). According to the CNBC millionaire survey, most American millionaires will vote for Joe Biden if he becomes the Democratic nominee. So far, Biden has 53% of the votes, while Trump has 39%.
Honestly, I think that Americans will take years before they change their mindset and vote for younger candidates and consider having their first female president. Why has there been no gay president? It would seem that the American presidential candidates will always be stereotypically white older men who are conservative and claim that they will make America “great again” or “better”, but has America ever really been great? Why are they claiming it isn’t great? Most American presidents had issues with immigrants and foreigners, which is nonsense, since most Americans are mixed race. For example, the family name Trump is an English/German surname and Biden is also an English/French surname.
Looking back through the years of Trump being President, there have been a few changes. There have been one million new jobs since he took office, housing became 6.5% more expensive, hourly wage only grew by 2.5%, consumer spending had only grown by 2.8%, which is a bit below the 3% which experts claim is the necessary percentage to keep the economy afloat. The US trade deficit with China went up by 6% this year alone, however trading between US, Canada and Mexico has increased since last June. Company earnings were up by 10%. These statistics make it feel as though Trump had solely focused on industry rather than Americans themselves. Why hasn’t he worked harder on social welfare in relation to making medical care more affordable for Americans and why are prices for homes going up when wages have practically made no signs of rising?
Joe Biden seems to care for the environment and climate change, which Trump has ignored and neglected throughout his presidency. It is possible that people are choosing anybody but Trump this time around and the fact that Biden is actually concerned about the environment is bringing him the vote from those who are aware of how damaging our lifestyles are to the planet. They had a president who worked towards industry, now they need one who will care for the people. There is still time for change in the polls but so far it seems like Biden is the popular choice.