POLITICS: With the Democratic primary for each state approaching, people are becoming politically informed on who they intend to vote for and the beliefs those candidates uphold.
By Natalie Vargas, Staff Writer
Joe Biden leads the polls with a 28% national polling average as of late December 2019. Biden is the former Vice President from 2009-2017 under Barack Obama, the 44th President of the United States. Before his vice presidency, Biden served as a Delaware Senator from 1973-2009. If elected, he plans to tackle climate change, continue to defend the Affordable Care Act, reform the criminal justice system, and maintain his stance on reforming immigration laws that he held in the Obama-Biden Administration. Additionally, Biden takes a large stance on repairing the middle class and their sets of values. “We need to rebuild the middle class, and this time make sure everybody comes along-regardless of race, gender, religion, sexual orientation or disability,” Biden said. Biden believes that America is an idea; an idea that all men are created equal.
Bernie Sanders follows Biden in the polls with a 21% national polling average also as of late December 2019. Sanders is a junior Senator from Vermont since 2007, being the longest-serving member of the Independent party in Congress. Sanders previously ran for President in 2016, falling to Hillary Clinton in the primaries. If elected, he plans to expand programs for immigrants wanting education and seeking asylum, creating a Medicare for All insurance program, instating the Green New Deal, and offering college and housing for all. Sanders prides himself on his averagely low donations, showing that he is respected by the common people and not the top 10%. “I’m running for President so that, when we are in the White House, the movement that we build together can achieve economic, racial, social, and environmental justice for all,” Sanders said. Bernie Sanders plans to not only stand as one, but all.
Trailing both Biden and Sanders is Elizabeth Warren with 18% national polling average as of late December 2019. Warren is currently a senator from Massachusetts since 2013, previously being a law school professor at Harvard University. If elected, Warren plans on strengthening democracy, rebuilding the middle class, assuring equal justice for all under the law, creating a new foreign policy, and backing the Green New Deal. Warren’s strategy is that she has a “plan for everything” including what she will do if elected and what legislation she will pass to benefit the people. Warren is known for connecting with the people she sees by either calling them or taking selfies. “We’re building a grassroots movement to fight corruption head on and put power in the hands of the people,” Warren says. Warren plans on dreaming big and fighting hard to win the 2020 election.
Ranked fourth in the polls is Pete Buttigieg, the youngest of all the candidates, with a national polling average of 9% as of late December 2019. Buttigieg is the former Mayor of South Bend, Indiana from 2012-2020. Buttigieg also served in the United States Navy Reserve as a Lieutenant during the war in Afghanistan from 2009-2017. He is the only openly gay candidate, even though he does not like to bring his personal life into his politics. If he were elected, he is planning on reforming the Electoral College, addressing the issues of climate change, reforming foreign policy, creating Medicare for All Who Want It opposed to Medicare for All, and finding a means of affordable higher education. While being the only candidate that isn’t already a millionaire, Buttigieg also does not accept money from federal lobbyists, corporate PAC’s, or the fossil fuel industry. Buttigieg is more focused on connecting and trusting the American people rather than allowing others to represent them in different areas of Congress. “We need a new kind of politics-one that will rally Americans together behind bold ideas so that we can finally solve our greatest problems,” Buttigieg said.