In 2024, many countries around the world held elections to elect their governments. As a matter of fact, many news outlets have called 2024 as one of the “most relevant” for politics. Amongst those, the United States is pending its own election on November 5th. The United States has its own voting system, called the Electoral College. In such a system, candidates are assigned votes based on their populations (270 electoral votes are needed to win the White House) thus, it is possible for a candidate to win an election without winning the popular vote, such as George W. Bush in ‘00 or Donald J. Trump in ‘16. Because of this, many have questioned the legitimacy and integrity of the U.S. democracy and its foundations.
Furthermore, claims of electoral fraud in ‘20, caused Republican sympathizers and others to storm the US Capitol building, on the infamous January 6th incident. Clearly, the previous events, the tricky system of the electoral system, and the fact that the U.S. keeps being the world’s most powerful economy make this election one of the most important of the decade, if not the century.
For context, Joe Biden, the incumbent President, dropped out of the presidential race on the Democratic ticket on July 21st, 2024, due to health concerns as well as the party needing a new face to beat Trump in November. Upon receiving Biden’s endorsement for the White House, Vice-President Kamala Harris stated the following: “A chance to chart a new way forward. Not as members of any one party or faction, but as Americans.” This alludes to the fact that the country must remain united in spirit, instead of kneeling towards a certain candidate. Likewise, the Republican party voted overwhelmingly in favor of Trump, setting aside other younger candidates like Nikki Haley or Ron DeSantis. Hence, the faces of the election would be the Trump-Vance vs. Harris-Walz on the ticket.
On the other hand, many Americans claim that society is more polarized on pressing issues and that the candidates are more radical than ever. But is this true? To illustrate this point, in a recent study, Brown University found that the current political climate in the US is suffering from political polarization, which “has grown rapidly in the last 40 years — more than in Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia or Germany — a phenomenon possibly due to increased racial division, the rise of partisan cable news and changes in the composition of the Democratic and Republican parties.”
Essentially, the phenomena of polarization are true and possibly getting worse, but what does this mean for the country? To put it bluntly, democracy is all about finding common ground with one’s neighbor and at least agreeing on some ideas. Ideas that, for the greater good, must set in motion factors such as economic growth, inclusivity and incentivize the overall success of the nation. However, granted from both political ends, with institutions like the U.S. Congress and the Presidency being so divided, government bureaucracy, and special interest groups, the country is prevented from making significant progress, ultimately affecting all Americans; Democratic or Republican.
Historically on the political spectrum, Democrats have been on the center, while recently shifting to the center-left wing, with the main agenda of taxing the wealthiest individuals, providing welfare to the non-privileged, supporting the LGBTQ agenda, passing the Green New Deal, et cetera.
On the flip side, Republicans have been center-right, but with the Trump era, most Republicans are now in the right wing, and their agenda is based on applying Reaganomics (low taxes, low regulations) to taxation, mass deportations, a border wall, the reduction in the size of government and reinstituting traditional values on American homes. Because of the different values and lack of common ground, many Americans and individuals from all over the world are uncertain about their futures, as they feel any candidate that wins may take away their rights, their values, or even their dignity. To illustrate, former President Trump said on stage while debating Harris: “She has a plan to confiscate everybody’s gun,” referring to the fact that Democrats wanted to strike down the Second Amendment, a fundamental principle in the Bill of Rights.
But what do candidates need to do to win? And what about their strategy? To put into perspective, candidates must secure 7 key battleground states to win the election. Such states include Georgia, Pennsylvania, Arizona, Nevada, Wisconsin, Georgia, and Michigan.
However, it must be noted that possibly, there may be other close states that can be defined for the election. As a result, both parties actively try to get swing voters from minority groups in such battleground states. For instance, the Harris campaign tries to sway African Americans in the deep south (particularly Georgia) and the Trump campaign attempts to whip Latino voters in the sunbelt states (such as Arizona and Nevada). Regardless of the outcome of the election, it will be defining for American politics in the years to come and will set a precedent for the world.