By: Ella Dean and Maggie Robbins
As with any election year, while the anxiously-awaited presidential election date rapidly approaches, fervent emotions are stirred over what is in the best interest of the country for the next four years. Arguably, with two such vastly different nominees, a highly polarized nation, and a national health crisis, the tension surrounding this election may be considered unprecedented in its magnitude.
Various issues that plague our everyday society are significant factors in the coming presidential election; economic, environmental, healthcare, and race-related topics are recurring issues that tend to precipitate as an election draws near, but two other notable issues that offer a significant impact on the election are both the addition of Amy Coney Barret as a Supreme Court justice and provisions concerning COVID-19.
Referenced throughout this article is a survey of twelve students and three social studies teachers, each asked their party, favored candidate, and thoughts on the topics listed above. Not every participant answered every question, but the survey still is able to encompass a small portion of the opinions inside of Saline High School.
Prediction
According to the poll numbers, Biden has consistently been ahead of Trump by a decent margin. However, the President has repeatedly expressed his skepticism of the validity of mail-in voting. He has also not committed to a peaceful transfer of power, even suggesting he will try to send the decision of the race to the Supreme Court, now highly conservative and in favor of Trump after the addition of Barrett. Though Biden may democratically win the election, Trump may find a way to secure the election in his favor through SCOTUS.
COVID-19
The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has presented itself, for obvious reasons, as a centerpiece of the presidential election. As the virus has continued to surge across the country, both candidates have expressed vastly different views regarding America’s handling of the virus and have conveyed contrasting plans concerning the future of the pandemic.
Biden has advocated for a plan that intends to use the full power of the Defense Production Act, a law designed to grant the executive branch authority to direct industrial production for the war effort, for the purpose of creating necessary personal protective equipment, such as masks and face shields. Additionally, Biden’s plan calls for an increase in federal funds in order to expand testing and access to PPE.
On the contrary, Trump has not directly announced his COVID-19 action plan for his second term; however, he has clearly expressed his opposing opinions about the topic. Trump has consistently promised to hold China “fully accountable” for the spread of the virus. Despite his personal attitudes regarding the origination of COVID-19, Trump has communicated his top priority with respect to the pandemic: creating a widely available vaccine by the end of the year. Furthermore, Trump has slightly utilized the Defense Production Act, but does not intend to use it to the extent to which Biden plans.
President Trump’s handling of the COVID-19 pandemic has been a widely controversial topic across the country, and several individuals have revealed passionate opinions about the matter. Both students and teachers were asked about their thoughts on the subject and 13 of the 15 participants felt that Trump handled the virus incompetently. For instance, one student bluntly remarked that Trump’s response was “absolutely shambolic.” Similarly, a teacher agreed that the President’s approach was “putrid,” that “virtually any other breathing human being could have done better.” A student in particular provided an extensive reflection regarding Trump’s handling of the pandemic:
“I am very disappointed in the way Trump has handled Covid. Obviously, it would be hard for anyone in his position… but I think Biden could’ve done better. Throughout the debates, Biden and Harris explained their plans for Covid very well, while Trump… [has] had many [rallies] with a lot of people [and] with very little usage of masks.”
While acknowledging the challenging situation that President Trump has endured, this student’s statement captures the feelings of many Americans who have been deeply affected by COVID-19.
Supreme Court Vacancy
With the death of former associate Justice of the Supreme Court Ruth Bader Ginsberg, the vacancy of a spot on the highest court in the country created a highly contested issue up until Amy Coney Barett’s confirmation in late October. Many Republicans were in favor of Barett’s confirmation despite blocking Former President Obama’s nomination in March 2016. This hypocrisy and double-standard outraged Democrats and even some Republicans, as the former President was unable to nominate a justice with ten months left in his term while Trump passed his nomination during an active election.
Not only was the validity of the nomination questioned, but Trump’s reasoning for his choice of Barett was also investigated. Barrett is a rather extreme conservative, creating an imbalance in the court; conservatives now hold a six-to-three majority in the Supreme Court, making many fear for the future of the Affordable Care Act, reproductive rights, and LGBTQ+ equality. Not only are these issues up against the highly skewed court, but with the president’s expressed skepticism over the corruptness of early voting, Trump may decide to leave the decision of the election to the Supreme Court if the election does not go in his favor. He would be likely to be reelected if he were to take this action with the Barrett addition.
Ten of our eleven responders on this issue reported being upset and opposed to the nomination. A student, expressing many liberal concerns, stated,
“If Obama couldn’t have a voting on Merrick Garland in spring of an election year then Trump shouldn’t be able to do it with the election less than a month away. Amy Coney Barrett is going to be the major cause of all RBG’s progress for equality to take a huge step back.”
The one aberration in our responses stated that Barrett is “incredibly brilliant” and “will make a good addition to the Supreme Court,” demonstrating the conflicting views on this polarized issue.
Race Relations
In America today, racism has proven to be one of the most critical issues currently facing the country. The deaths of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and multiple other innocent black citizens have given rise to the recent revitalization of the Black Lives Matter movement, which has initiated a surge of nationwide protests against police brutality. Both the candidate's policies and rhetoric must be considered when determining each candidate's views concerning the subject. While Trump has revealed a number of policies, such as his “platinum plan,” to help aid Black communities financially, he has also expressed a multitude of controversial opinions regarding racism in America. For example, Trump has frequently condemned the Black Lives Matter movement and has communicated the importance of “law and order” with regard to the protests. Similarly, Biden has also announced several policies promoting racial equality, one being an investment of $640 billion dollars over ten years to increase African-American access to affordable housing. However, Biden’s current rhetoric regarding racial discrimination has evidently been vastly different than that of Trump’s, as Biden has consistently supported the movement along with the protests.
Of the twelve participants who responded to the question of interest, only two expressed their dislike of the extent the Black Lives Matter movement has taken. One student, in particular, held a very unpopular opinion:
“I believe that [Black Lives Matter] is a deceptive Marxist organization that uses their name to call their opponents racist. The founders of the organization are Marxist, and they have very clearly stated that they are opposed to many traditional values that I cherish. I, as a Catholic, cannot support an organization that stands opposed to nearly my entire religion and who uses mob rule to silence their enemies.”
Although this student possesses a very controversial viewpoint, it is important to note the stark differences in opinions on these matters. However, the more common opinion on the movement took form in two teacher responses calling the rise in awareness “long overdue” and abling our country to have more “national dialogue on race as it relates to our criminal justice system, education, policing, and employment.” In general, Biden is highly favored on this issue as opposed to Trump.
Environmental Policy
In light of the rampant California fires and the devastating Hurricane Laura, the environmental policies of both candidates have been called into question. Biden has laid out a rather extensive environmental plan, including reducing the country’s carbon emissions to net-zero by 2050, rejoining the Paris Climate Agreement, increasing research and development of greener technologies, and imposing many regulations on corporations. However, Trump has expressed concern over the detrimental economic effects of such an extreme program; he has built his environmental platform on increasing oil production, showing a clear preference for economic growth over environmental concerns.
As of September 28th, Biden, with a 48% approval rating, led Trump’s 29% approval rating on their respective environment plans according to a Morning Consult poll of two-thousand voters. Our survey confirmed Biden’s lead on this topic; of the seven students and three teachers that offered responses to the question on who they favor on environmental policy, all of the answers supported Biden’s plan except for two undecided opinions and one participant favoring Kanye West. A student offered a lengthy explanation for her choice of Biden’s policy:
“I most favor Biden's environmental policy because he wants to take actual action … in protecting the environment. Comparatively, Trump has … shown numerous times that he does not believe climate change is a large issue.”
The other agreeing participants had similar answers in supporting Biden’s environmental plan over President Trump’s .
Healthcare
The healthcare system has been scrutinized and criticized quite frequently as it greatly restricts access to lower-class individuals. Biden is running on an Obamacare platform in which he seeks to protect and expand upon the Affordable Care Act, thereby increasing the availability of healthcare to low-income citizens and fighting the corruption in private insurance companies. Trump, on the other hand, is strongly opposed to this bill and has been trying to dismantle it. He is very against the raised taxes the bill initiates. He believes sticking to our private system, the competition will incentivize companies to keep their prices low.
Biden currently leads in polls, specifically on healthcare. In swing states, voters were more approving of Biden (56%) than of Trump (37%). Our study found that none of the eight responders about this issue favored Trump. A teacher explained that he favored Biden because his plan “covers pre-existing conditions,” a major concern of many citizens. A student remarked,
“I honestly think Biden cares more about the people … Our healthcare system is so messed up that people can't even afford this basic necessity. The Trump administration is so against anything Obama that they don't even stop to look at what the people need. He only cares about himself.”
This quote encapsulates many feelings of both respondents and Americans who are greatly affected by healthcare availability.
Conclusion and Reflection
As of Tuesday, November 10th, Joe Biden was declared the President-Elect and Kamala Harris the Vice President-Elect, becoming the first woman, person of color, black, and South Asian to assume this position. Though this outcome was predictable according to the polls, the margin of victory Biden was predicted to have was much greater than what he actually had in the outcome. Oftentimes, the swing states — Michigan, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, Nebraska, Florida, North Carolina, Arizona, Texas and Georgia — are the crucial states in an election, as they are typically the deciding factors of who wins the electoral college, and ultimately the presidency. Biden’s showing in many of these states, especially in Pennsylvania, was certainly a pivotal component in the 2020 election. Despite Biden being pronounced as President-Elect, Trump has expressed concerns regarding the validity of the results, as he claims in a recent tweet that Biden “won” because the “election was rigged.” Furthermore, Trump refuses to concede defeat to Biden and insists that a vote recount is necessary. Overall, despite the election being considered over, many elements of our government are up in the air; with the Senate majority being determined by the Georgia run-off elections and Donald Trump not accepting the results of the general election, it is hard to determine what our government may look like over the next four years. We did anticipate this election to be unprecedented, but the extent of this uniqueness was far from predicted.
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