The Presidential Election
After winning Indiana, Donald Trump tweeted: “Lyin’ Ted Cruz consistently said that he will, and must, win Indiana. If he doesn’t he should drop out of the race-stop wasting time & money.” Indeed, that same evening, Cruz announced the discontinuation of his campaign for president. The next day, John Kasich dropped his campaign. After months of hope that Trump’s success could be halted by another candidate, we can now admit to the inevitability of Trump’s Republican nomination. The real question remains: How will Trump perform in the presidential election against a Democratic candidate?
Though Bernie Sanders won Indiana by a slight margin, his chances of winning the party’s nomination are virtually nonexistent, as that would require him to win all future states by a large margin. Nonetheless, Sanders will leave an imprint on the Democratic Party and influence many following elections. Most of Sanders’ supporters are millennials—students and young adults attracted to the idea of making more items (Medicare, college, wealth, etc.) accessible to more people but largely ambivalent to the mechanisms and processes behind the funding of these projects. While the priorities of this group will certainly change over time, the momentum that Sanders created will alter the methods in which and the degree to which many Democrats approach solutions to our nation’s problems.
For all those Sanders’ supporters, I ask you to come to terms with Hillary’s victory in the Democratic Party primaries and wonder more about how a Trump-Clinton face-off would look like. Both candidates bring something new and special to the American public. For Trump, it is his lack of experience in politics, ferocious personality and background in business. For Hillary, it is her gender and her marriage to a former U.S. president, in this case to Bill Clinton.
I envision Hillary Clinton becoming the next president of the United States, because I believe she has the highest potential to attract a broad base of voters.
I envision Hillary Clinton becoming the next president of the United States, because I believe she has the highest potential to attract a broad base of voters. Gallup points out that Obama’s approval ratings have risen from 45 percent at the beginning of the year to 51 percent just last week, suggesting a possible weakening in Trump’s platform centered on the horrible mistakes of Obama’s presidency. More importantly, many Republicans and Independents have expressed their repulsion to Trump’s dependence on voters’ fear and his inability to create realistic, political policies. Clinton’s policies, on the other hand, are neither radical nor incomprehensive, allowing her to appeal to the main stream of voters. Her tenure as Secretary of State, as well as her long-lasting involvement in the Democratic Party will attract those who are fond of big government and see no America without bureaucrats. Hillary’s gender will draw voters who value America’s journey to equality, whereas Trump’s condescending nature will discourage those who are afraid of further dividing the already divided America.
With Trump, anything is possible. If he truly wants it, he will need to make an effort to develop strong political goals and solutions and establish a campaign that is more inclusive. We will never, however, live to see a Trump that mirrors Lindsey Graham’s prediction that 2016 would be an “election for the heart and soul of the Republican Party.”