I have always been open-minded. Despite having strong opinions on certain topics, I still consider the other viewpoint and attempt to reason with it. If so many people are on the other side, there must be a valid reason, right? However, I still need help grasping why so many Americans need clarification on which candidate to vote for in this election.
As Election Day approaches, the political climate has become unstable. The two largest parties, Democrats and Republicans – have become a powerful symbol of political division in our country. Policy change is no longer the sole focus of this election. The morals of the candidate that we elect and our U.S. Constitution will be at stake.
I despise hearing the same old excuse that his economic policies were better. Obama had fixed our broken economy after it was greatly impacted by the Great Recession , bringing the unemployment rate from 10.0% to 4.7%. The US only saw a 1.3% drop in the unemployment rate when Trump was president- that is before COVID-19 hit. The unemployment rate hit 14.4% due to Trump’s terrible handling of the Covid 19 pandemic.
It is also very shocking to me the amount of Americans that still support Trump considering he was recently found guilty of 34 felony counts. He most notably was found liable for sexual assault and defamation. Yet, this still somehow remains a toss-up election. It’s insanity to me that anyone who has morals would deliberately vote for Donald Trump.
Exiting his presidency, he left behind one of the worst economies seen in U.S. history due to his response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The “cheap” gas prices were due to COVID-19 and most Americans staying home.
There was hardly any massive shift that occurred in our economy that was caused by Trump. Trump was directly responsible for taking away the nationwide right to reproductive access for women. He executed this by appointing conservative judges to the Supreme Court who overturned Roe v. Wade.
It goes against our very own constitution when you deny someone the right to make choices about their bodies. American women lost the fundamental right to liberty when Roe v. Wade was overturned. Failing to consider, that there are many reasons why undergoing an abortion would be the best choice such as the complications from Gestational diabetes, carpal tunnel syndrome, postpartum psychosis, and umbilical hernias. But now that Roe v. Wade has been overturned, women in conservative states can’t choose whether or not to continue the pregnancy; instead, that decision is forced upon them. These abortion bans allowed for multiple cases to occur in which women have died, most recently Nevaeh Crain, due to being denied an abortion.
I’m Mexican, the daughter of immigrant parents, and a woman. It’s obvious who I’d vote for—Kamala Harris. The choice shouldn’t be hard. We have a qualified candidate, who was the Attorney General of California, a United States Senator, and the Vice President of the United States. On the other end, we have a felon who has displayed strong tendencies of dictatorship. Even his former chief of staff John F. Kelly has come out saying Trump showed signs of being a fascist and wanted his staff to put him above the constitution. Trump also didn’t truly understand his role as Commander-in-Chief as he wanted to use the military to attack “the enemy within”; referring to Democrats.
Alas, both Kamala Harris and Donald Trump have strong support bases that are ready to show out for them. Conservative Trump supporters are ready to ‘Make America Great Again.’ On the other hand, Kamala Harris and her supporters have envisioned a future in which ‘We are not going back.’ Nationwide election polls are very close, but with everything Trump has said and done, there is no reason the margin should be razor thin.
Harris is primarily dedicated to supporting the middle class regarding the economy. She intends to reinstate the Child Tax Credit and the Earned Income Tax Credit, which will aid middle-class families in keeping more of their income. In healthcare, she is committed to protecting women’s reproductive rights and will sign any bill that restores reproductive freedom across the country. Her objectives include securing our borders, fixing our broken immigration system, and creating an ‘earned path’ to citizenship for undocumented individuals.
In contrast, Trump has promised to impose tariffs on imported goods and increase the production of fossil fuels in the United States. These tariffs will cause more harm than good, but he intends to do this to maintain his ‘America First’ policies. In his previous presidency, Trump weakened Obamacare, claiming it was “lousy”. However, to this day in his third election cycle, he has yet to have a concrete plan of a better healthcare plan, only having a “concept” of one. In his debate with Harris, all we heard was him criticize the Affordable Care Act and claim a “better” healthcare plan was in the foreseeable future if he were to be elected.
Just like many of his campaign promises, his plan for a better healthcare plan is very vague. Known for his commitment to building a wall across the southern border of the United States and wanting Mexico to fund the entirety of the project, Trump still plans to fulfill this promise if he were to be elected President. He also plans to conduct a massive deportation operation that will deport millions of immigrants. This plan would do much more harm than good as immigrants are the backbone of the United States. Plus, the cost of deporting one million immigrants annually would increase our national debt by a whopping 88 billion dollars.
A Trump rally was held at Madison Square Garden on October 27th, where comedian Tony “Kill Bill” Hinchcliffe decided it would be funny to call Puerto Rico a ‘floating island of garbage’ and make dirty jokes about Latinos migrating to the US.
These jokes were not funny. They were straight-up racist. Looking at the demographics of our school, 99.5% of students are minorities and 98.4% are Hispanics. Even after everything Donald Trump has said about Latinos, it’s still shocking to see that, 30 percent of Latinos are planning to cast their ballots for Trump on a national level. Latinos for Trump need to stop having so much self-hatred for themselves and open their eyes- since to Trump, they are a bunch of criminals and rapists who have invaded America.
If voters were to truly vote for the candidate that would create a better US economy, their vote would not be going towards Donald Trump. Voting for Trump as an average American would not be as beneficial for the economy as voting for Harris. The minimum tax on billionaires that Harris advocates for only affects less than 1% of taxpayers. And I am certain that their pockets will not be affected. Trump’s tax plan would have an average tax increase of 1,350 dollars on the middle fifth of American taxpayers while Harris’s plan would have an average tax cut of $1,980 for those same American taxpayers.
The close race between these two candidates is similar to the last election. In 2020, Joe Biden won in the states of Arizona, Georgia, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin by just several thousand votes. The candidates have recognized this as both Trump and Harris are currently campaigning in swing states such as Pennsylvania, Michigan, and North Carolina.
Kamala Harris is the slight front-runner, as indicated by national polls, but there is still a lot of support for Trump out there, making it difficult to determine the potential outcome of this Election.
Americans might not even know who wins the presidency until a few days after Election Day. Right now, Donald Trump’s popularity is much higher than it was during the 2016 and 2020 presidential elections and Kamala Harris is gaining the votes of many women and independent voters while also bringing enthusiasm back to politics. This election is at such high stakes and none of us know what could happen. That’s the terrifying aspect of it all.
Within a few days, we will know who is the next president of the United States. The fate of the upcoming generation will depend on who we elect to govern our country. Those who have the right to vote should take into account their loved ones, neighbors, and community when casting their ballot. One thing is for certain, make sure to vote with compassion in your heart. Just because a presidential term is only four years doesn’t mean the effects won’t last for a lifetime.
