On 5 November, 2024, Tuesday, the 60th quadrennial American presidential election is scheduled to be held. The importance of these elections does not need any debate as in the words of BBC dated 19 April, ‘The person sitting in the White House’s Oval Office has a big influence on people’s lives both at home and abroad, so the outcome of this election matters for everyone’. As per the long-established tradition, the upcoming contest will take place between the country’s two prime parties. The Democratic Party is the flag-bearer of liberalism and its agenda mainly revolves around civil rights, a comprehensive social security system and necessary measures to address climate change. The most probable candidate of this party will be the incumbent President Joe Biden. On the other hand, the Republican Party has conservative credentials mainly stressing lenient taxation, shrinkage of government size, armament rights and strict controls on abortion and immigration to America. The former President Donald Trump (2017-2021) is likely to obtain the formal nomination for this party’s candidacy. It is interesting to notice that if Trump is able to carry the day, he will become the second president to serve a non-consecutive term after Stephen Grover Cleveland, the 22nd (1885-1889) and 24th (1893-1897) president of the US. Although both the candidates i.e. Joe Biden and Donald Trump have become the ‘presumptive nominees’ of their respective parties on 12 March, however they are yet to be confirmed at their respective nominating conventions. The Republican Party has planned to announce its candidate in July and the Democratic Party has programmed to formally make the announcement in August, 2024. Some independent candidates are also in the run—— Robert F Kennedy Jr: the nephew of former assassinated President John F Kennedy (1961-1963) being the most notable among this lot being the highest-polling third-party candidate since Ross Perot in 1992 and 1996 elections. It needs to be clarified that the presidential election in the US is basically an indirect election wherein voters cast ballots for the electoral college; these electors then directly elect the President and the vice-President. Though all the world-concentration will be focused on the Presidential election but simultaneously the balloting for 435 seats of the House of Representatives will also be taking place on the same day. Apart from economy, healthcare, education, foreign policy, social issues particularly abortion, immigration and climate change——-Trump’s criminal indictments and lawsuits are expected to dominate the election campaign.
After going through the fundamental facts regarding the upcoming US elections it will be interesting as well as educative to go through the stand-points of both the prime candidates. President Joe Biden has based his re-election campaign on urging the voters for support to ‘finish the job’, on which he has embarked upon during his first term. He highlights himself as the country’s best option against the Republicans. Biden also emphasizes upon his resolve to ‘fight for democracy’ against the ‘MAGA extremists’ —–a pointation towards Trump and company. He forcefully commits to protect democracy; safeguard Social Security and Medicare; veto the national abortion ban even if it is approved by Congress; make the wealthiest and the largest corporations to pay their fair share; and continue to provide assistance to Ukraine in its effort to keep Russian aggression at bay. On the other hand, Donald Trump was the first candidate to make his intent public for contesting the presidential election. He is ‘unique’ being the first ex-President of the American history to face any kind of criminal charges after being indicted by the Manhattan Grand Jury in the offence of ‘paying-off ‘to a porn-star. Apart from numerous others, he is facing a criminal charge of mishandling the classified documents which were recovered from his ‘Mar-a- Lago’ resort. The twice-impeached Trump persistently claim that he had won the 2020-Presidential election and he was got defeated by the vested interests through some rigging. He consistently claims to get numerous administrative initiatives of Biden administration, being against the public interest. He prefers to remain unclear upon the question that whether he would support the Republican nominee if he is not declared as Party’s candidate for the White House. He keeps-on propagating his intended policy regarding the three sensitive issues: he commits to pardon ‘a large portion’ of the people convicted for their participation in the assault on the US capital on 6 January, 2021; he promises to put his signature on an administrative order to the federal agencies to ‘cease all programs that promote the concept of sex and gender transition at any age’; and he will ‘get something done’ on abortion though he seems to be vague and unclear on this sensitive issue.
The American intellectuals comment on the up-coming elections as per their own individual style and it is interesting to go through their commentaries. Alyssa Lukpat discusses the subject in a highly sarcastic manner in the 8 April issue of ‘The Wall Street Journal’. She writes that ‘two unpopular candidates are set to face each-other in the 2024-election’. She continues to remark sarcastically that ‘the historic re-match has two of the oldest presidential candidates in the US history essentially running as incumbents——both widely disliked’. The well-known and experienced analyst ridicules the oldness of both the major candidates i.e. Joe Biden 81 and Donald Trump 77; and their respective abilities to deal with the present-day issues of the USA in particular and the world in general. The analysts of ‘The United States Studies Centre’ Ava Kalinauskas and Samuel Garret cautioned Joe Biden as early as 15 January that his approval ratings were hovering around 40% and he needed to strengthen the fragile coalition which he built in 2020 to return to the Oval Office for the second term. Indications are that this three-month old warning was not taken seriously and Biden has hardly been able to strengthen his position. Joe Biden’s unserious attitude on most of the occasions also disturbs the observers. David Smith of ‘The Guardian’ vide his report dated 28 April has raised the issue of Biden’s ‘jovial mood’ during a gathering of pressmen two-days back when a large number of demonstrators shouted ‘shame on you’ outside with reference to mishandling of Gaza war. The well-known reporter expressed concern over President’s unserious attitude over the most important world issues like ‘growing humanitarian crises in Gaza’.
When analyzed seriously, the personalities, potential and track-record of both the presidential candidates do not match with the on-going seriousness of situation inside and outside the US. Trump’s behavior, gravely- tainted past and the nature of judicial proceedings against him does not make him a suitable candidate for the most important office of the world. On the other hand, Joe Biden, noticeably old and unserious, does not seem to be a fit person to grapple with American issues and handle the international politico-economic complications. However, the American voters are constrained to elect one out of the two. What happens ultimately? One can only pray.
