presidental voting

In the 2016 Presidential Elections

In the 2016 presidential elections, four rivals vied for the position of president. Any of the four candidates ran for office under the banner of their own political party. Donald Trump of the Republican Party, Gary Johnson of the Libertarian Party, Hilary Clinton of the Democratic Party, and Jill Stein of the Green Party were the nominees. Many of these candidates had their own manifestos that they discussed on their promotional stops, but there were more important topics that each candidate had to discuss and how they planned to address them.

Keyword: presidential candidate

The Major Issues Addressed

The major issues that were addressed on the 2016 presidential elections are among:

Economy and taxes

The current tax system that is present is not able to collect enough revenue for the economy of the United States. Therefore, each candidate would explain how they would tackle the tax issue. According to the Republican candidate Donald Trump, he said that the cooperate taxes impounded would be lowered to around 15% so as to awaken the American ingenuity and even make the country to be more competitive globally (Eric Levitz, “Donald Trump Does Not Want to Raise Taxes on the Wealthy,” nymag.com, May 9, 2016). He also said the federal taxes should not be increased because that would be oppressing to the middle class individuals (Donald J. Trump for President, Inc., ”Reforming the US-China Trade Relationship to Make America Great Again,” donaldjtrump.com (accessed Aug. 9, 2016). Consequently, looking at the democrat candidate Hilary Clinton, she as uncertain on the corporate income taxes being lowered because, she explained that on driving the economy forward is to drive jobs hence investing on the infrastructure and scientific research (Ricky Jackson, ”Exonerated Death Row Inmate: Clinton Wrong on Death Penalty,” cnn.com, Mar. 14, 2016). On the other hand, she supported the issue on the federal taxes being increased. She said that a priority should be on reforming the code on taxes (Wall Street Journal, ”Hillary Clinton Transcript: Building the ’Growth and Fairness Economy,’” wsj.com, July 13, 2015). She explained that the middle-class families should be given tax relief and simplifications hence making those who earn more (the wealthy community) have to pay their equal share. The Libertarian candidate was not clear if the income tax should be increased but he supported the lowering of the corporate income tax. He argued that not having taxes on businesses would attract the other world into doing business with the United States of America (Gary Johnson, ”Johnson: Let’s Get America Moving Again,” washingtontimes.com, Feb. 2, 2012).

Crime and justice

There were several issues to be addressed regarding the crime and justice which include if the United States should abide by the treaties it had with the American tribe and if it should continue fighting the war on drugs. Regarding on whether the treaties should be maintained, the democrat and green party were concurring on the issue while the republican and Libertarian parties had to object the treaty. According to Hilary Clinton, she believes that the United States should accomplish the treaty obligations and the trust responsibilities to the previous tribal nations (Hillary for America, ”Growing Together: Hillary Clinton’s Vision for Building a Brighter Future for Native Americans,” hillaryclinton.com (accessed July 12, 2016). Regarding on the issues on war on drugs, all parties were not on support of the motion except the republican candidate Donald Trump who did not address the issue. Gary Johnson had to explain that the reason why the United States has high incarceration rates in the world is due to the failed war on drugs (Gary Johnson 2016, ”Criminal Justice Reform,” on his 2016 presidential campaign website garyjohnson2016.com, available at web.archive.org, June 9, 2016).

Immigration

The issue on migrants to the United States was among the major concern on the 2016 presidential elections. Some of the concerns about immigrations are whether undocumented immigrants who are residing in the country be allowed to become citizens. All the candidates were accepting on the motion except Donald Trump who rejected it. Some of the arguments from Hilary Clinton are that the immigrants strengthen the families, economy and the country in general. She later adds that the congress should pass a reform that will provide a way to acquire citizenship if one sustains all requirements to be a citizen (”America Needs Comprehensive Immigration Reform with a Pathway to Citizenship,” hillaryclinton.com (accessed Sep. 25, 2015). On the other hand, Donald Trump argued that denying individuals who entered the country illegally citizenship will reduce the illegal crossings and overstays hence reducing the rate of terrorism and drug issues in the country (Los Angeles Times staff, “Transcript: Donald Trump’s Full Immigration Speech, Annotated,” latimes.com, Sep. 1, 2016).

Military and war on terror

The major problem that the country was facing ISIS attacks. Therefore, the big question was whether the United States and Russia should join hands and fight terrorism. On this matter, all the candidates were concurring with the issue. According to Jill Stein, she says that countries should form dialogues to avoid wars on geopolitical dominations, cascading injustices and destruction of the climate (Jill Stein, “In Moscow, Stein Calls for Foreign Policy of Principled Collaboration,” jill2016.com (accessed Aug. 18, 2016).

Conclusion

All candidates presented their arguments in a proper manner which made them to be entertained by the voters. Each point they presented was very essential in them gaining the popularity.

References

Heilemann, J., & Halperin, M. (2010). Game change: Obama and the Clintons, McCain and Palin, and the race of a lifetime. New York: HarperLuxe.

Polsby, N. W. (2012). Presidential elections: Strategies and structures of American politics. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers.

Somin, I. (2016). Democracy and political ignorance: Why smaller government is smarter.