THE AMERICAN ELECTIONS

A IQ-test for the United States?

The American candidates for this year’s elections have made headlines throughout the world. I would like to make a short introduction of all the different candidates from both the GOP (Republicans) and the Democrats.

REPUBLICANS

1. Donald J. Trump – He is the frontrunner in the Republican primaries. He is a multimillion real estate broker, and has a net worth of more than 3 billion dollars. He is relatively new and does not brand himself as a “politician”. He has shocked with statements that brand Mexican immigrant as rapists, and he would deny entry to the United States for all the worlds 1, 7 billion Muslims because of a “potential terrorist threat”.
2. Ted Cruz – Born in Calgary, Canada, Ted Cruz is an archconservative politician from Texas. He is currently in second place for the Republican primaries. He was the first Hispanic-American to represent Texas in the US congress. He has made some shocking statements just as “We need more people like Jesse Helms”, Jesse Helms was a politician who opposed the civil rights movement. He also wants to ban same sex marriages.
3. John Kasich – He is the Republican candidate with the least delegates. He is also the current governor of Ohio. He is against abortion, with a few exceptions, wants to defund Planned Parenthood. John Kasich seems to be the least extreme among the republicans.

DEMOCRATS

1. Bernie Sanders is a senator from Vermont. He is son of Polish Jewish immigrants that escaped the Holocaust. He has declared him a “democratic socialist”, something that is very bold to do in capitalist USA. He attracts large amounts of young and enthusiastic people to his rallies. He focuses on social inequality, and has made a crusade to take on Wall Streets and banks that profit on others misery.
2. Hillary Clinton – former secretary of state, and married to the former US president Bill Clinton. She is the frontrunner in the Democrats primaries. She focuses on “fighting for everyday Americans”, and she wants to end police brutality.

 

I did the Presidential election quiz and I found out that I mostly agree with Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders on American main issues. However, I consider both of them to be to right wing for me as a Norwegian so I would not vote for them. I personally think that Bernie Sanders or Hillary Clinton should be nominated instead of the dangerous republicans who will not hesitate to break human rights and international conventions.

I chose one of the most popular issues facing American voters today and saw what they answered based on their ethnicity. I chose to see which races were reluctant to let in war torn Syrian refugees.
This was the results:
White – 51% no
Black – 55% yes
Asian – 61% yes
Pacific Islanders – 61% yes
Native Americans – 51% yes
Others – 58% yes

 

These results were not surprising to me because the voter basis of the Republican Party is the white population of the United States. They are more reluctant to letting in Syrian refugees because some fractions of them are xenophobic. The different races are usually more progressive and liberal then the white population. I think that the Republican Party alienates young minority kids with their harsh criticism and sometimes-racist slur.

Could I have voted for Donald Trump?
My answer is quite simple. No. I am a minority kid living in a country that welcomes me and embraces me for who I am. My country does not want to ban my entire faith based solely on the actions of a few. I think that Mr. Trump is all talk and no action. The American population is quite right wing while most Europeans are social democrats or liberals. He would not make a good candidate here in Europe nor on American soil.

What does the symbols mean?
The Democrats have a donkey, because it is quite down to earth and seems `popular`. While the Republicans have chosen an elephant because of its strength and depth. They want to seem traditional and conservative.

Favourite Tweets!
I retweeted several tweets from the Democratic candidates and the most and least popular Republican candidates.

I retweeted a tweet from Bernie Sanders where he addressed the issue of equality among the genders. A woman earns less than a man, and he thinks that is outrageous. I totally agree with him, and I believe that equal work should result in equal pay.

I retweeted a tweet from Donald Trump where he called Mitt Romney a joke. I agree with him, because I perceive Romney as a warmonger and I am glad that he did not become POTUS.

I retweeted a tweet from John Kasich where he said that the next American President should make all Americans proud. I think that John Kasich will try to be one who builds bridges and not walls.

I retweeted a tweet from Secretary Clinton where she said that the President should build bridges and not walls. She is referring to Mr. Trump’s divisive politics and his plan to build a wall on the Mexican-American border.

Each and one of the Republican candidate’s need 1, 237 delegates to win the nomination.
The Democrats need 2383 delegates to win the nomination.

I chose to compare two articles from The Washington Post and USA Today. They are both critical against Mr. Trump, which probably is not too hard to be. I believe that the majority of the different media outlets have staunch opposition against Mr. Trump. Both of the media outlets present facts against Mr. Trump.
I chose those newspapers because they are both reliable I believe and I think that they are quite informative.

If I was an American
If, I was an American I would not vote for any of the candidates on both sides. My personal favourite is Bernie Sanders, but I am a socialist and I do not believe that Mr. Sanders is a true socialist who will show solidarity with the poor and oppressed in this world. I would not vote for any republicans as I consider them bigots and racists. Secretary Clinton is a warmonger and I am against any form of war.