Tuesday, September 17, 2024
Year : 2, Issue: 37
Republican former President Donald Trump will face Vice President Kamala Harris in the Nov. 5 US presidential election after President Joe Biden ended his reelection bid. Several third-party hopefuls are also running. Here is a list of the candidates.
REPUBLICAN PARTY: DONALD TRUMP
Trump, 78, secured the Republican nomination at his party’s July convention in Milwaukee, just days after surviving an assassination attempt at a campaign rally in July.
Trump has continued to repeat his false claim that Democrats stole the 2020 election as he makes his third bid for the White House amid unprecedented legal challenges, including a fresh indictment over efforts to subvert his 2020 loss.
Trump became the first former US president to be convicted of a crime in May, in New York, and still faces US and Georgia state charges over efforts to subvert the 2020 election. He was also the first president to be impeached twice. Separate allegations of illegally keeping classified documents after leaving office were dismissed by a federal judge, but prosecutors have appealed.
The remaining cases are unlikely to reach trial before the November election, while a New York judge delayed the sentencing for Trump’s conviction over falsifying documents to cover up a payment.
Among voters who said they had heard at least something about the debate, 53% said Harris won and 24% said Trump won, according to a Reuters/Ipsos poll. Trump has said he will not debate Harris again.
Trump has vowed to pardon supporters imprisoned for the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the US Capitol, calling them “warriors.”
Trump has made immigration a top domestic campaign issue, promising mass deportations, an end to birthright citizenship and an expanded travel ban on people from certain countries, among other actions.
On abortion Trump said he does not support banning birth control.
DEMOCRATIC PARTY: KAMALA HARRIS
Harris, 59, won the Democratic Party’s nomination after Biden ended his reelection bid, allowing Democrats to present a different American vision in contrast to Trump’s agenda as they kicked off their convention and sought to revive their coalition of young voters, people of color and suburban women.
Harris would become the first woman to serve as president in the nation’s 248-year history if she wins. She leads the former president nationally 47% to 42%, according to a September Reuters/Ipsos poll that took place after the debate but before the apparent assassination attempt later in the month.
In the seven battleground states that could decide the election – Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, Georgia, Arizona, North Carolina, Michigan and Nevada – Trump had a 45% to 43% lead over Harris among registered voters in an August Reuters/Ipsos survey.
Harris is expected to stick largely to Biden’s foreign policy playbook on key issues such as Ukraine, China and Iran. She has also pressured Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for a Gaza ceasefire deal but has also taken a hard line against Hamas.
She has laid out an economic plan that includes proposals to cut taxes for most Americans, ban what she says is “price gouging” by grocers, build more affordable housing and introduce a new child tax credit.
She has also proposed increasing the corporate tax rate to 28% from 21%.
INDEPENDENTS: CORNEL WEST
The political activist, philosopher and academic is making a third-party bid for president that aimed at appealing to more progressive, Democratic-leaning voters.
West, 71, initially ran as a Green Party candidate but in October said people “want good policies over partisan politics” and declared himself an independent. He has promised to end poverty and guarantee housing.
GREEN PARTY: JILL STEIN
Stein, 74, a physician who ran under the Green Party in 2016, is trying once again in 2024.
She launched her current campaign accusing Democrats of betraying their promises “for working people, youth and the climate again and again – while Republicans don’t even make such promises in the first place.”
LIBERTARIAN PARTY: CHASE OLIVER
While the Libertarian Party invited both Trump and Kennedy to speak at its convention in late May, it ultimately selected Oliver, 39. Oliver ran for a Georgia state Senate seat in 2022 and garnered 2% of the vote.Source: Reuters
