This November 6th is Election Day, which is the second Tuesday of the month, and everyone is in sight of the finish line.
The Republicans held their National Convention from Aug. 27-30 in Tampa, Florida which ended with the nomination of Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan as the Republican candidates for this election.
The Democratic Nation Convention, held September 4-6th ended with President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden chosen to run again, which may come as no surprise as President Obama had mentioned early in the year that his running mate would be Joe Biden.
At the end of both conventions, they released documentation detailing both parties’ platforms for the upcoming elections. At the end of both parties’ conventions recent polls suggest that President Obama has the lead in the upcoming race, however as Skyline College Political Science Professor Jeff Diamond points out.
“…some of this bump seems to have come from states that don’t really matter. What really matters is what happens in the swing states like Ohio, Florida, and Virginia, and that is less clear.”
According to an electoral map by the New York Times, there are six swing states: Colorado, Florida, Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada, Ohio, Virginia, and Wisconsin.
These states could very well be decisive in determining who wins this November.
During the course of this year’s election campaign, dozens of issues have been debated by both parties from energy, same-sex marriage rights, health care, the unemployment rate, taxes, and the economy.
“Clearly the single most important question is the economy” said Professor Jeff Diamond, when he was asked of which of these the most important and likely to have the most impact on the country.
The economy is a mess and both parties have proposed their plans to fix it as part of their platforms for this coming election in November; the Republicans’ economy plans call for reducing the tax rate of U.S corporations in order to stimulate the economy.
The Democrats’ own plans call for an encompassing approach to developing the U.S numerous energy resources which includes wind, solar, bio-fuel, geothermal, hydropower, nuclear, oil, clean coal, and natural gas to create jobs and make the U.S. energy independent. It also calls for advanced building and innovation surpassing other countries by creating an environment where high-tech companies can operate successfully, thus benefiting Americans.
However, a result of the current campaign is an increase in voters who are disillusioned with both parties, their policies, and especially with the last two years of deadlock that Washington has been faced with.
“It’s not hard to be disillusioned with the current political system because it fails especially to people who aren’t a part of the political structure.” said Mathematics Instructor Jonathan Freedman.