by Ashlyn Swain | staff writer

Bernie Sanders

While those rooting for other candidates may believe otherwise, Bernie’s supporters claim he has the conviction of a pure heart and more experience than any other potential candidate. 

Bernie is a big believer of democratic socialism, a socio-economic philosophy that works for all instead of just the upper class. Most of Bernie’s supporters range from the lower classes to the upper middle class, fitting the idea that his campaign is really for everybody. Further supporting this, Bernie’s campaign slogan is “Not me. Us.”

The only concern of Bernie’s democratic supporters is his age. He is 78 years old, but many others also argue that his age brings experience. Bernie has been in office for roughly 40 years now and, with that, has gained more knowledge of the ins and outs of politics. On the flip side, other people are very concerned that his socialistic ideals will ruin the foundations of the U.S. economy. By promoting government funding into progressive social reforms, such as free health care options, cheaper college funds, and more money put into the minimum wage, etc., non-supporters worry that the economy will collapse. To this, Bernie rebuts with the fact that kindness should be valued more than money.

The real question people have is where the money will come from; the U.S. is already trillions of dollars in debt ($22 trillion to be exact), therefore funding these reforms could possibly plunge the U.S. into more debt than the country can jump back from. The truth of the matter is Bernie has multiple options on how to finance the reforms but many supporters and non-supporters have paid attention to it.

A brief summary of the options are a 7.5 percent tax for employers, 4 percent tax for households, and a bill to get taxes from large corporations. The planning is slightly vague because it doesn’t list the amount that would be saved from each method. Either way, however, there is a plan. 

Being an advocate for civil and gay rights since before most of us were even born, Sanders has been standing up for minorities for longer than is imaginable. This is a quality that many supporters find refreshing, as compared to other candidates in which they have been caught not being so supportive of people who had the potential to vote for them. It is a vital trait for many, which is why Sanders is in the lead.

Pete Buttigieg

Buttigieg, a man of conviction and the breaking of boundaries. Since his recent tie with Sanders at the Iowa caucus, Buttigieg has released more and more of the policies his nomination would hopefully cover.

A brief summary of these is the political reform and abolition of the U.S. Electoral College, nationwide gun safety laws that require background checks before their purchase, protection of the climate foremost and not the protection of businesses instead, the support of more labor unionization and much more. This is all covered by his campaign slogan, “It’s time for a new generation of American leadership,” and nearly all of his supporters believe him as well. 

A government reform is in the sights of nearly 71 percent of voters according to a 2019 poll done by the Pacific Standard. Whether this has been a long time coming or brought on by the last presidency remains unknown, but only 38 percent of Americans believe the system should remain the same and 28 percent are only satisfied with how the country is governed, according to said poll. 

These statisticcs being brought to light make Buttigieg’s campaign seem all the more appealing to voters and continues to help his possibilities of nomination grow. On top of these political reforms, Buttigieg often talks of the importance of the effects our country has on climate change. Currently, the Trump administration (?) is fully ignoring climate change as an issue by writing it off and Pete says he will not stand for it.