By Sophie Foster
Opinion Editor
The 2024 presidential election proceedings are well underway, and so far, it is shaping up to be perhaps the most unenthusiastic race to date.
From the beginning, it has been relatively evident that the two frontrunners are incumbent Democrat President Joe Biden and recent former Republican President Donald Trump.
Both candidates are disheartening.
President Biden has repeatedly refused to commit to campaign promises like alleviations of student loan debt while simultaneously devoting more than $200 billion in immensely unpopular aid to Israel, according to U.S. News. His approval rating currently rests at just 38.6%, lower than any other president at this stage in their tenure since Harry Truman in 1947, according to FiveThirtyEight.
Trump, meanwhile, is currently embroiled in incredibly public legal turbulence for cases of alleged fraud and interference following the insurrection that transpired on Jan. 6, 2021 upon his failure to achieve reelection. According to CNN, he has been met with threats from states such as Colorado and Maine to be kicked off the ballot entirely as a result of these ongoing legal battles, which call his eligibility into question.
Additionally, either candidate would be the oldest president ever elected into office should they win. President Biden is 81 and Trump is 77.
With this in mind, the Iowa caucus and subsequent primary elections have made minimal waves in an election season that has been far less earnest than those of 2020 and 2016. Thus far, Iowa Republicans, New Hampshire, Nevada, South Carolina Democrats, and Virgin Islands Republicans have cast their party votes. No state or territory achieved a divergence from the expectations in terms of electing one of the two highly criticized figures.
Maryland primary elections for both parties will take place on May 14, so there is time for voters in the state to take into account what, exactly, they are voting for beyond the names on the ballot.
Regardless of how those votes are cast, though, it is well past time we question the definition of “democracy” the United States operates under. As of Feb. 4, both Trump and President Biden have unfavorability and disapproval ratings above 50%, according to FiveThirtyEight. Why, then, are Americans already certain this will turn out to be yet another battle between the two come November? It is baffling that the country is barreling toward an election between two candidates for whom most Americans do not seem to hold any real respect.
According to Reuters, “Trump, 77, the only current or ex-U.S. president to be charged with criminal activity, won by an unprecedented margin for an Iowa Republican contest, strengthening his case that his nomination is a foregone conclusion given his massive lead in national polls.”
Democrats, meanwhile, seem staunchly unwilling to turn their back on an incumbent, regardless of the candidate’s viability.
Republican candidates, such as former Vice President Mike Pence and Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, have been removing themselves from candidacy left and right. The only Democrat to make any headlines aside from President Biden is Marianne Williamson, who failed spectacularly at earning support against frontrunners like President Biden and Senator Bernie Sanders in the 2020 election.
Third party candidates have never successfully turned a presidential vote in their direction, so it stands to reason this will remain the case, even for those as socially significant as lawyer Robert F. Kennedy, doctor and repeat-candidate Jill Stein, and scholar Cornel West.
This election instability is reflective of what The New York Times calls “twin threats” to American democracy: an unwillingness of many Republicans to concede that Trump rightfully lost the 2020 election, and, more urgently, “the power to set government policy…becoming increasingly disconnected from public opinion.”
In addition to unpopular candidates assuming the star roles this election season, half of the presidents elected in the twenty-first century — George W. Bush in 2000 and Trump in 2016 — assumed the office despite losing the popular vote.
Furthermore, senators abuse the filibuster and fail to pass bills, while representatives struggle to adequately reflect the will of constituents as a result of gerrymandering and poorly drawn district lines.
Only 13% of Americans support total abortion bans, but the Biden administration saw the overturning of Roe v. Wade in the Supreme Court, according to Gallup. 61% of Americans support a call for a ceasefire in Palestine, but President Biden continues to send weaponry to Israel, according to Data for Progress. These are only two examples of the ways in which elected officials openly refuse to acknowledge the will of those they are supposedly representing.
With disapproval ratings for both key candidates through the roof and significant legislation falling flat on campaign promises, it may be time to ask if our elected representatives are even representative at all.
Photo courtesy of Wikimedia Commons
Photo Caption: It is likely that the 2024 presidential election will be another competition between 2020 candidates President Biden and Trump.