The United States presidential election of 2020 is all set to take place on November 3. Voters will select presidential electors who in turn will vote on December 14, 2020, to elect the President and the Vice-President. The winner will be the 46th U.S. President who will be inaugurated on January 20, 2021.
The main contenders are the incumbents, President Donald Trump and Vice-President Mike Pence, representing the Republicans, and former vice-president Joe Biden and California Senator Kamala Harris, running for President respectively, representing the Democrats.
With less than a month to go for the 2020 presidential election, the country faces challenges from coronavirus to racial inequity. Trump who won the 2016 election riding on the phase “Make America Great Again”, seeks a second term promising to revive the pandemic-battered economy, boost job opportunities, protect local manufacturing and trade interests, lower taxes, and tighten restrictions on immigration. He has promised to continue the construction of a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border. His term also saw widespread protests as part of Black Lives Matter movement, following the killing of African-American George Floyd at the hands of police. His delayed COVID response has come in for criticism. He was also criticised for pulling the U.S. out of the Paris climate accord, for rolling back many environment protection initiatives including caps on CO2 emissions from power plants, and for his handling of the migrant crisis. Trump was impeached by the House on charges of abuse of power and obstruction of Congress in December 2019, but was acquitted of the charges by the Senate.
Joe Biden is a seasoned politician, known for serving as Vice-President for eight years during Barak Obama’s consecutive terms as President. Biden, who criticised Trump for his slow response to the pandemic, says he can pull America out of the present crisis. With Kamala Harris as his running mate, he is reaching out to the non-white voters. His proposals include extending loans to small businesses impacted by the pandemic, creating new economic opportunities for workers, raising minimum wage, restoring environment protections, rejoining the Paris Accord, promoting American goods and services, undoing Trump’s policies on immigration, healthcare rights, social and economic programmes to support minorities, addressing race and gender disparities in the justice system and ending death penalty. If elected, Biden would be the oldest president in history turning 78 at the time of his inauguration.
Who is Kamala Harris?
Kamala Harris, 55, is an American lawyer and politician, who is the running mate of Democrat presidential nominee Joe Biden. Personifying diversity, she is the first person of Indian descent in the running mate role. Born to immigrant parents (Indian mother and Jamaican father), she has been serving as the U.S. Senator from California since January 2017. Harris was the first woman of colour elected as California’s attorney general. She is also the second woman of colour and the first person of South Asian heritage to serve in the U.S. Senate. She ran for president in 2020, but abandoned the race citing lack of funds. She gained attention for her work on police reforms in the wake of protests over the death of George Floyd. She is a supporter of Medicare for All.
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