Joe Biden, Democrat’s Last Hope?

Debate Performance

During the last week of September, the first out of two presidential debates took place. This debate pitted Democratic Presidential Nominee, Joe Biden, and the current

President of the United States, Donald J. Trump. Needless to say, it was a tumultuous debate, with both sides throwing accusations at each other. Perceived as a sort of “last hope” for democrats, Joe Biden exceeded expectations during the debate, being able to refute many of President Trump’s arguments and bring about some hard-hitting questions towards the President. For Biden, this brought further insight into his plans if he were to become President of the United States. Some of these included: the pandemic, the controversial supreme court justice nomination, the Affordable Care Act (ACA), racial injustice, and more.

Coronavirus Plan

As stated on the Joe Biden website, his plan for Covid-19 has the goal of economic recovery, reduction of cases, and the wellbeing of the American people. Things like a wide availability of free tests could help gauge the number of people with the virus more accurately. Additionally, having a certain metric could help when making a policy related to the virus. One important factor that separates the Biden campaign from Trump’s is that Biden has run on a “science first” mentality. Many campaign ads highlight this while citing Trump’s refusal to listen to medical advisers like Dr. Fauci. In fact, Trump recently stated that “He’ll listen to the scientists” in a campaign rally, with many now mocking the statement as nonsensical.

Mail-In voting and transfer of power

During the campaign trail, Biden has routinely criticized Trump’s view on mail-in voting, saying that his claims are false. Biden favors the practice of mail-in voting, as it provides a safe and alternative way to vote during this pandemic. Now, however, many Democrats have started to encourage voting in person to avoid any possible mishaps between the two parties.

Packing the Supreme Court

After the death of Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Republicans rushed to put forth a new nominee. This gave us Amy Coney Barrett, an extremely catholic Supreme Court Justice nominee. During the Obama administration, there was a push to nominate a new Supreme Court Justice when S.C.J. Antony Scalia died. The Senate, which was dominated by Republicans at the time, denied any possible nomination citing that the elections were coming up and the will of the American people wasn’t being represented at the time. Now, however, Republicans are ignoring the standard they had set, as it benefits them greatly to have a 6-3 lead on the Supreme Court. One possibility has been greatly discussed due to this, and that is court-packing. Court-packing would add new justices, and balance it in favor of the Democrats if Biden is elected. Biden has shied away from his intentions, however, when asked during the debate if he supported packing the court, he dodged the question and looked at the camera asking for people to vote.

Immigration/ Affordable Care Act

Biden wants to stop any possible effort for building the border wall, as he sees it as something illogical. As stated on his website, he will try to modernize immigration, tackle the root causes of irregular migration, and implement effective border screening. When it comes to the Affordable Care Act, Biden wants to solidify the program, saying that it is imperative for the safety of Americans.