Almost exactly 3 years ago, Democrat Joe Biden won the 2020 presidential election over Former President Donald Trump, a massive defeat for Republicans. But now, Republicans are ready to select a candidate to take back the presidency. With various candidates vying to represent the Republican Party on a national stage, and an election right around the corner, it is important that we reflect on the candidates for this race, and their policies, experiences, and motivations.
Leading the pack is none other than Former President Donald Trump. Trump has something which no other candidate has; prior experience on a presidential level. His policies are well known; a more extreme variant of Republican values, including increased military strength, lax limitations on gun control, and the plan to create a national abortion ban. With a powerful and large faction of supporters, it serves as no surprise that FiveThirtyEight’s Republican Primary Tracker ranks him as the leading primary candidate with 56.9% of the primary support. One way in which he might lose the primary, however, is that his well-publicized “legal jeopardy on multiple fronts could convince enough GOP primary voters to turn the page and look to the future,” according to Politico.com
Polling at a distant 13.3% but still in second place is Florida Governor Ron DeSantis. Like Trump, DeSantis has a national profile and is widely-known among the Republican party. He has issued policies on topics including culture wars and education, Covid-19, and Social Security, but his policies are generally not more or less extreme than those of a typical Conservative politician. His lack of controversies may also serve to benefit him, but this lack of a distinct ideology is thought to be the same thing keeping him from overtaking Trump in the polls.
Polling at just under 8% and in third place is Nikki Haley. Her experience as a cabinet member and a governor of South Carolina is extensive, and as the only woman and being born to Indian American immigrants, she will offer “a fresh — and diverse — face on the national scene”, according to npr.org. However, both her extreme want to completely eliminate Medicare and Social Security and her inclusive policies relating to immigrants may serve to lose votes from both extreme and moderate voters in the Republican party.
A wildcard in this presidential election is the fourth-polling candidate at 5.2%, Vivek Ramaswamy. An Indian-American business executive, his experience certainly differs from the political backgrounds of his opponents. He is running as an “anti-woke’ capitalist” who has “decried corporate investment based on environmental, social and governance principles”, according to CBS.com. His main weaknesses stem from his lack of a traditional political background coupled with his young age (38) and his lack of difference in the policies of the leading candidate, former President Trump.
There are over half a dozen other candidates polling at under 5% who are looking to run against the odds. Among these include former Governor Chris Christie running on an anti-Trump campaign, businessman and pastor Ryan Binkley running on a traditional conservative campaign with an emphasis on unification, Governor and billionaire Doug Burgum relying on his lack of controversy in North Dakota, and former congressman and governor Asa Hutchinson who possesses great experience and is running to return to pre-Trump conservative values.
The first Republican primary will be held in Iowa on January 15th, 2024. Until then, we can only speculate as to who will survive these next months of campaigning, and be given the nomination of the Republican Party in the 2024 Presidential election.