The following memorandum presents detailed and researched information on two Democratic presidential candidates named Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren and the likely candidate for the Republican Party, Donald J. Trump.
Background
Bernie Sanders currently serves as the Senator of Vermont. He was born on 8th September 1941, in a Jewish family whose parents were immigrants. Sanders had his early education at P.S 197 School in Brooklyn and attended the Hebrew School. After his elementary education, Sanders then proceeded to James Madison High School which is still in Brooklyn. While in high school, he contested for the presidency of the student body but unfortunately did not win. Between 1959 and 1960, Sanders attended Brooklyn College before joining the University of Chicago where he obtained a bachelor’s degree in Arts in political science.
While studying at the University of Chicago, Sanders was a member of various movements promoting political activism including the Civil Rights Movement, the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, the Congress of Racial Equality, and the Young People’s Socialist League. Sanders had several occupations right after obtaining his degree at the University of Chicago. He worked as a carpenter, teacher, psychiatric aide, filmmaker, and writer before joining the Liberty Union Party through which he contested to be the governor of Vermont in 1972 and 1976 and thereafter as a senator in 1972 and 1974. He served as Mayor of Burlington between 1981 and 1989 before his election to the House of Representatives. He later joined the Senate in 2005.
Elizabeth Herring Warren serves as the Senator of the state of Massachusetts. She was born on 22nd June 1949 in Oklahoma City. After her father’s death, while she was still young, Warren served as a waitress at a local Mexican restaurant owned by her aunt, even though her family struggled with limited financial resources. She went to George Washington University, but later she proceeded to the University of Houston where she obtained a degree in speech pathology. Warren then continued to law school upon which she earned her J.D.
Before joining politics, Elizabeth Warren practiced as a lawyer specializing in bankruptcy law. This enabled her to publish widely about the field especially when she taught at Harvard University. She was elected in 2012 to represent the state of Massachusetts in the Senate. In doing so, she became the first woman to be elected as Senator in Massachusetts. Elizabeth Warren has various awards which included being named among the most one hundred influential people in the world by Time Magazine in 2009, 2010, and 2015 (McBride).
Donald J. Trump currently serves as the forty-fifth president of the United States of America. Trump was born in 1946 in a wealthy family, and his father was a real estate developer and investor (McBride). Between 1959 and 1964, Trump was at the New York Military Academy before joining Fordham University. And later, he went to the University of Pennsylvania where he obtained a degree in economics in 1968. After he finished his education, Trump worked in his father’s businesses before eventually setting out foot as a real estate investor. He ventured into media through a series of reality shows before joining politics.
Scandals Associated with Candidate
Though Bernie Sanders has hardly been implicated in any scandal, he has been accused of sexism and sexual harassment by his 2016 presidential campaign aides (Mak). This means that in any case, he was only been accused indirectly and vowed to prevent such issues from cropping up in the lead-up to the 2020 presidential elections campaign. Similarly, Elizabeth Warren is not implicated in a scandal that could damage her reputation and in due course dent her political fortunes in the race for the Democratic nomination and 2020 presidential elections.
President Donald Trump has been implicated in a few scandals. For instance, the Russia scandal is just one of them. The Russia scandal involved undermining the United States of America’s voting system as well as national security with the Russian government said to have aided the election of Donald Trump as president (Murse). Additionally, President Donald Trump has been implicated in what is now being referred to as the Trump-Ukraine scandal (Pilkington). In the Trump-Ukraine scandal, President Donald Trump is accused of pressurizing the government of Ukraine into soiling the name of former vice president Joe Biden, a leading presidential candidate nominee for the Democrats (Pilkington).
Economic Policy
Regarding economic policies, both Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren are advocating for tax increases targeting rich Americans (Jin and Oprysko). Equally importantly, Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren are proposing tax reliefs for middle- and low-income individuals (Jin and Oprysko). Bernie Sanders, in particular, seeks to revive the estate tax (Jin and Oprysko).
On the other hand, the tax policies of President Donald Trump are diametrically opposite the policy position of Sanders and Warren. Trump’s 2017 tax reform favors tax cuts for rich people and corporations, which is a trickle-down economic policy. (Jin and Oprysko).
Environment Policy
Another economic policy that Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren have convergence on is their view on addressing the effects of climate change. Both Sanders and Warren support the Green New Deal which seeks to radically combat climate change by promoting huge government investments in clean energy and clean infrastructures. (Jin and Oprysko).
President Donald Trump is not really concerned with the effects of climate change and he is not supportive at all of the Green New Deal. Trump believes that the Green New Deal and other economic policies enacted to combat climate change would hamper the creation of jobs and thus prevent the revival of manufacturing plants.
Education Policy
Furthermore, Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren advocate for free college which is set to make higher education more affordable, especially to the middle income as well as low-income families (Jin and Oprysko). This is quite different from the policy proposals of President Trump who believes that higher education needs to be funded by individuals who are in line with the age-old policy proposals of the Republican administrations of small government.
Health Care Policy
Additionally, Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders are fronting universal health care for all Americans. The Medicare for All policy is different from the policy proposals of President Trump who believes that Americans should privately fund their health care and not the government. (Jin and Oprysko).
Polling
For polling, this memo makes use of data from Real Clear Politics. The average from the data as compiled by Real Clear Politics indicates that Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders are trailing Joe Biden in second and third positions respectively. On average, Bernie Sanders is polling 17.5% while Elizabeth Warren is at 21.3%. However, another poll by Quinnipiac indicates that Elizabeth Warren is leading the Democratic presidential nominee race at 27% while Bernie Sanders is a distant third at 16% (Gabbatt). It is expected that the race for the Democratic presidential nominee is expected to be highly contested among three contestants name Elizabeth Warren, Joe Biden, and Bernie Sanders.
Conclusion
Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders have convergence in terms of the economic policies that they are advocating for on the campaign trail. For instance, their policy positions on free college, universal health care, climate change, and tax reforms are similar. It is important to note that Sanders and Warren are pushing for tax hikes for rich people while at the same time advocating for tax reliefs for middle-income and low-income individuals. They have also expressed their support for the Green New Deal as the most comprehensive way to address the challenges posed by climate change. On the other hand, Donald Trump advocates for tax cuts for the rich as well as the corporations, while banishing the need for a Green New Deal based on his support for the creation of jobs by reviving traditional manufacturing plants.
Considering the integrity of the three individuals, Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders are better off compared to Donald Trump. While Bernie Sanders is only faulted indirectly based on the fact that his agents were accused of sexism and sexual harassment during the 2016 Democratic campaigns for the nomination of the presidential candidate, Elizabeth Warren is hardly mentioned anywhere. On the other hand, Donald Trump is largely mentioned in a number of scandals. One of the scandals in which he is mentioned includes the Russia scandal where Donald Trump is accused to have sought help from the Russian government to scuttle the campaign of Hillary Clinton. Furthermore, President Trump has also been lately accused of having pressurized the government of Ukraine to disclose information about Joe Biden. The candidates also have different experiences in terms of education, and professional and political careers.
Therefore, Elizabeth Warren remains the candidate to beat considering the latest poll results where she is ahead of Bernie Sanders. Bernie Sanders could be faltering especially since his policies are considered to be highly leftist. The many scandals rocking Trump even during his time in office could be his major undoing. It is hard to predict which candidate has the most advantage to run for the presidential position.
References
“Election 2020 - 2020 Democratic Presidential Nomination.” RealClearPolitics, https://www.realclearpolitics.com/epolls/2020/president/us/2020_democratic_presidential_nomination-6730.html.
Gabbatt, Adam. “Elizabeth Warren Tops Democratic Candidates in National Poll for the First Time.” The Guardian, Guardian News, and Media, 25 Sept. 2019, https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2019/sep/25/elizabeth-warren-biden-national-poll-democrats-bernie-sanders.
Jin, Beatrice, and Caitlin Oprysko. “Here's Where the Democratic Candidates Stand on the Biggest 2020 Issues.” POLITICO, https://www.politico.com/interactives/2019/04/25/2020-democratic-presidential-candidates-take-stands-issues/.
Mak, Tim. “Bernie Sanders Responds To Allegations Of Sexism, Harassment By Aides During 2016 Race.” NPR, NPR, 3 Jan. 2019, https://www.npr.org/2019/01/03/681815362/bernie-sanders-responds-to-allegations-of-sexism-and-harassment-on-2016-campaign.
“Meet Bernie Sanders, Democratic Presidential Candidate.” Council on Foreign Relations, Council on Foreign Relations, https://www.cfr.org/blog/meet-bernie-sanders-democratic-presidential-candidate.
Murse, Tom. “Here Are Summaries of the Biggest Trump Scandals to Date.” ThoughtCo, ThoughtCo, 10 July 2019, https://www.thoughtco.com/trump-scandals-4142784.
Pilkington, Ed. “Trump-Ukraine Scandal: What Did the Whistleblower Say and How Serious Is It?” The Guardian, Guardian News, and Media, 26 Sept. 2019, https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2019/sep/26/trump-ukraine-whistleblower-how-serious-impeachment.
“The 2020 Presidential Candidates: In Their Own Words.” Council on Foreign Relations, Council on Foreign Relations, https://www.cfr.org/article/2020-presidential-candidates-their-own-words.