The Hampton Script

Ryland Staples |Staff Writer

The race for the presidency has already been a long and laborious affair. After starting with 26 candidates, the democratic nominees have dwindled down to 10 Democrats vying for the nomination.

The current front-runners are former Vice President Joe Biden, Sen. Elizabeth Warren and Sen. Bernie Sanders, respectively. However, reports say Biden’s numbers are falling.

According to a Vox-conducted poll, Warren has 22% of the vote, while Biden has 20%. In New Hampshire, where Warren was received warmly at the beginning of this month, she leads with 27% of the vote, while Biden has 25%.

It’s understandable why Biden is the current front-runner. He is one of the most experienced out of the group, with his former vice presidency at the top of his resume.

The American people know what they’re going to get when they hear his name. Biden’s a familiar face that has the knowhow and experience to be able to competently run the country.

However, he isn’t free of sociopolitical blemishes. For one thing, we can’t forget about the several accusations of sexual harassment against him earlier this year in which no real apology or explanation being issued.

In response to the wave of criticism he faced, Biden posted a video on his Twitter where he indirectly blamed changing social norms.

“Social norms are changing. I understand that, and I’ve heard what these women are saying” is part of what he wrote in his tweet. Referencing changing social norms seems creepy and tone deaf and shows that Biden represents an older way of politics; he knows he did something that is frowned upon by the public but is too stubborn to admit that he is wrong. That kind of thinking doesn’t have a place in modern politics.

With Warren’s popularity rising over the past few weeks, it wouldn’t be a surprise if she were to take the lead in more polls across the country. Her stances on highly controversial issues such as private prisons are why she has been on the rise the past few months.

However, Sanders has similar views along with his democratic socialist approach. One of his most popular stances is “Medicare-for-all”: his effort for everyone in the country to have access to proper health care and be able to live a healthy lifestyle without being worried about medical bills.

Other candidates also have voiced their opinion about expanding public health care, but Sanders seems to be one of the few candidates who want to completely get rid of private health care altogether. Theoretically, his plan would bridge the divide between patients that may not be able to afford the health care they need and the hospitals that can provide treatment.

Outside of the top three, Rep. Beto O’Rourke has gotten a boost since the last debate. After the Walmart shooting in his hometown of El Paso, Texas, O’Rourke took a firm, unrelenting stance on gun control. During the last Democratic debate, he made it clear that any style of gun that has been designed to take out a large number of people will be taken away.

Certainly, the country needs to take gun control more seriously. The fact that a person can fail a background check yet can turn around and legally purchase a gun from a gun show is baffling.

With the presidential election getting closer every day, it’s important that we, college students, stay up to date on politics. For us, research allows us to decide who we will ultimately support in this election that surely means more for our future than ever.