The 2020 Presidential Election is wrapping up and it has definitely been interesting thus far. It’s looking like it’s going to be a close race between President Trump, and former Vice President Joe Biden. Early polls are definitely favoring the former Vice President but that doesn’t mean President Trump is out of this race. A large majority of polls are based on the current amount of mail in ballots that have been collected, and according to a study conducted by fivethirtyeight, a political analysis organization dedicated to breaking down and explaining politics to the public, Democrats are much more likely to vote by mail, while Republicans are more likely to show up to the polls on election day. Both candidates are aware of how close this election will most likely be, and as a result they have both spent a ton of time and money in some of the crucial swing states. These include Florida, Arizona, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, North Carolina, and Maine. These states could all go to either candidate and are worth a total of 92 electoral votes, which is huge when the number to win is 270.

Garrit Pickelmann, a high school history team lead and teacher said swing states are incredibly important, they give some set states an opportunity to change from Democrat to Republican or vice versa.

In the 2016 election President Trump’s victories in Florida, Arizona, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin were very crucial in his victory over Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, and the mock polls show that Joe Biden is currently winning in all four of these states this time around. One of the biggest factors in this election will almost certainly be the Electoral College.
“[In] two of the last four elections the Electoral College has decided who won,” Pickelmann said. “It’s[the Electoral College]” outdated and we need to move to strictly a popular vote.”

Now I’m sure you’re wondering why it’s such a close call between both candidates as most of the time one candidate is highly favored over the other. Let’s discuss some of the points both candidates have made at the Presidential debates. Before the election date of Nov. 3, two massive debates were held, in these debates both candidates were asked a series of questions pertaining to how they run things should they be elected President. One of the topics talked about was COVID-19 and how they would continue to control it during their presidency. According to a transcript published by USA Today, Biden claimed that he wanted to lessen the protective measures that are currently being used and simply have everyone wear masks, this would allow him to open up many of the currently suffering businesses and save the crumbling economy. Trump on the other hand wants to keep the measures in place and continue work on the vaccine making the point that the economy is rebuilding itself. One of the more long term topics discussed were their plans for healthcare. Trump simply stated that he wanted to “give them [the American people] better health care at a much much lower price” which would require the ending of the Affordable Health Care Act. Biden wants to expand the Affordable Care Act and claimed that Trump’s plan would endanger those with pre-existing conditions which Trump incessantly denied.

While those were only two of the topics discussed in the first debate it’s clear to see why everyone is so stuck between who to choose. Both candidates want to do great things for this country and have evidence to back up their plans, but every time a good point is brought up the other side disproves it with evidence of their own.

The election results so far show the Joe Biden has won a total of 290 Electoral votes while Trump has only won 232, giving Biden enough to be named the President-Elect.

The only states that are still undecided and counting up votes at this point are North Carolina, Alaska and Georgia. Based on current information Biden will be proclaimed President of the United states as he only needed 270 electoral votes to win and currently has 290. Nothing has finalized yet since some states are still counting votes and the Electoral Colleges still have to submit their votes as well.