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US President Donald Trump (left) and Democratic Party’s presidential candidate Joe Biden. (Illustration: Swarajya Magazine)
The most important issue in US Presidential elections has traditionally been the economy and there is no difference this time around.
Rounding out the top five issues most important to voters are national security, the response to the Coronavirus, Healthcare and Education.
The Democrats are traditionally seen as stronger on the latter two while Republicans are seen as better stewards of the economy and stronger on national security.
Trump's response to the Coronavirus has been widely criticised with polls usually having his core support of 37 - 40 per cent approving of his handling of the pandemic.
With the above, the Biden campaign may have a slight edge on the issues.
While the above are mostly recurring themes in every Presidential election, there are a few issues that make this election unique:
The states to watch and what the polls say
The widely respected American TV anchor, Tim Russert, summed up the 2000 Presidential election by his famous quote that the election was all about "Florida, Florida, Florida".
While that may not be the case this time around, the uniqueness of the American electoral college system means that just a handful of states tend to decide the election.
The other battleground states are the midwest states of Wisconsin, Michigan, an almost mid-western one, Pennsylvania, and North Carolina and Arizona.
All of these states went Trump's way in 2016, sometimes with razor-thin margins.
The issues in these states are generally aligned with national topics, but with some nuances.
An assessment of each campaign and a prediction
Trump's bombastic style, twitter tirades, and generally divisive language have turned off a certain segment of the 2016 Trump voter. However, the pull further left of the Democratic agenda has had a similar effect on the Democratic side. Also like 2016, the polls have Biden as the clear front runner.
The country is more polarised than at any time in recent memory, but the election starts and ends with bread and butter issues for many key voting blocs.
In modern US history, only Jimmy Carter and George Bush Sr. have lost re-election bids and both did so in times of recessions.
While the current US economy has been kneecapped by the Covid-19 outbreak, the stock market, unemployment, and other measures show an economy on the mend.
For all of Trump's divisiveness, he currently has a 51 per cent approval rating on his handling of the economy.
Additionally, politics 101 dictates that voters need a positive message and the Biden/Harris duo has failed to deliver on this part.
2020 has been full of surprises, look for the US election to deliver another one with Trump claiming four more years as President.
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