Sanders v. Biden
Luca Katzen, ‘22
March 2020
What you need to know about the Democratic candidates for president:
As the primary contests for the Democratic nominee for president become increasingly heated and polarizing, voters need to grasp all the information they can about each candidate. Senator Bernie Sanders and Vice President Joe Biden will both be examined by their values, success in the caucuses (essentially tiny elections that award a certain amount of delegates to the person who receives the most votes in that district), voter base, funding, common criticisms and positions on major issues to Democrats.
Before jumping into each candidates' values and supporters here is a scale of how liberal (left-leaning, socialist, democratic, etc.) each candidate is compared to famous Republican politicians on the other side of the aisle.
Senator Bernie Sanders:
Firstly, Senator Bernie Sanders runs on being the socialist candidate. He values the advancement of working families and the lower/middle class as well as addressing climate change. Senator Sanders runs on starting a political movement that will change the United States fundamentally by using the presidential office. Senator Sanders currently has 725 democratic delegates from his success in the caucuses but is about 150 delegates behind Joe Biden, the democratic frontrunner. Senator Sanders’ voter base consists mostly of Asian and Latino voters followed quickly by Black voters and the least by White supporters. In addition, Sanders gains support from mostly young, liberal voters but fails to gain support from older individuals and more centrist leaning democrats. The Senator is being currently funded most by unemployed Americans and least by billionaires (Biden has been ridiculed for doing the opposite). Some common criticisms of Bernie Sanders are; he is too liberal and could beat Trump, he didn’t get much done as a senator, how can he be expected to as president, his support of communist ideas, has not commented on the atrocities of the Gulags in Russia, Sanders’ healthcare plan is too expensive, his plans are too extreme and could never get passed by the senate and he is Jewish. Senator Sanders’ biggest policies include ‘Medicare for All’, instituting the Green New Deal, reforming US immigration to welcome immigrants, benefits for union workers and free college for all Americans.
Vice President Joe Biden:
Vice President Joe Biden runs on being everyone’s candidate. He is more center leaning on most policies than Bernie Sanders and believes he is the one who can get the votes from centrist voters who voted for Trump in 2016. Biden runs on restoring the US to how it was before Trump. Vice President Biden currently has 881 delegates. The Vice President is currently pulling in the majority of the white and black votes and support from older voters than Senator Sanders. Biden credits much of his success in the caucuses to pulling in centering leaning Democrats and voters who supported Buttigieg, Klobuchar and Bloomberg. The reason for this is, when the majority of the candidates dropped out, they endorsed Biden sending his voter base skyrocketing with new voters. Vice President Biden is being funded by the type of people who would vote for him, but he is criticized for not running a grassroots campaign and instead receiving support from billionaires. Biden is critiqued for having to center leaning policies, talking in a confusing manner during debates and rallies, allowing his family members to benefit financially from his political success, supporting the war in Iraq, trying to credit President Obama’s policies as his own and having weird interactions with women. Vice President Biden’s major policies include; building onto the Affordable Care Act, ending carbon emissions by 2050, new immigration laws, ending the manufacturing of assault rifles and helping get equality for women and the LQBTQ+ community.
3/15/20 Debate Key Takeaways:
Healthcare is still the largest area of debate between the candidates.
Both candidates are promising to have a female Vice President (although Biden somewhat forced Sanders into saying so).
The Coronavirus is testing the electability of each candidate by making them come up with plans to help the crisis.
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