Democrat: Joe Biden
September 29, 2020
Presidential candidate Joe Biden was never the first choice. At least this is the case for Mick Collier, sophomore, and Xander Piskulic, senior. Collier supported Mike Bloomberg in the Democratic primaries, while Piskulic was a “Bernie Bro.” However, after their favorite candidates left the race, both Collier and Piskulic found Biden to be a stronger Democratic candidate than expected and most importantly, better than his Republican opponent, Donald Trump.
“I trust that Biden will be making the sort of legislation and working with the sort of politicians who are going to be making the changes I want to see in the government,” Piskulic said. “All of his policies are things that I can live with, if not policies that I enjoy and really do think should be instated.”
Piskulic said one of Biden’s biggest strengths is the time he spent as Barack Obama’s vice president from 2009 to 2017. According to Piskulic, Biden’s experience during his vice presidency and his over 30 years as a Senator made him a strong leader and speaker. Collier said Biden’s previous political experience will be a valuable asset if he ends up in the White House.
“Biden knows how to be a leader,” Collier said. “He knows how to be a figure for people. And he knows how to be a voice of reason in times of crisis which Donald Trump, with COVID-19, has not been.”
Collier agrees with almost all of Biden’s policies, including his plans for climate change, gun control and the economy. He said most people are misinformed about Biden’s gun control plan, which is not to take away guns, but to enforce tighter restrictions on legal automatic weapons. Collier also supports Biden’s tax policy.
“I think Biden understands the working man and actually understands how a family in the middle class can be affected by all these real policy changes,” Collier said. “The biggest selling point for Biden would be [that] he would make economic changes that would actually affect the majority of the American people as opposed to just the people up top.”
One unique point of Biden’s candidacy is his running mate, Kamala Harris, an African-American and Asian-American woman. If Biden wins the election, Harris will be the first ever female vice president. Running with Harris is a big advantage for Biden according to Ella Stauder, sophomore.
“We’re getting the woman’s point of view rather than just having men as president and vice president,” Stauder said. “So I feel like there will be more freedoms for women and more empowerment. I think it will be better all around for our country.”
Despite breaking ground with his chosen running mate, some KHS students argue that Biden is not radical enough. Jack Henry, senior, said he would be more supportive of Biden if his platform included a more progressive climate change policy and fixing racial injustice in the police system.
“I support most of what he’s doing, especially with health care, but honestly, I wish that he was advocating for more change,” Henry said. “I hope that [Biden] would help to ease some of the conflict because of Trump’s beliefs, especially about minorities.”
Like most KHS students, Piskulic will be too young to vote in this election. He said that if he was able to vote, his vote would go to Biden. However, he urges everyone who can vote to do so, regardless of who they’re voting for.
“Not voting is the worst thing that you can do because that’s the biggest control that we have over our government,” Piskulic said. “No matter what you believe, do enough research until you are sure about what you want. If you look long enough, you will find a reason why you prefer one candidate over the other, and voting is super important.”
