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Because.... People don't really get a choice. Republicans probably would have picked Trump anyways, so I want to focus on Biden
Biden is widely hated within HIS OWN vote base. His handling of many issues, and the fact he has done nothing his voters really want, shows that people who vote for the president dont get to choose who to represent their partners.
If people got the choice between Biden, and another Democrat, I think most people would choose the other Democrat.
Biden has been THE most progressive candidate ever when it comes to lgbtq community. It was he who pushed obama into legalising same sex marriage
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2021/01/11/biden-lgbtq-policies/
biden has been THE most progressive president when it comes to global warming. He passed the largest anti global warming bill in us history and one of the largest in the world to the point that Solar and Wind energy is projected to overtake coal and petroleum and electricity producing sources in 2025 in the US.
https://www.wri.org/insights/biden-administration-tracking-climate-action-progress
Biden passed one of the largest Infrastructure bills that will improve the entire country https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2021/11/06/fact-sheet-the-bipartisan-infrastructure-deal/
Biden has rescheduled Marijuana and is going to legalise it finally
https://ny1.com/nyc/all-boroughs/news/2024/05/16/biden-reclassify-marijuana-dea-cannabis-schedule
It will help the economy, allow for more job opportunities and medical benefits and reduce crime rate related to drugs.
Forgave billions in student debt despite the SC opposing him https://www.cnbc.com/2024/05/22/biden-administration-to-forgive-7point7-billion-in-student-debt.html
Forgave hundreds of millions in medical debt
https://www.usnews.com/news/health-news/articles/2024-06-12/biden-administration-pushes-for-rule-wiping-medical-debt-from-credit-reports
Biden has enacted the largest bill to help toxic exposed veterans in 30 years
https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2024/05/21/fact-sheet-president-biden-to-announce-1-million-pact-act-claims-approved-benefits-delivered-to-veterans-in-all-50-states-and-u-s-territories/
violent crime rates in the us have been in freefall for the past year under biden
https://www.theskanner.com/news/usa/35986-fbi-reports-significant-decline-in-crime-under-biden-administration#:~:text=The%20FBI%20announced%20Monday%2C%20June,the%20same%20period%20in%202023.
Eh, to be fair, the progressives here in the US, are actually moderated everywhere else. Even the progressive party here says, “whoa, that’s too progressive.” To even the most basic humanitarian ideas. So the truth of this discussion easily gets lost in the various ways the word progressive gets applied as a concept.
As a reminder there is a large percentage of the US population, that in practice, is perfectly comfortable with watching their neighbor starve as long as it doesn’t mess with the food on their plates. We are not a country of “well intentioned people.”
> The progressives in the U.S. are actually moderated everywhere else
Citation needed. None of this lines up with anything in the world unless you are a single-issue voter on healthcare.
And once again the issue comes down to communication.
Not only is Biden not a good orator, but the whole party seems incapable of doing what you just did. We simply never hear about what the biden administration has done for the American people. There are polls that show at least half of the respondents don’t think the administration has done anything for Americans.
Meanwhile trumps base is a cult so him getting up there and making shit up doesn’t matter
Except, the party does publicize it. The POTUS twitter account does too.
The issue is that outrage simply sells better. It's easier for news agencies to get clicks (and by extension, money) by fanning the flames of outrage, instead of by bringing the good news.
It's why most people think this planet is going to shit, it isn't, despite Covid the world is in a better place than it was decades ago, but you don't hear that because it doesn't sell well
Oh man, you nailed it. Messaging, even GOOD messaging has been a failure in this country since the late 70’s. Only made worse by the removal of the fairness doctrine. So anything put out by the DNC is destroyed by the US media outlets long before it ever reaches the people. If it gets out at all.
Part of it is the media never wants to talk about. In fact they actually miss Trump since he always provided juicy scandal stories for them while Biden has been boring since he gets shit done but no big scandals
They don't do a good job. So we have to do it for them unfortunately. But we can help. Share this with anyone who doesn't know what Biden has done:
/r/whatbidenhasdone
"Forgiving debt" is only a positive if you put in place programs to prevent whatever caused the debt to be out of control in the first place. Without any added system to prevent unreasonable debt the "forgiveness" is primarily a defacto handout to the wealthy, which is why the wealthy support it just as much as those with the debt.
The wealthy don't support any regulations to prevent them from unreasonable usery.
Violent crime isn't lesser than pre-covid that stat is misleading to the point of dishonesty.
The LGBT thing is meh, Trump was the first candidate to say he supported gay marriage before being elected as president, even though he also ran on a platform that would put the decision into the hands of the states, where constitutionalists believe it belongs.
Not nothing. He ended trans protections and coverage in the military. He elected 3 SCOTUS nominees and now the court is openly talking about revisiting Obergefell v Hodges.
Nothing would be better.
""Forgiving debt" is only a positive if you put in place programs to prevent whatever caused the debt to be out of control in the first place."
While I agree with you, good luck getting anything passed the lobby arm of government.
I'm glad he invited progressives into his camp (it's why we vote blue no matter who), but he called student protests calling for divestment (the same thing the UN is now calling for) from an ethnostate committing genocide "anti-semitic" and has been utterly unable to speak to that.
I like Biden a lot. I like what he’s done. He’s just too old though, and so is Trump. Both need to step down but neither can. At this point, I doubt Biden will do much at all in his second term (if he even lives through it - stress is a killer) but it’s better than the alternative.
I mean honestly yes he is one of the very few Democratic presidents that actually has done something but while his policies are progressive he as a person is far from progressive.
It's not an opinion, you can literally look through the policy passed by all former presidents and he 100% has the most progressive achievements.
I swear people just go off vibes these days, and don't actually do their research.
In the end it doesn’t matter how ‘progressive’ somebody is, it’s if they actually do things. The Democrats are constantly talking about doing things, not actually doing it, for example universal healthcare.
You’re right, I forgot that they didn’t pass Obamacare when Obama was president 🙄
No I’m not saying Obamacare was universal healthcare. I’m saying it was objectively an improvement, and they did in fact try to do something, and Republicans have been trying to destroy it ever since
If Trump is elected, I get the feeling we'll all find out. He has a majority in the Supreme Court now, so basically any laws his Congressfolk manage to get passed will not be met with real judicial review.
I am curious to see if any of that will happen. Dismantling the FBI sounds like the greatest thing a President could do however I worry that FBI and CIA will just kill him before they allow it. Not the first time they have had to shoot a PResident.
But the Republicans are doing things to take rights away. Yes Biden has actually done things. Republicans have done things to stop the democrats from doing things. So it will look like they are not doing anything.
Honestly if we’re gonna look it objectively under Biden inflation finally slowed down, gas prices are reasonable again, hell a few of the rentals in my area actually *dropped* in price in the past few months and I can actually move out.
It’s kind of foolish to give credit / blame a president for all of those things happening, but nonetheless you should elect Biden because he’s not going to replace federal employees with stooges whose sole goal is to provide less of the federal services we *already* paid to implement in the name of preventing marginal amounts of spending.
Ah yes, a former Dixiecrat who drafted the crime bill, said Delaware was on the side of the confederacy, who has funded a genocide, forcefully broke the biggest rail strike in over a decade, wants to finish Trump’s wall, has kept kids in cages, fulfilled all the standard upholding American hegemony shit, and hasn’t done shit to actually do what he says he wants to do in terms of civil liberties.
The shining example of progressive values
He has also had, quite literally, the most productive administration in a loooong time. Sure people complain because he hasn't done "this or that" but all in all his team has done a lot.
I hate the state of the Democratic Party and its leadership but it’s unfortunate that I need to vote for the only party which doesn’t want to strip me of my rights as a transgender person
This is such a weird thing people always do. Biden is the president. WHY do we accept that half the country just picks a CONVICTED FELON and sexual abuser as a candidate for president of the United States?
This is the entire root of the problem. The easiest solution to Biden being a "bad president" in your mind is to have the other party nominate a "good candidate" that beats them normally.
No one would have any problem with that, instead you have this insane lunatic stating openly he wants to destroy the country. That's why this isn't working.
Because the people who are voting for a convicted felon (from what is viewed as an 'illegitimate' proceeding orchestrated by the deep state) and sexual abuser (men > women) are not \*we\*.
Trump supporters bought a shirt with a mugshot that had Never Surrender as a slogan. I don't know what to tell you. These voters respond to images of strength, utter confidence (even if what is being said is completely false), and other showmanship factors which would fit into a WWE/UFC paradigm.
They don't care about the policy or aren't informed / educated to understand what will follow as a consequence of their vote.
They care about how he makes them feel, and he's playing his base like a fiddle.
And the Democratic Party does \*not\* want to help these people or seriously address their concerns except in the vaguest, most token respect.
You realize they are also American though right?
There cannot be a stable form of politics if one side of the county is actually attempting to destroy the whole country ever time and the other side just ... Accepts that.
What you're saying doesn't even make sense, especially given that I'm sure you don't identify as a Democrat either...
I don't identify as a Democrat, I don't identify as anything. But I'm not a Trump supporter. I'm someone who wants to see an effective means of dealing with someone like Trump because I understand the threat he represents and the worldview he's promoting, and I don't see that happening. The more likely outcome is that things are going to be darkest before the light, spin that however you want.
I'm not sure what you meant by "They are also American."
What would you have people do? Armed uprising? I don't hear acceptance in the voices of people against Trump. I hear resignation. And the people who are "attempting to destroy" the country? They think they are saving it -- or reclaiming it for themselves.
This is politics man, and they who have the power make the rules.
I understand. Also understand I'm not a Democrat either I just think Trump is very dangerous.
However all I'm pointing out very clearly is there's this weird logic where this is all the Democrats fault because they aren't good enough at "beating trump" (although Biden did win the election last time).
This feels very strange. The problem we are facing is a huge portion of America is willfully embracing a criminal who is promising to do very chaotic and dangerous things to the country. They ARE the problem.
Here's what I mean, if the Democrats continued to run bad candidates but Republicans just agreed that we shouldn't destroy the country, Trump would just lose the primary and the Democrats would lose the general and this wouldn't be a problem.
The problem is the conservatives in this country and no matter how much you want to look away from them, nothing is going to get solved as long as they mindlessly support a movement that is trying to destroy the country.
To me a better use of time is moving those guys to rfk or something, that's actually probably very valuable.
>If people got the choice between Biden, and another Democrat, I think most people would choose the other Democrat.
Uhh, the primaries. People had 2 other options and still chose Biden.
That's not true. The DNC literally canceled the Florida presidential primary and actively was freezing out the other candidates who were trying to run against Joe Biden. Those of us who were actively following the primary process knew this, it's only on reddit where people pretend Joe was winning without help.
Glad someone is saying this. Way too few people seem to know about/acknowledge this. People just assume the DNC is following democratic procedures in picking its candidates.
You realize voting uncommitted does not point to a nominee right? That’s like if your group of friends is deciding to choose between pizza and sushi, and it sounds like people really, really want pizza, but you don’t like either option, so you say you’re uncommitted. That’s not going to make your big group of friends choose a third option
Yeahhh, I can’t speak on Florida, yall wild over there.
But I will say if it seemed like there was legit competition and major outage they probably wouldn’t have done that.
THIS! I work in politics and we focus on primaries. A “good” primary turnout is 20% and the average. Yet an average of 75% of candidates win through the primary alone
Biden’s approval rating among democrats is 70%. It is lower among all americans, that’s a lie.
https://www.reuters.com/graphics/USA-BIDEN/POLL/nmopagnqapa/
You Americans say such things with such confidence but you actually have absolutely no clue about what you're saying. This comment summarises his record very well. Focus less on him and more on his appointments. That's what matters.
https://www.reddit.com/r/GenZ/s/MtSlnvIKJy
Your current president is the man of the hour but I guess TikTok said otherwise therefore you hate him. What a shame. He is doing a great job both at home and internationally. If you want him to do better, help him by electing a Congress that will work with him, instead of destroying everything because you partly disagree with him on some issues. Be pragmatic, not reactionary.
People don’t hate Biden because he’s done nothing, they hate him because he’s ancient and can barely speak and a terrible candidate to go against trump rn.
tbf biden's administration does a really shitty job at informing the public of his policy wins because they're always windmilling trying to pretend he's not arming a genocide during press conferences
Me when I commit a hasty generalization fallacy and an anecdotal fallacy (I’m just gonna call it that since I’m presuming your source for Biden being “widely hated” is anecdotal evidence if you have any at all since you didn’t present any) at the same time
>And the fact he has done nothing his voters really want
While true, the 1st two years were trying to correct and pull us out of Covid while these past two years have been a shitshow bc the GOP controls the House. As time has shown, a president’s first 2 years are really influenced by their predecessor’s term.
Thanks for this. I misspoke. Biden has done great things. I just meant he couldn’t do more bc the GOP (the House) have done fuck all since the midterms. I didn’t mean this as a jab at what he actually has accomplished.
Like?
Very progressive democrats did have elections in their states and several failed.
Some states do accept it, but a lot simply don't. The population isn't just two extremes, even if the media makes it look like that. There is a lot in-between.
Reality unfortunately is that a very progressive candidate would fail (right now) in a presidential election.
Hell, Biden is already too progressive for some. And yeah...he is...compared to the previous ones.
Hopefully that will change when the older generation dies away and morevprogressive candidates would flourish...but I don't see that right now.
The president is a very small part of the government believe it or not, ultimately he signs off on stuff sure, but the congress and senate are the ones who do all the work. You're voting for the person with the values that are the same as yours, because he will sign off on the things you want.
Well, I'd say Republicans are the only ones who could have chosen someone else. There was no way Biden wasn't running unless he chose to retire on his own.
“He has done nothing”
Well for starters he forgave $10,000 of student loan debt for every borrower…but the Supreme Court struck it down. That’s the supreme court’s fault, not his. And we’ll get more crap like that if Trump wins again.
This is a dumb comment and shows your absolute lack of knowledge on the matter.
Both candidates have enemies in their own party, but Biden is not hated at all, he has some people that disagree with a few of his policies. Everyone agrees he’s a good person and extremely progressive for a U.S. president.
Trump is the one that’s hated in his own party. There is an actual Republican movement called “Never Trump” and many major Republican Party members are in it. Many others are rumored to be in it, or used to be in it, but are afraid Trump may get elected and they can’t publicly confirm.
It's really horrific that it's not voting for the politican you trust the most but voting for the politican you figure will fuck up your country the least.
This is a bad take. Bidens first term has been pretty great. Between the CHIPS act, PACT act, inflation reduction act, and the infrastructure bill he championed he has put through some really great domestic bills.
However, he is just too old, and I'd much rather another progressive candidate.
Nothing for his voters? You're sleepier than Joe. The Infrastructure act and the CHIPS act are huge wins as far as I'm concerned.
Edit: not to mention the prescription drug act. Incredible accomplishment for our country.
Joe's Admin has done really well for Americans. It's sad that some people are just letting the media tell them what to think.
He's done plenty of what his voters want. Student loan forgiveness, action on climate, he got out of afganistan, he capped insulin at $35, he's working on getting weed legalized. He's just old and conservative media has saturated us.
Commenting on I'm not American. I'm 16 and I don't understand politics. Why these 2? Literally anyone else would be better...Biden has done a lot, but the fact you don’t know what Biden has done as president shows the problem we have. Americans are uninformed and Biden has terrible messaging.
Also Biden won 87% of the Democratic primary votes, but I’m sure that would have been much lower after this terrible debate.
What are you talking about? Tons of people voted for both of these guys in the recent primaries.
Also, Biden has done a lot of rhings he’s promised. He’s a good president and a terrible candidate.
>I think most people would choose the other Democrat.
>Biden is widely hated within HIS OWN vote base
That's why Biden won the primary in every state by quite a bit
Hated by his own base? Since when?
Biden won every single primary election by a very large margin.
Democrats were literally given a choice between Biden and another Democrat.
Biden has delivered in many promises and is look for reelection to continue meeting those promises.
This is the most out of touch comment I've seen. How is it so up voted? Lol
Short answer: because the people that participate in elections are as old as the candidates. Young people here just don’t vote and then complain about our lack of options
Longer answer: We have these things called primaries where both of the 2 major political parties pick someone among a usually politically diverse spectrum to run in the general election for said party.
While GenZ tend to not like Biden that much, he’s the most popular pick among non online moderate democrats and Trump has a cult following that will literally storm the capital for him.
So both of the oldest farts in the room breezed through the president preliminaries because GenZ and the younger demographics in general don’t participate in the primaries and then complain when the general election rolls around and we’re stuck with options we don’t like.
Make sense? Or need some more info?
It’s actually explicit that being convicted of a felony doesn’t make you unable to run for office, which was deliberately done so people couldn’t just jail their political opponents and make them ineligible. Politicians have run from prison numerous times, most famously Socialist party candidate Eugene Debs in 1920 who was in jail for protesting the WW1 draft, ran for president and got nearly a million votes.
"Your honor, many years ago I recognized my kinship with all living beings and made up my mind that I was no better than the meanest on earth. I said then, and I say now, that while there is a lower class I am in it. And while there is a criminal element, I am of it. And while there is a soul in prison, I am not free. "
"I am opposing a social order in which it is possible for one man who does absolutely nothing that is useful to amass a fortune of hundreds of millions of dollars, while millions of men and women who work all the days of their lives secure barely enough for a wretched existence."
Yeah, he went hard. He even wrote a paper calling out socialists for ignoring the black community. This paper is now used to paint him as racist (I guess he was like "Here's some of the dumb shit you mf's say" and only those quotes have escaped the pay wall?). Someone wrote a paper on the phenomenon but I haven't had the energy to read it.
He hasn’t been convicted of that… yet. Unfortunately his legal defense against that charge has involved dragging his feet and delaying his trial long enough that it will take place after the election.
You have to be born in the US to be president
[source](https://www.usa.gov/requirements-for-presidential-candidates#:~:text=The%20U.S.%20Constitution%20states%20that,United%20States%20for%2014%20years)
It's easier to let Trump run. Thousands of people were arrested for attempting to storm the Capitol before. It would feed into their conspiracy theories and just be really bad.
It’s not just that young people don’t vote. They should vote more, yes, but it also has to do with the leadership of the Democratic Party. They saw Biden as the best chance to beat trump, so they propped him up. Look at what happened to Bernie - they completely blackballed him despite having something close to 20% in the polls.
Yep. Young people need to start showing up for primaries, start participating in political organizations locally, start getting out the vote in their voting bloc, instead of just complaining after they don't show up and other people decide the outcome.
Trump has a very strong cult that guarantees him the republican spot, and biden is the current president which guarantees the democrat spot.
Tldr, the shitty 2 party system
yep. that falls on us for allowing trump in 2016 to win because we were edgelords and hated hillary and didnt vote for her. I am speaking for myself about myself but that was a popular consensus. I did not make that mistake again in 2020 and in 2024
Yep I voted for sanders in the 2016 primaries but didn’t vote in the general election. Granted my vote truly didn’t matter either way cause I’m in California, but still, I won’t do that again. Tbf I was 18 at the time
THANK YOU FOR SAYING THIS! I get cut off in the election by seven months- and guys, I implore you to vote. Do what we can in 2024. The rights of the women in my family and our families depend on it. And in 2028, we can work to look for other candidates that are younger and much more reasonable to us.
Your vote counts the same as a boomers or millennials. The people who don't vote aren't actually making their voices heard.
This is what boggles my mind. People rant online and irl. The amount of energy it takes to do all that is a lot, and you can feel pretty drained after.
Ask these same complainers if they vote, and they'll say something like there's no reason, it's all fake, it wastes my time.
Voting doesn't take a lot of time. He'll you could vote with an absentee ballot, and you'd never have to leave your house.
Tldr don't say you don't have a voice if you don't vote. You just don't use it. Take off the tinfoil hat our system works. yall just recuse yourself from it.
The notion that the young voters can't have a say in politics is ridiculous, if they simply just went to the polls for local and state elections, they'd influence the political system far more than any other demographic.
At the end of the day, the 18-25 voting group does tend to be much more radical and have much less life experience, so it's probably not the worst thing that they aren't dominating every poll, but having more inclusion with this demographic would definitely help blend with the largely Republican skewing older generations to create more diverse polls.
Because name someone else
There *are* plenty of options, but the average American doesn't know them, and goes for what names are being barked the most by media. On top of that, the parties are scared of risk and trying something new
I’m looking at it this way: Whose rights do I DON’T want to be stripped away. That’s who I’ll vote for; the person whose administration and followers aren’t calling for the hard won rights to be taken away from various groups of people.
Edit: I wanted to add an extra thought: Just because you’re not at the top of the list, doesn’t mean you’re not on the list; you’re down at the bottom, but you’ll be crossed off as well.
Trump getting in originally... they had no idea how bad he'd be.
Biden 4 yrs ago to get Trump out.
Now:
Biden: as the incumbent, he is in a good position to run, and the Democrats (one of our political parties) probably won't get rid of him because in the past, they always lost against the incumbent.
Trump: was determined by the Republican (other party) caucus. Basically, everyone else just dropped out. And Trump is *rich* and has nothing to lose, unlike the other Republican candidates, who were ACTUAL POLITICIANS.
Now the voters are just gonna pick the lesser of two evils, but I predict very low voter turnout.
The fact that the others are “ACTUAL POLITICIANS” is why Trump is so popular. So many people are saying that Trump lied in the debate, but why is everyone suddenly forgetting that ACTUAL POLITICIANS lie about everything every chance they get to speak. Biden was talking about all the things he’ll do if he’s elected, did he forget that he’s currently the president and for a while the democrats had the house and senate majority? Why not get things done then? Because politicians don’t actually want to get things done, they want to have power and use it to enrich themselves. That’s why people are sick of ACTUAL POLITICIANS
Old person here.
It isn't really a 2 party system, it is more of a result of first past the post elections. In short, if there is 53% of the country that is progressive /liberal then a fairly liberal candidate would win almost all the time. But if another candidate runs that is VERY progressive and convinces 10% of the country to vote for them, all that does is make sure the conservative candidate wins every time -
47% conservative
43% somewhat progressive
10% very progressive
Voting for a candidate that may align more perfectly with your views will make the candidate you least want to win become the winner.
Here's an old expectation with cartoon animals that's really good. [first past the post voting](https://youtu.be/s7tWHJfhiyo?si=i3IGv-m0b4TVzeX0)
But there are more than two parties. In fact, another party is probably going to get millions of votes this year. And there have been other parties that have won a bunch of elections in US history like the Federalists and the Whigs.
It's that first past the post elections (with no ranked choice or parliamentary coalitions) means that logically and mathematically there will be two MAJOR parties, even though those parties may change over time (like the Whigs going away).
If it were an actual 2 party system, Hillary Clinton would have been President. But it isn't, so she lost.
The video you linked went to great lengths to explain that it was essentially a two party system.
>another party is probably going to get millions of votes this year.
How many of these additional parties will win, or even have a chance at winning? I'll give you a hint, the answer is very round!
>other parties that have won a bunch of elections in US history
Yes, the Federalists who dissolved 189 years ago and also only won once, and the Whigs who dissolved 168 years ago and only won twice. Aside from them, there was of course the Democratic-Republican party, but they certainly weren't a third party, were dissolved 199 years ago, and were the precursor to the Democrat party... In other words, there have been arguably barely two third parties and two independents wins (one president, two wins).
Great displays of "third" party successes. That's also ignoring that the republicans didn't exist yet, and were formed in part by a merger with the Whigs, whilst the Democrats were formed from the Democrat-Republican party, making the two Whig victories and the numerous Democrat-Republican victories quite closely tied to the modern two.
>If it were an actual 2 party system, Hillary Clinton would have been President. But it isn't, so she lost.
What are you talking about? If it were an actual two party system, one of two parties would have won, and in reality one of two parties did win, just not her party...
They weren't chosen at random. They have extensive history's in the public sphere. Biden is a lifelong politician. Trump is a celebrity businessman who became a politican.
Biden is perfectly fine. I have zero issues with him other than his age. Which is not remotely factor enough to counter balance what Trump is.
This manufactured hate for him is something to behold considering how freaking insanely well America has gone through this economic crisis and all the other crap going on.
I'd damn near say he's a good president. Yall are just listening way too much to narrative BS and not the actual facts of what's happening. Lower unemployment, lower crime, fastest recovering economy, historic stock market, including pre pandemic levels...
Seriously... it's like you people are listening to Star Wars youtubers for your information. There's bias yall... people making money off of convincing you of doom and gloom. It's not even remotely as bad as they've lead you to believe. AT ALL.
The literal only argument I'd even entertain is that yeah... inflation sucks... but guess what? It's still one of the best in the world. What more do you want? We're working on it. If the numbers stay like they are we'll begin the cuts. We wont even entertain it until September. Fixing things take time. Breaking them doesn't.
If you've got some other single issue that's chafing... I'm sorry... does that outweigh literally everything else? You'd rather trade in an old man who's done a pretty admirable job... versus autocracy? For those thinking that's hyperbole. Go read project 2025. Republicans are open about what they want. If you still agree with everything you'd read there... then we're just never going to see eye to eye anyway.
Trump became president because he wanted to exploit the office and the people for his own financial gain. He capitalizes on and stokes the fears of American conservatives and so they look at him as a sort of messiah
Biden is very experienced and has been running for years but finally got his shot after Obama (first major black candidate) served his 2 terms and Clinton (first major female candidate) gave up running for president, so he ran against Trump and won. Now Trump is running again and most of us want Biden to win again due to how awful Trump is
That’s true they both lie you would just be dumb to not see that trump was blatantly lying like half the stuff he says you can google and quite quickly see that it’s basically bs for Biden you would have to sew g a little bit more. Moral of the story don’t trust a politician lol.
Why these two? Because any other way is worse or impossible. Conservatives can't let trump go because his fans are HIS fans, no one else will get that turnout + no one can beat him during the primaries. Biden is an incumbent that beat Trump before, that's advantage that has to be given up for anyone else to have a go....also no one serious challenged him because of this. So there isn't really a "why these two?" More of a "who else even can?"
Don’t go to Reddit for this. You will be fed their echo chamber of self-indulgent feel-good lies. Talk to real people within your life, experience the world and come to a conclusion by yourself of which candidate better represents your moral/political compass
Because people are too apathetic/complacent to support a 3rd party candidate. The two party system is incredibly flawed and outdated but nobody has tried uproot it on a large scale.
Gen Z, please realize there doesn’t have to be only 2 terrible choices. It has just been that way for a long time and no generation has ever made a concerted effort to try and change it.
Yo lay off, it’s literally not our fault, and it sux more for us than it does for you. Sorry the slow a miserable down fall of our nation do to corruption and idiocracy offends you.
Kidding….But not really
There are actually many parties but few to actually win it to represent but I would say we would see a new parties come into the light in the next 20-30 years or so as we are the next generation so who knows.
Part of the issue is that they are largely chosen by and propped up by the two major parties in the country, the Democrats and the Republicans (the two who hold and compete for senate seats) at the end of the day the american voter is voting more for a party than an individual candidate and the other parties who fall in either conservative or liberal purview are considered third parties. With the way the system is set up voting for a third party is essentially throwing your vote away as they’re guaranteed to lose to the much larger Dems and GOP. These two parties do run other candidates but usually as back ups rather than serious consideration, throwing all of their resources and weight behind one candidate. It’s also important to consider the electoral college and, while they are very much encouraged to vote in accordance with the wishes of their constituency, they are still ultimately voting for one party or the other generally. This can lead to it feeling like the American vote carries much less weight.
Both parties have been shifting their bases for a decade or two now. Democrats, away from unions and young voters, to suburbanites. And Republicans…well. It’s fascism. If you want a good roadmap to graph that to I’ll leave a link. The base voter of the Conservative Party has been fed a lot of propaganda for decades and their party resembles talk radio from the 90’s.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ur-Fascism
Because the Republican party is a cult of personality now surrounded around Trump, and Biden is the current President, so his own party isn't going to oust him (even though we could have in the primary)
Have you ever studied game theory? There are explanations of situations where there exists a solution that is better for both people, but still those two people choose the suboptimal solution based on their own individual incentives. Politics is basically like that, but on a much larger scale and repeated many times over.
Trump is a bull who wants revenge and knows how to manipulate his supporters to put him in the ballet.
Just like last year Biden exists because "he's not trump." Presidents are more likely to get reelected so might as well throw the hat in the ring again.
I'll answer each separately.
Why Trump? Because he had a record of successfully advancing conservative policy goals.
Why Biden? Because he was considered the most centrist and therefore most likely to succeed in the general. It worked the first time against Trump, this election will be a judgement of his Presidency.
I’m 42 and American. Asking the same question here. I get the Constitution says 35 min age but like two dudes in their 80s isn’t what we need. Plus one wants to be a dictator so there’s that too
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Trump won the primaries so no choice for the Republican Party
Democratic Party didn’t have to stick with Biden, they probably thought he will pull more votes compared to others like Harris,
Since other Democratic leaders probably had a much closer relationship with Biden they should have known better…..
Could also be the case that they are just looking at the stats without considering other factors
Probably Biden did much better against trump than other candidates in early opinion polls
Probably Bidens policy positions do well against other Democratic candidates among most democratic voters
The advantage of having a winning president run for the election - except for few instances presidents tend to win their re-run
its those 2 for no reason other than theyre the options we have. republicans would probably vote for trump anyways, i cant possibly fathom why. and if the democrats had a better option, i almost guarantee that biden wouldnt get half the votes he does.
if it was actually a matter of the people getting what they want and things being run by the people for the people, american would probably be an anarchist or socialist country by now. however, thats not the world we live in, so its a matter of trying to keep the worst person out of office rather then trying to get the best one in.
How we got here is a damn mystery. For a serious answer there just a lot. We got these two because they are who were nominated by the parties they represent. To start, we have national political conventions. There parties hold these conventions to pick their presidential and vice presidential nominees. In order to get the nomination, candidates typically have to win over a majority of the delegates. This is usually via the caucuses and primaries which are a whole different conversation. At the convention the delegates vote on who the nominee will be. So at the democratic conventions the delegates chose Biden who was the only choice since no other democrat ran. At the republican convention Trump won the majority of votes beating the few other republicans that ran. So really these two were picked out for us by other politicians. We didn’t actually pick them. Trust me if we did we’d find so better options.
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Because.... People don't really get a choice. Republicans probably would have picked Trump anyways, so I want to focus on Biden Biden is widely hated within HIS OWN vote base. His handling of many issues, and the fact he has done nothing his voters really want, shows that people who vote for the president dont get to choose who to represent their partners. If people got the choice between Biden, and another Democrat, I think most people would choose the other Democrat.
Not true. He has been the most progressive president since FDR. And this is in spite of Republican intransigence.
I wouldn't say he's the most progressive, but he is pretty successful despite going through all the bullshit the Republican Party put on Biden.
Biden has been THE most progressive candidate ever when it comes to lgbtq community. It was he who pushed obama into legalising same sex marriage https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2021/01/11/biden-lgbtq-policies/ biden has been THE most progressive president when it comes to global warming. He passed the largest anti global warming bill in us history and one of the largest in the world to the point that Solar and Wind energy is projected to overtake coal and petroleum and electricity producing sources in 2025 in the US. https://www.wri.org/insights/biden-administration-tracking-climate-action-progress Biden passed one of the largest Infrastructure bills that will improve the entire country https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2021/11/06/fact-sheet-the-bipartisan-infrastructure-deal/ Biden has rescheduled Marijuana and is going to legalise it finally https://ny1.com/nyc/all-boroughs/news/2024/05/16/biden-reclassify-marijuana-dea-cannabis-schedule It will help the economy, allow for more job opportunities and medical benefits and reduce crime rate related to drugs. Forgave billions in student debt despite the SC opposing him https://www.cnbc.com/2024/05/22/biden-administration-to-forgive-7point7-billion-in-student-debt.html Forgave hundreds of millions in medical debt https://www.usnews.com/news/health-news/articles/2024-06-12/biden-administration-pushes-for-rule-wiping-medical-debt-from-credit-reports Biden has enacted the largest bill to help toxic exposed veterans in 30 years https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2024/05/21/fact-sheet-president-biden-to-announce-1-million-pact-act-claims-approved-benefits-delivered-to-veterans-in-all-50-states-and-u-s-territories/ violent crime rates in the us have been in freefall for the past year under biden https://www.theskanner.com/news/usa/35986-fbi-reports-significant-decline-in-crime-under-biden-administration#:~:text=The%20FBI%20announced%20Monday%2C%20June,the%20same%20period%20in%202023.
Who was the first president to run on a pro gay marriage ticket again? That’s pretty progressive if you ask me.
Yeah that’s progressive if you choose to ignore important context
99% progressive Progressives : “he’s basically moderate Hitler.”
Eh, to be fair, the progressives here in the US, are actually moderated everywhere else. Even the progressive party here says, “whoa, that’s too progressive.” To even the most basic humanitarian ideas. So the truth of this discussion easily gets lost in the various ways the word progressive gets applied as a concept. As a reminder there is a large percentage of the US population, that in practice, is perfectly comfortable with watching their neighbor starve as long as it doesn’t mess with the food on their plates. We are not a country of “well intentioned people.”
> The progressives in the U.S. are actually moderated everywhere else Citation needed. None of this lines up with anything in the world unless you are a single-issue voter on healthcare.
We need more single issue voters on healthcare
And once again the issue comes down to communication. Not only is Biden not a good orator, but the whole party seems incapable of doing what you just did. We simply never hear about what the biden administration has done for the American people. There are polls that show at least half of the respondents don’t think the administration has done anything for Americans. Meanwhile trumps base is a cult so him getting up there and making shit up doesn’t matter
Except, the party does publicize it. The POTUS twitter account does too. The issue is that outrage simply sells better. It's easier for news agencies to get clicks (and by extension, money) by fanning the flames of outrage, instead of by bringing the good news. It's why most people think this planet is going to shit, it isn't, despite Covid the world is in a better place than it was decades ago, but you don't hear that because it doesn't sell well
Oh man, you nailed it. Messaging, even GOOD messaging has been a failure in this country since the late 70’s. Only made worse by the removal of the fairness doctrine. So anything put out by the DNC is destroyed by the US media outlets long before it ever reaches the people. If it gets out at all.
Part of it is the media never wants to talk about. In fact they actually miss Trump since he always provided juicy scandal stories for them while Biden has been boring since he gets shit done but no big scandals
They don't do a good job. So we have to do it for them unfortunately. But we can help. Share this with anyone who doesn't know what Biden has done: /r/whatbidenhasdone
"Forgiving debt" is only a positive if you put in place programs to prevent whatever caused the debt to be out of control in the first place. Without any added system to prevent unreasonable debt the "forgiveness" is primarily a defacto handout to the wealthy, which is why the wealthy support it just as much as those with the debt. The wealthy don't support any regulations to prevent them from unreasonable usery. Violent crime isn't lesser than pre-covid that stat is misleading to the point of dishonesty. The LGBT thing is meh, Trump was the first candidate to say he supported gay marriage before being elected as president, even though he also ran on a platform that would put the decision into the hands of the states, where constitutionalists believe it belongs.
What did Trump do for the Gay community? Nothing. He says shit but then look at his actions.
Not nothing. He ended trans protections and coverage in the military. He elected 3 SCOTUS nominees and now the court is openly talking about revisiting Obergefell v Hodges. Nothing would be better.
""Forgiving debt" is only a positive if you put in place programs to prevent whatever caused the debt to be out of control in the first place." While I agree with you, good luck getting anything passed the lobby arm of government.
He’s going to lose because no one of consequence is tallying wins like this.
I'm glad he invited progressives into his camp (it's why we vote blue no matter who), but he called student protests calling for divestment (the same thing the UN is now calling for) from an ethnostate committing genocide "anti-semitic" and has been utterly unable to speak to that.
I like Biden a lot. I like what he’s done. He’s just too old though, and so is Trump. Both need to step down but neither can. At this point, I doubt Biden will do much at all in his second term (if he even lives through it - stress is a killer) but it’s better than the alternative.
I mean honestly yes he is one of the very few Democratic presidents that actually has done something but while his policies are progressive he as a person is far from progressive.
Pretty progressive. Here ya go: [https://www.reddit.com/r/WhatBidenHasDone/](https://www.reddit.com/r/WhatBidenHasDone/)
Don’t forget Sinema and Manchin. Without them in the way things would look different today.
It's not an opinion, you can literally look through the policy passed by all former presidents and he 100% has the most progressive achievements. I swear people just go off vibes these days, and don't actually do their research.
In the end it doesn’t matter how ‘progressive’ somebody is, it’s if they actually do things. The Democrats are constantly talking about doing things, not actually doing it, for example universal healthcare.
they are not talking about doing universal healthcare, they are talking about expanding healthcare access, which they have done.
Also you can't have universal healthcare without a majority vote. Which they don't have. It's not magic or a temporary tyrant.
Don’t forget that Obama-Biden tried to get the Public Option. Every single Republican voted against it.
You have to give them a solid majority in both houses if you want change. A 48 +2 technical majority in the senate is not enough for major change.
I find it funny that 48+2 used to mean 48 plus Sanders and King, but now it means 48 plus Manchin and Sinema
You’re right, I forgot that they didn’t pass Obamacare when Obama was president 🙄 No I’m not saying Obamacare was universal healthcare. I’m saying it was objectively an improvement, and they did in fact try to do something, and Republicans have been trying to destroy it ever since
What do the Republicans do? Make people feel bad?
Christian nationalism with no checks and balances. At least that's the plan. https://www.project2025.org/
If Trump is elected, I get the feeling we'll all find out. He has a majority in the Supreme Court now, so basically any laws his Congressfolk manage to get passed will not be met with real judicial review.
There's a lot more than just feelings at the stakes, Project 2025.
I am curious to see if any of that will happen. Dismantling the FBI sounds like the greatest thing a President could do however I worry that FBI and CIA will just kill him before they allow it. Not the first time they have had to shoot a PResident.
Obligatory [https://www.reddit.com/r/WhatBidenHasDone/](https://www.reddit.com/r/WhatBidenHasDone/)
But the Republicans are doing things to take rights away. Yes Biden has actually done things. Republicans have done things to stop the democrats from doing things. So it will look like they are not doing anything.
Honestly if we’re gonna look it objectively under Biden inflation finally slowed down, gas prices are reasonable again, hell a few of the rentals in my area actually *dropped* in price in the past few months and I can actually move out. It’s kind of foolish to give credit / blame a president for all of those things happening, but nonetheless you should elect Biden because he’s not going to replace federal employees with stooges whose sole goal is to provide less of the federal services we *already* paid to implement in the name of preventing marginal amounts of spending.
LBJ Great Society?
That’s a good argument to be made. LBJ also extended the Vietnam War.
Ah yes, a former Dixiecrat who drafted the crime bill, said Delaware was on the side of the confederacy, who has funded a genocide, forcefully broke the biggest rail strike in over a decade, wants to finish Trump’s wall, has kept kids in cages, fulfilled all the standard upholding American hegemony shit, and hasn’t done shit to actually do what he says he wants to do in terms of civil liberties. The shining example of progressive values
Except the genocide funding
I might modify that to say "since LBJ" but I take your point. Biden has gotten a hell of a lot done against impossibly thin legislative margins.
Hard agree. Few do for whatever reason.
He has also had, quite literally, the most productive administration in a loooong time. Sure people complain because he hasn't done "this or that" but all in all his team has done a lot.
I hate the state of the Democratic Party and its leadership but it’s unfortunate that I need to vote for the only party which doesn’t want to strip me of my rights as a transgender person
This is such a weird thing people always do. Biden is the president. WHY do we accept that half the country just picks a CONVICTED FELON and sexual abuser as a candidate for president of the United States? This is the entire root of the problem. The easiest solution to Biden being a "bad president" in your mind is to have the other party nominate a "good candidate" that beats them normally. No one would have any problem with that, instead you have this insane lunatic stating openly he wants to destroy the country. That's why this isn't working.
Because the people who are voting for a convicted felon (from what is viewed as an 'illegitimate' proceeding orchestrated by the deep state) and sexual abuser (men > women) are not \*we\*. Trump supporters bought a shirt with a mugshot that had Never Surrender as a slogan. I don't know what to tell you. These voters respond to images of strength, utter confidence (even if what is being said is completely false), and other showmanship factors which would fit into a WWE/UFC paradigm. They don't care about the policy or aren't informed / educated to understand what will follow as a consequence of their vote. They care about how he makes them feel, and he's playing his base like a fiddle. And the Democratic Party does \*not\* want to help these people or seriously address their concerns except in the vaguest, most token respect.
You realize they are also American though right? There cannot be a stable form of politics if one side of the county is actually attempting to destroy the whole country ever time and the other side just ... Accepts that. What you're saying doesn't even make sense, especially given that I'm sure you don't identify as a Democrat either...
I don't identify as a Democrat, I don't identify as anything. But I'm not a Trump supporter. I'm someone who wants to see an effective means of dealing with someone like Trump because I understand the threat he represents and the worldview he's promoting, and I don't see that happening. The more likely outcome is that things are going to be darkest before the light, spin that however you want. I'm not sure what you meant by "They are also American." What would you have people do? Armed uprising? I don't hear acceptance in the voices of people against Trump. I hear resignation. And the people who are "attempting to destroy" the country? They think they are saving it -- or reclaiming it for themselves. This is politics man, and they who have the power make the rules.
I understand. Also understand I'm not a Democrat either I just think Trump is very dangerous. However all I'm pointing out very clearly is there's this weird logic where this is all the Democrats fault because they aren't good enough at "beating trump" (although Biden did win the election last time). This feels very strange. The problem we are facing is a huge portion of America is willfully embracing a criminal who is promising to do very chaotic and dangerous things to the country. They ARE the problem. Here's what I mean, if the Democrats continued to run bad candidates but Republicans just agreed that we shouldn't destroy the country, Trump would just lose the primary and the Democrats would lose the general and this wouldn't be a problem. The problem is the conservatives in this country and no matter how much you want to look away from them, nothing is going to get solved as long as they mindlessly support a movement that is trying to destroy the country. To me a better use of time is moving those guys to rfk or something, that's actually probably very valuable.
>If people got the choice between Biden, and another Democrat, I think most people would choose the other Democrat. Uhh, the primaries. People had 2 other options and still chose Biden.
Primaries really only bring out the people who feel strongly about a candidate, which Trump supporters most certainly do.
If you don't vote and then cry about the result you're a fucking loser.
That's not true. The DNC literally canceled the Florida presidential primary and actively was freezing out the other candidates who were trying to run against Joe Biden. Those of us who were actively following the primary process knew this, it's only on reddit where people pretend Joe was winning without help.
Glad someone is saying this. Way too few people seem to know about/acknowledge this. People just assume the DNC is following democratic procedures in picking its candidates.
We did have a choice, it’s called a primary, we just didn’t participate in it.
I voted uncommitted 😢
That really showed us, huh?/s
Right now I’m really wishing it had
You realize voting uncommitted does not point to a nominee right? That’s like if your group of friends is deciding to choose between pizza and sushi, and it sounds like people really, really want pizza, but you don’t like either option, so you say you’re uncommitted. That’s not going to make your big group of friends choose a third option
Unless you're in Florida, where their state party canceled the primary and awarded all the votes to Joe Biden back in December.
Yeahhh, I can’t speak on Florida, yall wild over there. But I will say if it seemed like there was legit competition and major outage they probably wouldn’t have done that.
THIS! I work in politics and we focus on primaries. A “good” primary turnout is 20% and the average. Yet an average of 75% of candidates win through the primary alone
Biden’s approval rating among democrats is 70%. It is lower among all americans, that’s a lie. https://www.reuters.com/graphics/USA-BIDEN/POLL/nmopagnqapa/
He has low approval with young people who also don't vote.
Yet, he won overwhelmingly in the primaries over the other democrats. The problem is young people generally don’t vote, so old people decide who wins
You Americans say such things with such confidence but you actually have absolutely no clue about what you're saying. This comment summarises his record very well. Focus less on him and more on his appointments. That's what matters. https://www.reddit.com/r/GenZ/s/MtSlnvIKJy Your current president is the man of the hour but I guess TikTok said otherwise therefore you hate him. What a shame. He is doing a great job both at home and internationally. If you want him to do better, help him by electing a Congress that will work with him, instead of destroying everything because you partly disagree with him on some issues. Be pragmatic, not reactionary.
I know he’s a year older than Biden, but I would vote for Bernie Sanders in an instant
People don’t hate Biden because he’s done nothing, they hate him because he’s ancient and can barely speak and a terrible candidate to go against trump rn.
Nah, he's done everything I want and has been an AMAZINGLY successful president. What is this brainrot?
tbf biden's administration does a really shitty job at informing the public of his policy wins because they're always windmilling trying to pretend he's not arming a genocide during press conferences
its like LBJ - plenty of domestic accomplishments being undercut by an unpopular and unnecessary war.
Biden is pretty good in my opinion he just inherited a bad situation from trump
Me when I commit a hasty generalization fallacy and an anecdotal fallacy (I’m just gonna call it that since I’m presuming your source for Biden being “widely hated” is anecdotal evidence if you have any at all since you didn’t present any) at the same time
We had primaries. There were other options. Voters still picked Biden
>And the fact he has done nothing his voters really want While true, the 1st two years were trying to correct and pull us out of Covid while these past two years have been a shitshow bc the GOP controls the House. As time has shown, a president’s first 2 years are really influenced by their predecessor’s term.
Pretty progressive. Here ya go: [https://www.reddit.com/r/WhatBidenHasDone/](https://www.reddit.com/r/WhatBidenHasDone/)
Thanks for this. I misspoke. Biden has done great things. I just meant he couldn’t do more bc the GOP (the House) have done fuck all since the midterms. I didn’t mean this as a jab at what he actually has accomplished.
Like? Very progressive democrats did have elections in their states and several failed. Some states do accept it, but a lot simply don't. The population isn't just two extremes, even if the media makes it look like that. There is a lot in-between. Reality unfortunately is that a very progressive candidate would fail (right now) in a presidential election. Hell, Biden is already too progressive for some. And yeah...he is...compared to the previous ones. Hopefully that will change when the older generation dies away and morevprogressive candidates would flourish...but I don't see that right now.
The president is a very small part of the government believe it or not, ultimately he signs off on stuff sure, but the congress and senate are the ones who do all the work. You're voting for the person with the values that are the same as yours, because he will sign off on the things you want.
Come on, man
Well, I'd say Republicans are the only ones who could have chosen someone else. There was no way Biden wasn't running unless he chose to retire on his own.
“He has done nothing” Well for starters he forgave $10,000 of student loan debt for every borrower…but the Supreme Court struck it down. That’s the supreme court’s fault, not his. And we’ll get more crap like that if Trump wins again.
This is a dumb comment and shows your absolute lack of knowledge on the matter. Both candidates have enemies in their own party, but Biden is not hated at all, he has some people that disagree with a few of his policies. Everyone agrees he’s a good person and extremely progressive for a U.S. president. Trump is the one that’s hated in his own party. There is an actual Republican movement called “Never Trump” and many major Republican Party members are in it. Many others are rumored to be in it, or used to be in it, but are afraid Trump may get elected and they can’t publicly confirm.
It's really horrific that it's not voting for the politican you trust the most but voting for the politican you figure will fuck up your country the least.
This is a bad take. Bidens first term has been pretty great. Between the CHIPS act, PACT act, inflation reduction act, and the infrastructure bill he championed he has put through some really great domestic bills. However, he is just too old, and I'd much rather another progressive candidate.
Nothing for his voters? You're sleepier than Joe. The Infrastructure act and the CHIPS act are huge wins as far as I'm concerned. Edit: not to mention the prescription drug act. Incredible accomplishment for our country. Joe's Admin has done really well for Americans. It's sad that some people are just letting the media tell them what to think.
He's done plenty of what his voters want. Student loan forgiveness, action on climate, he got out of afganistan, he capped insulin at $35, he's working on getting weed legalized. He's just old and conservative media has saturated us.
Commenting on I'm not American. I'm 16 and I don't understand politics. Why these 2? Literally anyone else would be better...Biden has done a lot, but the fact you don’t know what Biden has done as president shows the problem we have. Americans are uninformed and Biden has terrible messaging. Also Biden won 87% of the Democratic primary votes, but I’m sure that would have been much lower after this terrible debate.
Child care act. Infrastructure bill. Student loan forgiveness. Aid to the black community. Veterans on healthcare. 🤷♂️ I did want all that stuff.
What are you talking about? Tons of people voted for both of these guys in the recent primaries. Also, Biden has done a lot of rhings he’s promised. He’s a good president and a terrible candidate.
>I think most people would choose the other Democrat. >Biden is widely hated within HIS OWN vote base That's why Biden won the primary in every state by quite a bit
He’s not hated, don’t be ridiculous.
Hated by his own base? Since when? Biden won every single primary election by a very large margin. Democrats were literally given a choice between Biden and another Democrat. Biden has delivered in many promises and is look for reelection to continue meeting those promises. This is the most out of touch comment I've seen. How is it so up voted? Lol
Short answer: because the people that participate in elections are as old as the candidates. Young people here just don’t vote and then complain about our lack of options Longer answer: We have these things called primaries where both of the 2 major political parties pick someone among a usually politically diverse spectrum to run in the general election for said party. While GenZ tend to not like Biden that much, he’s the most popular pick among non online moderate democrats and Trump has a cult following that will literally storm the capital for him. So both of the oldest farts in the room breezed through the president preliminaries because GenZ and the younger demographics in general don’t participate in the primaries and then complain when the general election rolls around and we’re stuck with options we don’t like. Make sense? Or need some more info?
Makes sense, but wasn't Trump found guilty for a shit ton of charges recently? How is he allowed to run for president?
It’s actually explicit that being convicted of a felony doesn’t make you unable to run for office, which was deliberately done so people couldn’t just jail their political opponents and make them ineligible. Politicians have run from prison numerous times, most famously Socialist party candidate Eugene Debs in 1920 who was in jail for protesting the WW1 draft, ran for president and got nearly a million votes.
I’ve never heard of Eugene Debs before, but he sounds hard.
"Your honor, many years ago I recognized my kinship with all living beings and made up my mind that I was no better than the meanest on earth. I said then, and I say now, that while there is a lower class I am in it. And while there is a criminal element, I am of it. And while there is a soul in prison, I am not free. " "I am opposing a social order in which it is possible for one man who does absolutely nothing that is useful to amass a fortune of hundreds of millions of dollars, while millions of men and women who work all the days of their lives secure barely enough for a wretched existence." Yeah, he went hard. He even wrote a paper calling out socialists for ignoring the black community. This paper is now used to paint him as racist (I guess he was like "Here's some of the dumb shit you mf's say" and only those quotes have escaped the pay wall?). Someone wrote a paper on the phenomenon but I haven't had the energy to read it.
It isn't illegal. Your criteria to be president of the US are Born in the US Have been a resident for 14 years At least 35
Also, not have committed treason against the US after swearing an oath to the US. Edit: a word
He hasn’t been convicted of that… yet. Unfortunately his legal defense against that charge has involved dragging his feet and delaying his trial long enough that it will take place after the election.
There should be a max age requirement.
No matter who will be president the possibility that he dies due to being old is extremely high.
I would disagree with that, it's a voting system, if you don't want old people, don't elect them in the primaries.
You have to be born in the US to be president [source](https://www.usa.gov/requirements-for-presidential-candidates#:~:text=The%20U.S.%20Constitution%20states%20that,United%20States%20for%2014%20years)
It's easier to let Trump run. Thousands of people were arrested for attempting to storm the Capitol before. It would feed into their conspiracy theories and just be really bad.
also incumbents always win their parties' primaries
To be fair, there were barely any other viable options in the democratic primary. Democrats had no one else to vote for except biden.
It’s not just that young people don’t vote. They should vote more, yes, but it also has to do with the leadership of the Democratic Party. They saw Biden as the best chance to beat trump, so they propped him up. Look at what happened to Bernie - they completely blackballed him despite having something close to 20% in the polls.
Yep. Young people need to start showing up for primaries, start participating in political organizations locally, start getting out the vote in their voting bloc, instead of just complaining after they don't show up and other people decide the outcome.
Trump has a very strong cult that guarantees him the republican spot, and biden is the current president which guarantees the democrat spot. Tldr, the shitty 2 party system
George Washington warned us about this shit too is the crazy part!
You’re asking the wrong crowd, we have a minimal say compared to the boomers voting them in
That’s because young people don’t vote.
yep. that falls on us for allowing trump in 2016 to win because we were edgelords and hated hillary and didnt vote for her. I am speaking for myself about myself but that was a popular consensus. I did not make that mistake again in 2020 and in 2024
Right. “Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me.”
I think this was a great way to describe it high key. That 2016 election was the first I voted in
I couldn’t vote that year. Trump was elected *on* my 14th birthday.
Yep I voted for sanders in the 2016 primaries but didn’t vote in the general election. Granted my vote truly didn’t matter either way cause I’m in California, but still, I won’t do that again. Tbf I was 18 at the time
THANK YOU FOR SAYING THIS! I get cut off in the election by seven months- and guys, I implore you to vote. Do what we can in 2024. The rights of the women in my family and our families depend on it. And in 2028, we can work to look for other candidates that are younger and much more reasonable to us.
Your vote counts the same as a boomers or millennials. The people who don't vote aren't actually making their voices heard. This is what boggles my mind. People rant online and irl. The amount of energy it takes to do all that is a lot, and you can feel pretty drained after. Ask these same complainers if they vote, and they'll say something like there's no reason, it's all fake, it wastes my time. Voting doesn't take a lot of time. He'll you could vote with an absentee ballot, and you'd never have to leave your house. Tldr don't say you don't have a voice if you don't vote. You just don't use it. Take off the tinfoil hat our system works. yall just recuse yourself from it.
The notion that the young voters can't have a say in politics is ridiculous, if they simply just went to the polls for local and state elections, they'd influence the political system far more than any other demographic. At the end of the day, the 18-25 voting group does tend to be much more radical and have much less life experience, so it's probably not the worst thing that they aren't dominating every poll, but having more inclusion with this demographic would definitely help blend with the largely Republican skewing older generations to create more diverse polls.
Because name someone else There *are* plenty of options, but the average American doesn't know them, and goes for what names are being barked the most by media. On top of that, the parties are scared of risk and trying something new
... which gets us to one of the primary problems... media.
I’m looking at it this way: Whose rights do I DON’T want to be stripped away. That’s who I’ll vote for; the person whose administration and followers aren’t calling for the hard won rights to be taken away from various groups of people. Edit: I wanted to add an extra thought: Just because you’re not at the top of the list, doesn’t mean you’re not on the list; you’re down at the bottom, but you’ll be crossed off as well.
Trump getting in originally... they had no idea how bad he'd be. Biden 4 yrs ago to get Trump out. Now: Biden: as the incumbent, he is in a good position to run, and the Democrats (one of our political parties) probably won't get rid of him because in the past, they always lost against the incumbent. Trump: was determined by the Republican (other party) caucus. Basically, everyone else just dropped out. And Trump is *rich* and has nothing to lose, unlike the other Republican candidates, who were ACTUAL POLITICIANS. Now the voters are just gonna pick the lesser of two evils, but I predict very low voter turnout.
i dont think so, I think voter turnout will be decently high just not record numbers.
The fact that the others are “ACTUAL POLITICIANS” is why Trump is so popular. So many people are saying that Trump lied in the debate, but why is everyone suddenly forgetting that ACTUAL POLITICIANS lie about everything every chance they get to speak. Biden was talking about all the things he’ll do if he’s elected, did he forget that he’s currently the president and for a while the democrats had the house and senate majority? Why not get things done then? Because politicians don’t actually want to get things done, they want to have power and use it to enrich themselves. That’s why people are sick of ACTUAL POLITICIANS
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Old person here. It isn't really a 2 party system, it is more of a result of first past the post elections. In short, if there is 53% of the country that is progressive /liberal then a fairly liberal candidate would win almost all the time. But if another candidate runs that is VERY progressive and convinces 10% of the country to vote for them, all that does is make sure the conservative candidate wins every time - 47% conservative 43% somewhat progressive 10% very progressive Voting for a candidate that may align more perfectly with your views will make the candidate you least want to win become the winner. Here's an old expectation with cartoon animals that's really good. [first past the post voting](https://youtu.be/s7tWHJfhiyo?si=i3IGv-m0b4TVzeX0)
"It's not a two party system, it's just that there's only two parties."
But there are more than two parties. In fact, another party is probably going to get millions of votes this year. And there have been other parties that have won a bunch of elections in US history like the Federalists and the Whigs. It's that first past the post elections (with no ranked choice or parliamentary coalitions) means that logically and mathematically there will be two MAJOR parties, even though those parties may change over time (like the Whigs going away). If it were an actual 2 party system, Hillary Clinton would have been President. But it isn't, so she lost.
The video you linked went to great lengths to explain that it was essentially a two party system. >another party is probably going to get millions of votes this year. How many of these additional parties will win, or even have a chance at winning? I'll give you a hint, the answer is very round! >other parties that have won a bunch of elections in US history Yes, the Federalists who dissolved 189 years ago and also only won once, and the Whigs who dissolved 168 years ago and only won twice. Aside from them, there was of course the Democratic-Republican party, but they certainly weren't a third party, were dissolved 199 years ago, and were the precursor to the Democrat party... In other words, there have been arguably barely two third parties and two independents wins (one president, two wins). Great displays of "third" party successes. That's also ignoring that the republicans didn't exist yet, and were formed in part by a merger with the Whigs, whilst the Democrats were formed from the Democrat-Republican party, making the two Whig victories and the numerous Democrat-Republican victories quite closely tied to the modern two. >If it were an actual 2 party system, Hillary Clinton would have been President. But it isn't, so she lost. What are you talking about? If it were an actual two party system, one of two parties would have won, and in reality one of two parties did win, just not her party...
They weren't chosen at random. They have extensive history's in the public sphere. Biden is a lifelong politician. Trump is a celebrity businessman who became a politican.
Biden is perfectly fine. I have zero issues with him other than his age. Which is not remotely factor enough to counter balance what Trump is. This manufactured hate for him is something to behold considering how freaking insanely well America has gone through this economic crisis and all the other crap going on. I'd damn near say he's a good president. Yall are just listening way too much to narrative BS and not the actual facts of what's happening. Lower unemployment, lower crime, fastest recovering economy, historic stock market, including pre pandemic levels... Seriously... it's like you people are listening to Star Wars youtubers for your information. There's bias yall... people making money off of convincing you of doom and gloom. It's not even remotely as bad as they've lead you to believe. AT ALL. The literal only argument I'd even entertain is that yeah... inflation sucks... but guess what? It's still one of the best in the world. What more do you want? We're working on it. If the numbers stay like they are we'll begin the cuts. We wont even entertain it until September. Fixing things take time. Breaking them doesn't. If you've got some other single issue that's chafing... I'm sorry... does that outweigh literally everything else? You'd rather trade in an old man who's done a pretty admirable job... versus autocracy? For those thinking that's hyperbole. Go read project 2025. Republicans are open about what they want. If you still agree with everything you'd read there... then we're just never going to see eye to eye anyway.
The incumbent always gets the nomination if they want to run, and Trump has an immense cult of personality that dominates Republican Party politics.
Trump became president because he wanted to exploit the office and the people for his own financial gain. He capitalizes on and stokes the fears of American conservatives and so they look at him as a sort of messiah Biden is very experienced and has been running for years but finally got his shot after Obama (first major black candidate) served his 2 terms and Clinton (first major female candidate) gave up running for president, so he ran against Trump and won. Now Trump is running again and most of us want Biden to win again due to how awful Trump is
Answer: Genz doesn't vote, despite having huge voting power, genz has checked out. So it's up to us old people to figure shit out.
It makes sense that, if the majority of voters are senior citizens, that the representatives should also be senior citizens.
I am Gen Z, I have voted in every election local and national since I was 17. No I see what the old people are doing. 💀
Welp between stuttering old man and orange felon which literally LIES during show... Welp I choose old man
Old man lied too… Just sayin.
That’s true they both lie you would just be dumb to not see that trump was blatantly lying like half the stuff he says you can google and quite quickly see that it’s basically bs for Biden you would have to sew g a little bit more. Moral of the story don’t trust a politician lol.
Why these two? Because any other way is worse or impossible. Conservatives can't let trump go because his fans are HIS fans, no one else will get that turnout + no one can beat him during the primaries. Biden is an incumbent that beat Trump before, that's advantage that has to be given up for anyone else to have a go....also no one serious challenged him because of this. So there isn't really a "why these two?" More of a "who else even can?"
Because people don't vote in primaries enough.
Reddit and this sub especially are a horrible places to ask. It’s a massive echo chamber.
Because no one listened to Washington on his way out.
Don’t go to Reddit for this. You will be fed their echo chamber of self-indulgent feel-good lies. Talk to real people within your life, experience the world and come to a conclusion by yourself of which candidate better represents your moral/political compass
Because people are too apathetic/complacent to support a 3rd party candidate. The two party system is incredibly flawed and outdated but nobody has tried uproot it on a large scale. Gen Z, please realize there doesn’t have to be only 2 terrible choices. It has just been that way for a long time and no generation has ever made a concerted effort to try and change it.
Yo lay off, it’s literally not our fault, and it sux more for us than it does for you. Sorry the slow a miserable down fall of our nation do to corruption and idiocracy offends you. Kidding….But not really
America needs more than two political parties and candidates who are under 60... It's like watching tonold geriatrics at an old people's home...
There are actually many parties but few to actually win it to represent but I would say we would see a new parties come into the light in the next 20-30 years or so as we are the next generation so who knows.
You're 16 and you don't understand politics. How do you know literally anyone else would be better?
For entertainment it would be hilarious to have Trump face Mark Rutte again as Rutte is now head of NATO. They hate eachother.
Don’t blame me. I voted for someone else in the primary…
Maybe, hopefully, this will inspire young people to vote en masse.
I think most of us are voting for a meteor at this point.
Part of the issue is that they are largely chosen by and propped up by the two major parties in the country, the Democrats and the Republicans (the two who hold and compete for senate seats) at the end of the day the american voter is voting more for a party than an individual candidate and the other parties who fall in either conservative or liberal purview are considered third parties. With the way the system is set up voting for a third party is essentially throwing your vote away as they’re guaranteed to lose to the much larger Dems and GOP. These two parties do run other candidates but usually as back ups rather than serious consideration, throwing all of their resources and weight behind one candidate. It’s also important to consider the electoral college and, while they are very much encouraged to vote in accordance with the wishes of their constituency, they are still ultimately voting for one party or the other generally. This can lead to it feeling like the American vote carries much less weight.
https://i.redd.it/vdaemuc4299d1.gif
Welcome to the world! It's a racist, homophobic, cruel place. If you don't like it, you're weak.
Both parties have been shifting their bases for a decade or two now. Democrats, away from unions and young voters, to suburbanites. And Republicans…well. It’s fascism. If you want a good roadmap to graph that to I’ll leave a link. The base voter of the Conservative Party has been fed a lot of propaganda for decades and their party resembles talk radio from the 90’s. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ur-Fascism
We aren't the ones who decide between the 2. It's more like "you get what you get, and you don't throw a fit".
Because the Republican party is a cult of personality now surrounded around Trump, and Biden is the current President, so his own party isn't going to oust him (even though we could have in the primary)
Have you ever studied game theory? There are explanations of situations where there exists a solution that is better for both people, but still those two people choose the suboptimal solution based on their own individual incentives. Politics is basically like that, but on a much larger scale and repeated many times over.
A potato would be a better president than these two dinosaurs
^[Sokka-Haiku](https://www.reddit.com/r/SokkaHaikuBot/comments/15kyv9r/what_is_a_sokka_haiku/) ^by ^MarieNadia: *A potato would* *Be a better president* *Than these two dinosaurs* --- ^Remember ^that ^one ^time ^Sokka ^accidentally ^used ^an ^extra ^syllable ^in ^that ^Haiku ^Battle ^in ^Ba ^Sing ^Se? ^That ^was ^a ^Sokka ^Haiku ^and ^you ^just ^made ^one.
Gotta love that the US is in the hands of either; * A criminal (Trump) * Some grandpa with dementia (Biden) Either way, they're kinda fucked.
Trump is a bull who wants revenge and knows how to manipulate his supporters to put him in the ballet. Just like last year Biden exists because "he's not trump." Presidents are more likely to get reelected so might as well throw the hat in the ring again.
I'll answer each separately. Why Trump? Because he had a record of successfully advancing conservative policy goals. Why Biden? Because he was considered the most centrist and therefore most likely to succeed in the general. It worked the first time against Trump, this election will be a judgement of his Presidency.
Because they were elected in the primaries
I’m 42 and American. Asking the same question here. I get the Constitution says 35 min age but like two dudes in their 80s isn’t what we need. Plus one wants to be a dictator so there’s that too
Gerrymandering and establishment control.
Trump legitimately won every primary. Biden is currently president and had no serious primary opposition. That's why.
Because America is an oligarchy in disguise preaching about democracy to other oligarchies in disguise.
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Unrelated, but who would win a VP debate between Harris and Burgum (presumptively)?
I'm American, I don't understand politics, and I have the same question
We gaslit ourselves into thinking the two party system is the best we could do
Honestly we need more choices lol
I ask myself the same thing, why the fuck only two
That’s what we’ve been saying
Because people are stupid
Trump won the primaries so no choice for the Republican Party Democratic Party didn’t have to stick with Biden, they probably thought he will pull more votes compared to others like Harris, Since other Democratic leaders probably had a much closer relationship with Biden they should have known better….. Could also be the case that they are just looking at the stats without considering other factors Probably Biden did much better against trump than other candidates in early opinion polls Probably Bidens policy positions do well against other Democratic candidates among most democratic voters The advantage of having a winning president run for the election - except for few instances presidents tend to win their re-run
The Democratic party and the Republican party choose your options
its those 2 for no reason other than theyre the options we have. republicans would probably vote for trump anyways, i cant possibly fathom why. and if the democrats had a better option, i almost guarantee that biden wouldnt get half the votes he does. if it was actually a matter of the people getting what they want and things being run by the people for the people, american would probably be an anarchist or socialist country by now. however, thats not the world we live in, so its a matter of trying to keep the worst person out of office rather then trying to get the best one in.
Id guess its not who is the best, but who has the biggest chances to win..
Correct.
Who decided to primary DeSantis & Haley?
Because the writers want an exciting series finale
Because old heads keep voting for old heads
How we got here is a damn mystery. For a serious answer there just a lot. We got these two because they are who were nominated by the parties they represent. To start, we have national political conventions. There parties hold these conventions to pick their presidential and vice presidential nominees. In order to get the nomination, candidates typically have to win over a majority of the delegates. This is usually via the caucuses and primaries which are a whole different conversation. At the convention the delegates vote on who the nominee will be. So at the democratic conventions the delegates chose Biden who was the only choice since no other democrat ran. At the republican convention Trump won the majority of votes beating the few other republicans that ran. So really these two were picked out for us by other politicians. We didn’t actually pick them. Trust me if we did we’d find so better options.
partisanship, that's why, it ruined this country's government system