Due to concerns of exposure, the subjects will be attributed as Source A and Source B.
The 2024 election was very American, considering our two options were really between a convicted felon and a woman who smiles a bit too much for a politician. This race was a close tie, challenging all Americans’ morality and education, which ironically isn’t something that most Americans are known for having.
It is a known fact that each American election will come down to either a candidate from the Democratic Party or the Republican Party. Donald J. Trump was this year’s Republican Party nominee marking the third time Trump has run for office. Trump is known for having a large following mostly consisting of older white males with the same religious ideas as him, according to the U.S. News and World Report. He is also known for making many racist, sexist and homophobic comments about Americans. Despite the backlash he has received, many of his followers say that he is just being honest and saying what needs to be said. With his “bold” and “straightforward mentality,” many of his followers were confident he was going to win the election.
“Trump can actually talk to people and have interviews, like if you looked at Kamala Harris’s Town Hall … she doesn’t really know how to talk [and get interviewed],” Source A said. “And unlike Harris … Trump worked 15 more minutes than Harris at a McDonalds. So he doesn’t have to lie about his work.”
Kamala Harris was this year’s Democratic Party nominee for the 2024 election. As an African American and Indian woman from the middle class, she is known for standing up for minorities; therefore, a large percentage of the people who follow her are women, African Americans, people of different sexual orientations and other minorities. Although people in opposition see her as a sugar coater, many of her followers consider her to be more empathetic and compassionate compared to modern politicians while also determined, as she is in a field where her demographics make her a minority.
“I’d vote for Kamala Harris because honestly her policies and her character are a lot better than Trump’s,” Source B said. “I just really don’t agree with almost anything he says. A lot of the things that Trump has said are honestly disgusting and I don’t want to have someone like that leading my country that I live in … I just think it’s gross.”
Many factors make up the perfect candidate. One important factor many people consider is the policies that each candidate wants to implement during their presidency. Trump’s future plans are known for being extreme as he believes America’s current issues need extreme solutions. One of his policies includes the mass deportation of illegal immigrants. Many members of the Democratic Party are worried that his plan or the concepts of his plan on mass deportation are going to worsen the American economy. According to the American Immigration Council, the cost of one mass deportation is at least $315 billion and the result of mass deportation would lead to about a 4.2% reduction in the US Gross Domestic Product. In 2022 alone, undocumented immigrants paid about $50 billion in federal taxes and more. With all of these statistics, can Trump’s extreme policies, such as mass deportation, be validated?
“Like his immigration policy, for one, I believe he’s done a better job than Kamala Harris,” Source A said.
Morals and personality also play a big part in the consideration of a president. Many women find the things Trump says about women disgusting, while many men say these comments “make sense.” Many people part of minority groups tend to feel the same disgust displayed by the Harris administration and feel disrespected. The constant offensive commentary can give Trump a negative look and have many people questioning why someone should respect Trump when he doesn’t respect them back.
“I mean a lot of people say like he’s very extreme, I guess, and out of pocket, but that’s because of his nature as a businessman and as a comedian,” Source A said. “So he may say some stuff, but I don’t really focus on what he says, but more like what he does.The main thing is like his policies, what he’s done in the past.”
On the other hand, Harris’s policies align more with Gen-Z’s opinion on reforms that need to occur. However, many Trump supporters tend to see Harris as lying about what policies she wants to implement and is only saying things “for the votes.” The reasoning behind this was the fact that as Vice President, she allegedly hadn’t done anything for the law.
“Her [policies] on border control … she said she’s going to have somewhere to actually control the border, but she couldn’t do [that] as Vice president and a lot of people don’t know about that,” Source B said. “Also, she hasn’t said it out right … but [Bernie Sanders] and Kamala are trying to get a ceasefire and humanitarian aid in Gaza.”
Many people have created a perception that politicians need to sound ignorant to sound important. Many view idolized and influential politicians today as having some of the worst racist, sexist, and homophobic stances out of all politicians. Compared to Trump, Harris tends to show more compassion for others and many people agree that Harris tends to be the most respectful during the election period. For most people, not showing respect to voters would be a red flag, but maybe for Trump, there is a little exception.
“[Harris] seems very respectful,” Source B said. “She doesn’t try to bad mouth and insult people, her enemies and other candidates. Trump goes on and on.”
Although close, the topic of abortion has become highly controversial among the American population with a majority of women being pro-choice, while men tend to lean toward pro-life. It is a common misconception that pro-choice means pro-abortion automatically. However, that isn’t the case. Pro-choice simply means every woman has the freedom to decide on what they would like to do with their body. However, many pro-life supporters still see abortion as an equivalent to murder, because in their eyes, a woman is killing her baby with an abortion, revoking the potential life of the fetus. Trump is a proud supporter of overturning Roe v. Wade, which was a case that federally protected access to abortions. He believes states should have the power to decide on how women should deal with their pregnancies.
“For me, [the overturning of Roe v. Wade] was like a win I guess,” Source A said. “Cause as Christians, we believe that life begins with contraception, so if you’re having an abortion you’re basically killing a human being. For abortion, you don’t have a set threshold on when you can or can’t kill a baby.”
The issue of abortion often comes down to morality for some people. Many pro-life supporters see abortion as immoral as a woman is essentially killing her baby. What many pro-choice supporters believe is that by giving the state the right to decide on whether or not she should risk her life undergoing labor, thousands of women are denied easy access to the basic healthcare needed. 93% of abortions occur before the fetus is even viable, and the rest usually occur due to a deathly complication that occurs from the pregnancy. By removing access to abortions, women are forced to either travel hundreds of miles to go to somewhere that can provide them with the services they need to save their lives or continue to bleed out in hospital parking lots. Where is the morality in that?
“A lot of women that need to have an abortion for multiple reasons, like the fetus is dead inside the body or she was a victim of rape, but now she can’t get that help without travelling super far,” Source B said.
Gun violence has been an extensive issue that has only become worse with time. Gun violence is now the leading cause of death in children, and according to CNN.com, almost 80 school shootings have occurred as of November 11th. The fact that guns, a preventable issue, have ended more lives compared to disease, which isn’t so preventable, is a sickening idea for many Democrats and Republicans. However, with that belief in Republicans’ heads, many Trump supporters still believe gun laws should actually be less strict and there are other ways to combat the issue.
“I guess Republicans are more focused on mental health, rather than Democrats [who] are focusing more on gun control like banning assault weapons and stuff like that,” Source A said. “I’m against stricter gun laws because I feel like it’s more about mental health, like ‘Why are these people seeking to go out and shoot people.’”
Especially in Memphis, where the homicide rate is the highest in the nation as of mid-2024, the issue of gun violence has become a crucial issue that needs to be discussed. For many years, Memphis has always bled the color blue in support of the Democratic party within a majority red state, allowing many people to argue that Memphians side with the Democratic opinions on the issue of gun violence.
“I think Donald Trump … doesn’t care about gun violence and kids being shot up in schools,” Source B said. “But I think Kamala Harris [has] actually shown that she cares. She doesn’t want to just get rid of guns, but she wants to have protections on automatic weapons and Trump does not.”
The concept of ” Project 2025” has been going viral all across social media for its 900-page conservative blueprint. Many of the proposals listed within Project 2025 have been known to be extreme and target many current issues such as education, gun violence and rights to people’s bodies. However, many Republicans have repeated that Trump is not connected to any of these plans whatsoever, even though a majority of workers for the Trump administration collaborated on the initiative and mentioned his name multiple times.
“Project 2025 is not officially associated with Trump,” Source A said. “It was created by Republicans who have never [had or] have no connection with Trump or his campaign. There are some good policies in it [and] there are bad policies we don’t support … a lot of Democrats are misinformed and are thinking that that’s what Trump actually supports, and if you look on the Republican campaign page, you can see the actual policies and changes that Trump wants to do rather than Project 2025.”
Many people have also seen Harris’s social media presence grow throughout 2024, especially on TikTok. She went viral for releasing multiple comedic statements, which soon turned into edited audios to songs released by Charli XCX and more. This grew her support from younger generations and many people argue this convinced more young people to get involved with politics and amplify their voices.
“It has definitely made her more presentable to younger voters and I think it’s kind of made older voters more weary about her, but I think they are coming around to her,” Source B said. “She just uses the whole Kamala brat Coconut Tree and she uses a lot of modern pop culture references in her things.”
In the end, Trump received 312 electoral college votes, making him the winner of the 2024 presidential election. Trump will be inaugurated on Jan. 20, 2025, making him the 47th President of the U.S. Many have said this “classic American story” election will go down in history books due to evident sectionalism that arose this year compared to previous years. This election was full of celebration for many people, whereas others were drowned with heartbreak.
“I think we need to push forward because the Earth is constantly changing and our society is constantly evolving, and if we stay in the past then we can’t adapt and be up with the rest of the world,” Source B said.
