Election

We are currently in October of 2020. People are walking around wearing masks and social distancing to prevent the spread of COVID-19. During these unprecedented times, we also have an election between current president Donald Trump, and former Vice President Joe Biden. With many restrictions still in place to limit social gatherings and events, candidates have used Social Media more than ever to strengthen their campaigns. But, these two candidates in particular have really used social media to not just strengthen their campaigns, but really bring down the opposing one’s ideas. It is no secret that Trump and Biden really want to win. Trump wants to stay in the White House for another four years, while Biden wants to be there for another four years, just this time as President. During this election, I cannot remember how many times I have seen each candidate bullying the other on social media in one way or another. I have seen it through a video, an old tweet, or just saying something to bring the other down. The amount of times I have opened Youtube on my computer to notice the first thing I see is Trump bringing down Biden and vice-versa has been endless. These two do not like each other, and it has really made me think about past U.S. elections. In 2016, Trump and Hillary Clinton did not like each other either. I am unsure if it was as bad as our current election, but it was bad. They had fiery debate moments and seemed to do everything to bring the other down. I then thought about the previous election before that, 2012. So, I went to Youtube and searched up “2012 Presidential Debate.” There were thousands and thousands of videos from the debate in 2012 between former president Barack Obama, and Republican nominee at the time Mitt Romney. I watched the first five minutes of their first debate, and I thought wow things have changed. The way that Obama and Romney greeted each other as they came out to begin the debate was done in a very professional and respectful way. They greeted each other with smiles, a nice handshake, and really seemed to wish each other luck before the debate began. Now, of course these two had their differences on their political plans, but they respected each other and didn’t go to the limits to bring each other down. Trump and Biden couldn’t greet each other with a handshake due to COVID-19, but the aggressiveness between Trump and Biden/Clinton was nothing compared to Obama and Romney. Using Social Media has been crucial to provide voters with the candidates’ ideas and responses to questions that would be displayed differently if there was no pandemic. The way these candidates talk to one another can be entertaining at times, but is not good for voters who really want to vote for a president who will help the country for the next four years and beyond. I have requested an absentee ballot for myself to vote, which will hopefully come to me very soon. This election, and year, has been very different than normal ones, and Social Media has played a huge role in both candidates displaying their ideas and plans to hopefully secure them a place in the White House.