During the 2018 midterm elections, America saw a large uptick in younger voters.  Even those who could not yet legally vote were voicing their support and urging lawmakers that they would have to earn their future vote, just as they do with current eligible voters. This year there is yet another surge in youth voicing their political opinions, but the cause is not only an election this year.  The death of George Floyd in May of this year and the subsequent BLM protests  caused younger voters to help spark an entire conversation around racial injustice in our society. 

As tensions before election day on November 3rd keep rising, two juniors, both from Waterford High School, came together and agreed to do an interview regarding pressing issues that the presidential candidates are facing.  Avital Goldburg-Curran answered questions based on her views of former Vice President Joe Biden, and Tim Silva answered questions based on his views of Current President Donald Trump.  Both were told beforehand that they would be asked the same questions, phrased the same way, and would be given as much time as needed to answer.

1. How would your preferred presidential candidate handle the current issue of police brutality and racism in the criminal justice system?

Avital Goldburg-Curran:  So, Biden, in terms of criminal justice, from what I know, doesn’t exactly have a huge plan to make too many changes to the police system, but I think he definitely understands the issues better than the other candidate does. He’s acknowledged the fact that there is definitely a huge racism problem in this country and he undoubtedly wants to do something about it. He’s not actively dismissing it, although I do not think he is not taking as much action against the oppressors as a lot of people would like him to.

Tim Silva:  He’s definitely on the side of not all police officers do it [Police brutality] and that they’re still a necessity to fund in the country. He’s most definitely in the defense of police, as opposed to Biden, who’s against police. He’s also against the “defund the police movement” for sure.

2. Do you agree with the way the current president has handled coronavirus and how do you think your presidential candidate will handle it in the future? 

Avital Goldburg-Curran:  I do not think that Donald Trump has done a good job handling coronavirus. He has not been truthful to the American people, as he has given false information. He has claimed it’s a hoax and blames it on China, and makes racist jokes. He has been holding these giant rallies that are basically a breeding ground for Covid and does not seem to be taking it very seriously, even though he’s had it. And I think that Biden is at least more responsible in terms of his own life by wearing a mask and not holding ginormous rallies. He has a clear plan to protect higher risk citizens and to be more strict about mask-wearing and social distancing policies, along with putting more money into testing. Biden wants to put more focus on Covid instead of sweeping it under the rug and hoping it goes away, which is what our current president is doing.  

Tim Silva:  To be honest I think Trump’s handling it pretty well, as he closed our country down pretty early. I mean, he closed down before most European countries. He just left more stuff to the states and didn’t make as many federal decisions.  Which made it so that more states didn’t close down as quickly as others, which created a bigger problem. He did, I think, save the economy and kept it from completely crashing.  I think his continued effort will be to open the country back up asap if he gets re-elected.  And I think that’s necessary because a lot of people are losing jobs and businesses are closing, the country is just not going to be able to function if it doesn’t open up soon.

3. What are the problems with immigration policies such as ICE and what solutions does your presidential candidate offer on them?

Avital Goldburg-Curran:  Well, for one, Biden has said that he wants to keep families together, which is incredibly important. Donald Trump has made some horrific comments about immigration, especially from our southern border, saying they’re rapists, drug dealers, and things like that.  Also, having really horrible policies about the children in cages and such invasive and demeaning border checks and abuse. While I do not know Biden’s exact finalized plan on these issues,  I do know that he plans on keeping families together, and treating them like human beings, and welcoming immigrants to this country, which is the opposite of what is happening right now.

Tim Silva:  I think overall immigration under the Trump administration has been pretty good, I know with Obama, he deported like two times more immigrants than Trump has so far. I don’t know the exact numbers, I just know that’s one of the numbers that was discovered. There was the big thing about immigration with him, but overall, I think he has been pretty good with everything keeping, a steady inflow and making it possible, to get citizenship and everything. And for the second part, his wall, that’s about it. 

4. Considering these current issues: police brutality, wildfires, coronavirus, ext, what qualities/traits will make a great presidential candidate for this upcoming election?

Avital Goldburg-Curran:  I think in these times right now, we really need a president who is empathetic and understanding to all the groups of people in this country. Every person’s journey is unique and everyone goes through different things. All of the issues that were mentioned in the example affect different groups differently, such as police brutality primarily affects people of color, and how global warming will eventually affect all of us but it’s hitting certain people such as people in poverty at the moment, making access to things such as clean water harder to obtain. So right now I think we really need a president who is going to think about every single constituent, what they’re going through, and putting the citizen first.

Tim Silva:  I want a president who still wants the funding of the police as they’re very important and not all police officers are bad. Most are very good. I want a president who still cares about the environment because global warming is a big issue and needs to be taken care of. I want a president that is savvy with our economy and can help save and keep it strong because it’s very important for any country. I want one who will focus on keeping our military strong.

5. What makes your candidate the best option?

Avital Goldburg-Curran:  If I could vote, I would vote for Biden over Trump because of certain views that Biden has, that Trump does not. Such as Biden is pro-choice, and actually believes in and is willing to take action on climate change, unlike Donald Trump.  Although I don’t entirely agree with everything he [Biden] said about it, his opponent has referred to it as “a very expensive hoax”. Biden is better for the LGBT community and is willing to fight for people of color and immigrants. While he may not make this country a perfect place for all these minorities and for our country as a whole, he will definitely give those groups more of a fighting chance more than Donald Trump will.

Tim Silva:  Overall, even though the country’s been more divided under Trump than I’ve ever seen, I think his handling of everything has been pretty good. I mean, it’s not great, it could have been better in many ways, but the handling of the economy has been very strong under him. Unemployment has been down like crazy and his handling of police brutality has been great as well.  Immigration has been handled well too. I mean, there’s a lot to be desired in there, but it was like that with Obama too. Just overall, I think he needs to spend less time on Twitter and focus more on being a president, running the country, and listening to the people.  But I think overall, he’s a good president, a good choice for president, and if he can maybe capture some of the views of the Democratic Party too, we could be less divided.