Everything you need to know about the 2024 presidential election

As the world waits to watch President Joe Biden and Republican front-runner Donald Trump go head to head in a live debate, here’s everything you need to know to be informed on the presidential election. 

Every day we get closer and closer to the presidential election, and it seems that America will see a repeat of the 2020 showdown between Trump and Biden as the two lead the polls by a large margin compared to the other candidates. No poll shows one significantly favored over the other, which places even more weight on this upcoming debate. 

So far, the most notable incident since presidential campaigning took full swing was the court case where Donald Trump was found guilty on all 34 counts of falsifying business records. This historic case became the first time a former president was convicted of a crime. He’ll be formally sentenced after July 11 but could face a fine or four years in prison for each count.

Logistically, this prison sentence will not affect his ability to accept the Republican nomination in the July convention and will not affect his ability to get elected. However, Biden has taken full advantage of this situation, urging the nation to help him defeat Trump in November. 

So far based on public opinion, Nevada, Arizona, Wisconsin, Michigan, Georgia, North Carolina, and Pennsylvania could be potential swing states in this neck-and-neck election between Biden and Trump. 

This election, Biden has centered his campaign around the fact that he is not Donald Trump. Given the current controversy surrounding Trump and his convicted charges, this has resonated with the American public. Biden plans to ‘finish the job’ in a second term, by continuing to employ policies used in his first. 

Regarding immigration, Biden hopes to continue to revert the policies established during Trump’s reign. Immediately after taking office in 2020, Biden reversed the expansion of immigration forces and restrictions on US entry for those coming from the seven Muslim-majority countries and stopped construction on the wall. 

In 2023, Biden resumed constructing some barriers around the border and made an executive order that limited the crossing of asylum-seeking migrants. However, he established deportation protection for undocumented spouses of US citizens which allowed 500,000 people to stay in the country and apply for residency when they would have to leave the country altogether to apply. 

Regarding abortion, Biden has made Trump’s promise of stricter abortion access the center of his reelection campaign. Biden promises to reinstate the ruling of Roe v. Wade as the ‘law of the land’ if elected. 

Climate change is another important aspect of Biden’s reelection campaign, as he reminds Americans of his progress while stating he has more in store. Making good on some of his more ambitious claims, Biden led the way for the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and Inflation Reduction Act, which entailed hundreds of billions of dollars to promote clean energy and produce more electric vehicles. Emissions from pollutants fell by 2% in the US this past year. 

Education also will be a forefront issue for the Biden administration. He rebukes Republican opponents for their attempts to ban certain books from schools and aims to raise wages for teachers. 

Foreign policy will be a primary focus for Biden if elected, as he continues to commit aid to Ukraine, continue to compete with China, and support Israel but advocate for peace in Gaza. 

Although Biden has made good on some of his goals for gun control, he plans to go even further. In 2022, Biden signed the largest comprehensive gun reform legislation in the past 30 years. This law amassed $750 million for states to implement crisis intervention programs, got rid of specific loopholes, and imposed intensive review for those between 18-21 who want to purchase firearms. In his State of the Union address, Biden expresses his desire to ban assault weapons and high-capacity magazines and establish universal background checks. 

For every belief Biden has, Trump supports the opposite viewpoint. Trump and Biden’s policies clash on every front, especially immigration. 

Immigration has been the center issue for Trump’s campaign, as he vows to remove known or suspected drug dealers, gang members, or cartel members from the US. In late February before his trip to the border, Trump promised to enact the ‘largest domestic deportation operation in American history.’ He plans to shift a large portion of federal law enforcement into border security. However, Trump also promises to give automatic green cards to foreign nationals who graduate from US colleges. Trump also promised to remove visas of those who sympathize with Hamas. 

Trump aims to wage war on the cartel, hoping to instate the death penalty for human traffickers and drug smugglers. He plans to create naval embargoes on the cartel and cut off their access to global finances. 

Education will be a priority for the Trump administration, as he plans to give more power to parents in their children’s education. He intends to give more funding to schools that comply with that philosophy, while also reducing funding to schools that teach critical race and gender theory. 

Trump has taken the stance on abortion that it should be decided by the states and will not sign any bill that instates a federal abortion ban. 

Trump plans to ban any sex-changing procedures or operations if elected, as well as cut any programs that promote gender transitions. He states that his administration would not allow hospitals and health care providers to meet federal health and safety standards if they assist in chemical or physical gender-affirming care to youth. 

If elected, Trump promises to hire a prosecutor to ‘take down’ the ‘most corrupt’ president, Joe Biden. Trump also plans to create strict laws to protect personal data online, as well as reduce funding to any university that participates in online censorship. 

If elected, Trump would encourage Russia to do ‘whatever the hell they want’ if a member country of the alliance’s collective defense clause didn’t meet spending protocols. Offering no specific plan, Trump does plan to end the war in Ukraine, stating it would take him ‘no longer than one day.’ 

Trump aims to build 10 new cities on federal land, awarding them to the areas that have the best development proposals. He claims these cities will bring back traditional American manufacturing and boost economic activities all while promoting affordable living. He also plans to make valiant efforts in developing flying cars if elected. 

These are the major components of the upcoming 2024 Presidential election, but as always the Pineapple Times encourages its readership to conduct personal research beyond this article so you can be as informed as possible when it comes time to vote.