US presidential elections 2024: who are the candidates for the White House?

Here is a list of candidates:

Donald Trump

Trump, 77, holds a sizable lead in his party’s nomination race, despite being charged in four separate state and federal criminal cases. He managed to convince much of the Republican electorate that the criminal charges were part of a politically motivated witch hunt to thwart his election, a claim the Justice Department has denied.

Trump has pledged to enact tougher restrictions on immigration and trade with China, as well as political retaliation against those he believes have wronged him. He has a firm grip on his party’s right wing, but could struggle to convince moderates and independents to support him in a general election if he wins the Republican nomination.

A New York Times/Siena opinion poll in November highlighted that possibility, with Biden trailing Trump in five of the six battleground states expected to determine the outcome in 2024. Trump, who lost in 2020 to Biden , is seeking to become the first person to serve two non-consecutive terms since former President Grover Cleveland regained the White House in 1892.

Ron Desantis

Florida Gov. DeSantis, 45, was once considered Trump’s most formidable challenger, but his campaign has been plagued by infighting, personnel changes and changes in leadership. He’s counting on a strong showing in Iowa — where his campaign has focused its efforts and where DeSantis has pledged to visit every county in the Midwestern state — to keep his candidacy afloat.

DeSantis continues to languish in national opinion polls, about 40 points behind Trump. While his stance in favor of strict limits on abortion has won him the affection of some religious conservatives, it has alienated more moderate voters.

He intensified his attacks on Trump after initially appearing reluctant to accept him, but now spends much of his time trying to prevent Haley from becoming the party’s leading alternative to Trump.

Nikki Haley

A former governor of South Carolina and Trump’s ambassador to the United Nations, Haley has climbed steadily in the polls since August and is now locked in a tight battle with Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis for second place in the field.

A foreign policy hawk, Haley has taken a tough stance on China and supports continued military aid to Ukraine. His support for the Eastern European country and emphasis on foreign policy during the election campaign contrast with DeSantis and Trump, who both took isolationist policy positions and focused on domestic issues.

Haley, 51, also touted her relative youth compared to septuagenarian Trump and Biden, 81, whose age has emerged as a major issue for voters in polls.

Haley stagnated in the single digits in the polls for much of 2023 before a series of remarkable debates starting in August strengthened her position among voters and donors.

She still trails DeSantis in most national polls, but she holds substantial leads over DeSantis in New Hampshire and South Carolina, two early voting states in the race for the Republican nomination. Both trail Trump by a significant margin nationally and in almost every state.

Vivek Ramaswamy

Ramaswamy, 38, a former biotechnology investor and executive, started a company in 2022 to pressure companies to abandon environmental, social and corporate governance initiatives, attracting favorable attention from conservatives.

Ramaswamy created considerable political buzz and rose in some opinion polls after combative debates in August and September, in which he outlined mostly far-right positions on many issues. Yet his poll numbers have declined in recent weeks to a national average of around 5%, suggesting he was a summer fad rather than a serious long-term contender to challenge Trump.

Ramaswamy is a strong supporter of the former president and says that if he won the White House, he would pardon Trump. Some analysts believe that Ramaswamy is considering becoming Trump’s running mate, if the former president wins the nomination, speculation that Ramaswamy denies.

Chris Christie

Christie, 61, advised Trump’s White House campaign but became a vocal critic of the former president after the attack on January 6, 2021. The former New Jersey governor and federal prosecutor escalated his attacks verbal as Trump faced a growing number of criminal charges.

Asa Hutchinson

The former Arkansas governor launched his White House bid in April by calling on Trump to step down to face the former president’s first indictment. Hutchinson, 73, has touted his experience leading his deeply conservative state as proof that he can implement the policies that Republican voters care about, citing tax cuts and job creation initiatives. But his campaign failed to catch fire.

Democratic Party

Joe Biden

Biden, 81, already the oldest US president ever, will have to convince voters he has the stamina to stay in office for another four years, amid concerns about his age and poor performance ratings. ‘approval. Biden’s allies say he believes he is the only Democratic candidate capable of defeating Trump.

In announcing his candidacy, Biden said his role was to defend American democracy and cited the deadly Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol by Trump supporters. Vice President Kamala Harris, 59, is once again his running mate.

The economy will be a factor in his re-election campaign. While the United States has escaped the expected recession and is growing faster than economists expected, inflation in 2022 reached its highest level in 40 years and the cost of food and gasoline weighs on voters.

Biden led Western governments’ response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, persuading allies to sanction Russia and support kyiv.

His administration has strongly supported Israel in its conflict with Hamas militants in Gaza, but Biden has faced hecklers at events and calls from some within his party to push for a cease-fire. fire.

At home, he pushed through massive economic recovery plans and infrastructure spending to boost U.S. industrial production, although his second goal received little recognition from voters.

Biden’s handling of immigration policy has been criticized by Republicans and Democrats as migrant crossings at the U.S.-Mexico border have reached record levels under his administration.

Marianne Williamson

Best-selling author and self-help guru Marianne Williamson, 71, launched her second long-term bid for the White House on an agenda of “justice and love.”

She ran as a Democrat in the 2020 presidential primary, but dropped out of the race before any votes were cast. She launched her latest campaign on March 23 and will be on the ballot in the New Hampshire primary.

Dean Phillips

Dean Phillips, a little-known U.S. congressman from Minnesota, announced in October that he would challenge Biden because he does not believe the president can win another term.

The 54-year-old millionaire businessman and co-founder of the ice cream company announced his offer in a one-minute video posted online, saying: “We have challenges ahead of us. … We will fix this economy, and we’re going to fix America.”

Independents

Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

An anti-vaccine activist, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., 69, is running as an independent after initially challenging Biden for the Democratic nomination, but he is far behind in opinion polls.

He is the son of U.S. Senator Robert F. Kennedy, who was assassinated in 1968 during his own bid for the presidency. Kennedy was banned from Instagram for spreading misinformation about vaccines and the COVID-19 pandemic, but was later reinstated. He lost a legal attempt to force YouTube owner Google to reinstate videos of him questioning the safety of COVID vaccines.

Cornel West

The political activist, philosopher and academic said in June that he would launch a third-party bid for president that would appeal to progressive and Democratic-leaning voters.

West, 70, initially ran as a Green Party candidate, but in October he said people “want good policies rather than partisan politics” and announced his candidacy as an independent. He promised to end poverty and guarantee housing.

Jill Stein

Jill Stein, a physician, reaffirmed her Green Party candidacy for 2016 on November 9, accusing Democrats of betraying their promises “for workers, for youth and for the climate, over and over again – while Republicans don’t even such promises during the first mandate”. place.”

Stein, 73, raised millions of dollars for the recount after Trump’s surprise victory in 2016. His allegations resulted in only one election review in Wisconsin, which showed Trump won.

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Published: Dec 07, 2023, 10:35 PM IST