Only a few hours remain for the United States to elect a new leader. Who will be the next President of the U.S., Donald Trump or Hillary Clinton?
Election Day, Today, November 8, 2016, will mark the 58th quadrennial U.S. presidential election.
American voters are tasked to vote in order to determine the 45th President and 48th Vice President of the United States.
Donald Trump, 70, New York businessman and TV personality became the Republican Party’s presidential nominee on July 19, 2016. Hillary Clinton, 69, former Secretary of State, U.S. Senator representing New York and First Lady of the United States was elected as the presidential nominee of the Democratic Party on July 26, 2016.
Both candidates shared a number of controversies throughout their campaigns. From the moment Donald Trump launched his campaign describing Mexican immigrants as ‘rapists and criminals’, he created a major roar. Since then, Mr Trump’s candidacy remained provocative with the most notable incidents being his attack on federal Judge Gonzalo Curiel, former Miss Universe Alicia Machado and Fox News journalist Megyn Kelly. The biggest shock for Mr Trump’s campaign occurred on October 7, 2016 when a 2005 video was leaked where he was heard making sexually aggressive comments about women. He later issued an apology stating that the language he uses in the video ‘does not reflect who I am’ but this failed to convince several Republicans to continue their support for him.
Hillary Clinton’s reputation was also significantly put to the test when on March 16, 2016 WikiLeaks launched a series of emails from Hillary Clinton’s private email server while she was Secretary of State. This incident led to an FBI investigation which was dropped in July clearing Mrs Clinton of wrongdoing. Mr Trump’s allegations of Bill Clinton having affairs also created a series of questions for Hillary Clinton, as several of the hacked emails showed an effort from her campaign team to bury the story. Then, just a few days before Election Day, the FBI announced it had found further emails ‘pertinent’ to the case of Mrs Clinton’s email investigation, but could not issue a statement on the significance of these emails. It later became known that the emails were traced from a laptop belonging to the estranged husband of Huma Abedin, one of Mrs Clinton’s closest advisers. Mrs Abedin’s husband was under investigation for allegedly sending explicit text messages to a 15-year-old girl. On November 6, 2016 FBI Director James Comey notified Congress that the FBI’s verdict on Clinton’s emails remained unchanged.
Concerning policies and beliefs both candidates showed noteworthy differences. In terms of job creation, Hillary Clinton aims to create jobs by investing in advanced manufacturing, technology, renewable energy and small businesses. Trump however, plans to create 25 million jobs within the U.S. in a span of 10 years, stressing that many jobs are being lost to other countries. Regarding immigration, Mrs Clinton has stated that she wants to continue actions normalising the immigration status of long-term undocumented residents of the U.S. while Mr Trump has called for reductions in legal immigration. In relation to foreign policy, Clinton has supported the U.S. war in Iraq while serving as U.S. Senator and Secretary of State. She has stressed the significance of the U.S.’ fight against the so-called Islamic State in Syria and supports a continued U.S. military presence in Afghanistan. Trump has criticised the Iraq War along with other U.S. military action in the Middle East. However, he too has highlighted the importance of combating IS throughout his campaign. About the refugee crisis, Mrs Clinton requested an increase in the annual number of Syrian refugees resettled in the U.S. from 10,000 to 65,000. On the other hand, Mr Trump has been warning that the U.S. policy of admitting refugees especially from Muslim nations is a serious threat to the country’s national security.
In the latest Election Polls 2016 issued by the BBC, Hillary Clinton is ahead with 48 per cent of the vote while Donald Trump is at 44 per cent. Green Party candidate Jill Stein, 66, currently picks up about 2 per cent of the vote while Libertarian Party’s nominee Gary Johnson, 63, has 5 per cent so far.
The 2016 Presidential Election Campaign was intense with heated debates and several blows below the belt from both candidates. Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump are experienced senior American citizens with heavy involvement in the political and economic life of America. However, throughout their campaigns, they failed to present original ideas or gain the trust of fellow Americans. In an era of accelerated globalization, people’s hopes depend on effective changes from their trusted leaders. America is one of the frontrunners of the world’s economy and the policies that will follow will have a serious effect on the global balance and development.
Who will be the next President of the United States? We will know the result in a few hours.
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