Battle of 2016 presidential race
Written by Aric Schroeder, Former Student on Wednesday, January 13, 2016
The 2016 race for the White House is filled with exemplary candidates from both sides of the isle. The topic of the presidential race has dominated media coverage over the past year and is still persevering into 2016.
Both the Republican and Democratic platform contain at least a few candidates who are very well equipped with strong resumes to be this nation’s next commander-in-chief. While there are very serious candidates who have built strong campaigns both financially or grass roots, there are still a few candidates that many people consider frivolous and facetious—one that comes to mind is Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump. Despite the disregarding of the seriousness of Trump’s campaign, he continues to persevere, holding a lead in every national poll and has a remarkably large grass roots campaign in states such as Iowa and New Hampshire, despite losing the lead in Iowa to Texas senator and Republican presidential candidate Ted Cruz. Although polling data looks fierce for Trump, many political scientists still hold the expectation of Trump’s campaign collapsing before the first caucuses and primaries take place.
Without Trump in the running, Cruz, Marco Rubio, or Chris Christie have good chances of being the Republican nominee when everything is taken into consideration. Cruz is currently a first term senator and appeals to people who identify themselves as a part of the tea party. Being the candidate most closely aligned with the tea party, Cruz has been building a strong grassroots campaign in many states, such as Iowa and Nevada. In Iowa, Cruz has risen to the lead in polls and was recently endorsed by the influential Iowa evangelical leader Bob Vander Plaats. This essentially guarantees Cruz a victory in Iowa. This does not just hand Cruz the nomination, however.
Cruz’ senatorial compatriot Rubio of Florida will prove to be a big time road block on Cruz’ aim for the White House. Florida senator Rubio is widely and statistically accepted as the most electable candidate—and is currently the preferred candidate in the Republican establishment. In states like New Hampshire and South Carolina, Rubio has created a strong presence. In New Hampshire, however, he is polling second to Trump and narrowly ahead of New Jersey Governor Christie. He still has strong endorsements and a built up grassroots campaign, giving him a likely chance to carry the state. If he does so, he will have a follow up win in South Carolina due to recently gained momentum. Although Christie is considered a candidate with a strong chance to win the White House, he will lose out to either Rubio or Cruz.
On the Democratic side, the proclaimed “Democratic Socialist” Bernie Sanders, a senator from Vermont, strikes a shocking resemblance to Trump in way of campaign rhetoric and campaign bluntness. It is probable that both these candidates are just popular and have a low likelihood of winning the White House.
It is considered an inevitability that Hillary Clinton is going to win herself the Democratic nomination. With the strongest financial campaign by far, the largest grassroots campaign, and the most campaign endorsements, her trail to the nomination is practically a cake walk. With Clinton being the nominee, does that means she is the next president? No. Rubio is the only person who can beat Clinton. His campaign is built to take on Clinton and he would carry the Electoral College to win the White House. As for Cruz’s electability, the Republicans should fear the outcome if Cruz is the republican nominee. This is a race between Cruz, Rubio and Clinton, which can only be an advantage to the Democrats in the 2016 election for the White House.
