Becky Kospanova
In several days, on November 6, 2012, American people will choose their 45th President and the Electoral College election will take place on December 17, 2012. The race between Democratic current President Barack Obama and Republican nominee Mitt Romney is rather close – different polls alternatively show one or another candidate leading by just few points, and it is clear that the outcome of election greatly depends on such factors as voters’ turnout, undecided voters, and swing states. Moreover, the recent tragedy of superstorm Sandy might also influence the results of the election by affecting early voting results, preventing people from voting altogether, or making them change their choice based on perceived ability of President Obama to handle the crisis of such enormous magnitude.
Still, majority of voters base their decision on most important to them issues and the candidates’ stand on them. What are the issues that interest the American public the most? Generally, most political polls and observers report that Americans are very concerned with economy and especially unemployment rate, budget deficit, education, foreign policy, terrorism control, immigration, health care, abortion and birth control, as well as the host of other issues. As such, the voters need to familiarize themselves with at least two major points of each candidate’s platform in order to make an informed decision.
Economic policy is one of the most important topics. As everybody knows, American economy plunged into recession during previous Bush’s administration and in 2008, Obama made a promise to do everything in his power to restore it. Undoubtedly, a lot has been done – Obama implemented $ 800 billion stimulus plan to save financial and auto industries and unemployment rate is steadily, though slowly, falling (to compare, in September 2009 the rate was 9.8% and in September 2012 it was 7.8%). As such, he supports domestic companies by promising to provide tax cuts to companies which keep their operations in the USA and tax penalties to these companies which outsource. He wants to cut the debt by reducing government spending and increasing revenues by repealing tax cuts to the families which make more than $ 250.000 annually and raising taxes for the wealthy. Romney, on the other hand, supports decreased government regulation, balanced budget, and lower taxes for all strata of population, especially the rich. He proposes the replacement of jobless benefits with unemployment savings plan and wants to decrease government spending by cutting down the financing of some social programs, most notably Planned Parenthood. He supported the bail-out of financial institutions while opposing the help to auto industry, and is in favor of relaxing the laws which regulate the operations of financial and corporate companies.
Another important issue is health care. Obama’s big achievement was the passing of the Affordable Care Act by the Congress in 2010 which, in case of his winning, will be implemented by 2014. In short, it is a universal coverage health plan which will provide coverage to all Americans no matter the pre-existing conditions, people will receive tax credits to pay the premiums, private employers will receive tax incentives to provide affordable insurances to their employees, and insurers will have to compete for their businesses by supplying high-quality plans. Romney, first of all, calls for the repeal of Obamacare and proposes the establishment of individual tax-advantaged medical savings accounts to pay for premiums and medical costs. He believes that states, not federal government, should regulate the policy for uninsured people and trusts the private sector to successfully compete in the area of medical insurance. Moreover, they differ dramatically in regard to abortion rights and contraception. Obama believes in women’s right to choose and the availability of fully paid contraceptives for women with work-based insurance. Romney supports anti-abortion policy and hopes that the future Supreme Court will overturn Roe vs. Wade.
Of course, the choice of the candidate is determined by a person’s belief system and his vision of the future of the country. Thus, on November 6, 2012 the voice of American people will be, hopefully, heard.
