In the 2020 presidential election Donald Trump faced off against Joe Biden. Trump’s resulting loss ignited a flame in his followers, leading to the Jan. 6 Capitol riot held so high in infamy. The election as a whole raised awareness of how the United States two party system is even more divided than ever. With 2024 rapidly approaching it is worth considering what is going to happen for the next presidential election. Will it be a rematch of Biden against Trump? Will Biden win the democratic primaries, if he even runs? Will Trump be usurped by hotshot republican Ron Desantis? The only thing that can be said for certain is that no matter who runs and who wins, the result will be the eternal feud between Democrats and Republican rising yet again. 

IHS students trended towards supporting democrats but nationwide, according to polls, it is mostly 50//50, at least for president. The current majority in the house is republican by a slight margin, so this may suggest a lean back towards a republican president. However, by the smallest possible ratio of 51 to 49 democrats were able to edge out republicans for the senate majority, so it is impossible to be certain exactly which party America is favoring. The most dividing issues today that a new president could end up fixing are abortion, immigration laws, the “Don’t Say Gay” law, climate change, and the economy. Both parties have different views on each issue, with a new president possibly making big progress toward a “solution.” It is not only about the party the president belongs to however, as each candidate has to win the primary within their own party first. 

For many republicans, their returning hero Donald Trump is the obvious and only choice for president in 2024. However, before he is considered, there have been a lot of changes since his election in 2016. Many look back at Trump’s time in office as a failure. With his multiple impeachments and scandals, poor handling of the pandemic, and questionable action with the economy, Trump did not have a picture-perfect presidency. Additionally, following his loss in 2020, the infamous Capitol riot on Jan. 6, 2021, was comprised of a raging mob that was protesting Trump’s loss in what they believed to be a rigged election. This and the fact that some of Trump’s tweets leading up to the event seemed to be inciting the coup did not do anything to brighten his image. Furthermore, Vice President Mike Pence recently released a memoir detailing his time in the White House. In this memoir he heavily criticized Trump on various fronts, adding to a feeling that Trump’s time in office was not a success. Trump also may have some good competition this year in the primaries. Ron Desantis seems to be the hot new guy on everyone’s minds when it comes to republican politicians. He recently made big waves being elected as Florida’s new governor and turning the state fully red. One of his major accomplishments was enforcing the “Don’t Say Gay” act, essentially saying that schools were not allowed to discuss sexual or gender orientation in class. This act was highly contentious for obvious reasons, but Desantis has embraced his polarizing status, following in the footsteps of Trump. Ironically Desantis, as mentioned before, is highly poised to usurp Trump for winner of the Republican primaries. He notably received more support in the midterms than any of Trump’s endorsed candidates. Additionally, PEOPLE says that “in a July poll conducted by The New York Times/Siena College, DeSantis was the most popular alternative to Trump in a hypothetical question about which rumored candidate Republicans would support in 2024.” However, it cannot be guaranteed that Desantis will run at all, as he has not announced his campaign for presidency yet and has not given any fully convincing statements that he plans to. 

Focusing more on Trump’s agenda today, while he has not rolled out too much of a campaign yet, he, unlike most, has already announced his candidacy. The announcement was made on Nov. 15,  and it started off with a bang. Trump boldly declared, “In order to make America great and glorious again, I am tonight announcing my candidacy for president of the United States” (Guardian). He uses very general terms and claims, painting himself as a shiny hero swooping in to free America from the absolute mess he describes it as. However, he addresses little specifics in his grandiose speech. However, he does manage to get one thing right in not dwelling on the past. Although The Guardian says that he does briefly state, “I’m a victim,” regarding the FBI investigation on his mansion for alleged stolen government documents, he keeps his speech focused fully on the future. Students at IHS all seemed to have a negative perception of Trump. Junior Jacob McIntyre says that he simply is “not a very good politician,” while sophomore Mackenzie Mattson could only laugh and say, “He is an interesting person.” However, one student, freshman Charlie Crevin, did find something good to say about Trump. They first remarked that Trump was a bad person, but “he raised the economy so that is a good thing.” Trump is a very polarizing person. His stances on abortion, immigration laws, climate change, and gun control laws are very controversial. Students seem to think that Trump has a decent shot at reelection. Polls from RaceToTheWH put Trump above Desantis in the GOP primaries by 3.1 percent. However, in general polls pitting Trump and Desantis against Biden, both lose to Biden, but Desantis loses by the slim margin of 0.3 percent while Trump loses by a still small, but larger 0.9 percent. It remains to be seen whether Trump will manage to pull off a historical event of being the second ever president to serve two non-consecutive terms. 

Unlike Trump, Biden does not yet have much competition to speak of within his own party, and he has not yet announced his campaign. However, Biden has made it clear that he intends to run for President, but he is holding off the announcement of his campaign a little while longer. Biden’s team clearly is already starting the groundwork for their campaign with CNN saying that “they are methodically starting to rollout a message that emphasizes Biden’s accomplishments while allowing Republicans’ intra-party feuding to speak for itself. The central tenets of that message have shown up in Biden’s post-midterm election travel around the country – an itinerary that included visits to Arizona and Michigan and will put Biden in Georgia on Jan. 15. As stated before, despite Biden’s heavily criticized time in office, he is currently sitting ahead in polls against his Republican opposition, though only by a little bit, so as of now he is poised to have a great shot a reelection. Crevin mentions that Biden is quite old, a seemingly funny comment that surprisingly is a major reason to write Biden off this election. In fact, CNN says that “Biden’s age (86 years old) – specifically the public perception tied to it – is one of his biggest liabilities. It remains the reason many Democratic voters say in polls he should not seek another term.” Other students seemed to share the sentiment that Biden was not the best President. However, when asked who she would choose between Donald Trump and Joe Biden senior Diya Lal said that she would “probably choose Biden.” Other students seemed to have the same uncertain response, yet still all in favor of Biden. 

With the election approaching quickly it is useful to know some information on what we should expect. It cannot be assumed this information is true, however. For all that is known Biden could not run at all and Trump could suddenly lose all his support. It is important to take in what information there is now, but brace for any changes in the future.