An idiot’s guide to picking your presidential candidate

No matter how busy life gets, taking the time to research candidates that could eventually be president is important in fulfilling the role as a citizen of this country. It is difficult to have a say in what is going on in this country if we do not take the time to educate ourselves and vote for who we find to be the best option.

 

What Matters

Decide what issues matter to you the most. If you think the government funding planned parenthood is important, take that into consideration when looking at the candidate’s ideals.

Make a list of topics that mean the most to you and find out which candidates support the same things that you do.

Background Checks

Look at the background of the candidates. Have they been leaders in the past? Look into issues they have encountered and look at how they handled them.

It is important to make sure you vote for someone that you genuinely believe has great leadership to backup their ideas.

Candidate Techniques

Evaluate the techniques that the candidates use to appeal to the public. If you sense that a candidate contradicts themselves or lies consistently, then they probably would not be someone that you would choose to vote for.

If you look into someone’s interactions with the public and it all seems positive and constructive, then bump them further up in your ranking.

Talk to People

Ask people around about which candidate they support and why. If you speak to someone and their argument is weak, do some research and see how easy or difficult it is to fill in the gaps of their argument.

Research

The main idea is to make sure that you look into specifics on each candidate and weigh your options. Do research and prioritize what you believe would be best for the country.

Some Issues that the Different Candidates Have Opinions on:

Hillary Clinton – 

• against No Child Left Behind
• public college should be made debt-free
• expand Obamacare but do not make a new health system right away
• believes that undocumented residents a way to get legal status
• raise federal minimum wage
• legalize abortion
• targeted tax credits to middle class
• work toward two-state solution in Israel

Gary Johnson 

• advocate of marijuana legalization
• pro-abortion rights
• believes that we should make it easy for people from other countries to come to America and get a work visa
• against government-mandated health-care
• favors nuclear power
• not supportive of the death penalty
• in favor of state’s rights being protected
• supportive of a complete separation of church and state

Donald Trump 

• believes there should be a wall between the U.S. and Mexico
• ants to eliminate immigrants
• believes that U.S. should invest in mental health treatment
• opposes the “Black Lives Matter” movement
• wants health care power to return to the states
• opposes Obamacare
• believes doctors should be punished for giving abortions

Bernie Sanders  

•  believes that companies should be charged for carbon emissions
• free school
• ban assault weapons
• divide large banks into smaller banks
• universal government protected health care
• offer path to citizenship for immigrants
• raise income taxes on people making more than $250,000

Good luck, America.