Bernie Sanders and former first lady, Hillary Clinton, are running against each other for the 2016 presidential campaign. With the N.C. primaries coming up March 1, only one of these candidates will receive a nomination from the Democratic Party.
Sanders is independently running as a democrat. He has three decades of public service experience and is Senator of Vermont. Additionally, he has been working on extending tax cuts on households that make over $250,000 per year. Sanders is a strong supporter of the LGBT community, voting against bills in regards to banning gay marriage, and immigration.
“I’m not sure how he would do as President. His biggest strength could also be his greatest weakness. He’s not a politician who plays the game. He speaks his mind, he doesn’t brown nose or exchange favors for what he wants. I think he’d handle domestic issues well but not sure he has enough international experience,” said Pauline Leveille, (position at SAS)
Sanders does not support conflict and war, especially in the Middle East. He believes the government is spending billion of dollars that could otherwise go to college tuition. Sanders did numerous interviews on why we should not spend more money on war.
“I believe Bernie Sanders has a good idea of what he wants to do when it comes to war,” said Luis Roman, senior at Athens.
Clinton is also a democrat, she is the first woman to hold a national office as New York senator. In 2008, she was nominated for the Democratic primaries, but Barack Obama won the vote. She held the position as Secretary Of State from 2009 to 2013.
“I think she’d make a great President, she is strong internationally, has been in politics for a long time, and between being First Lady and Secretary of State she knows what is involved in being President. I think her biggest weakness is that she has to overcome critics who don’t like her for so many reasons that have nothing to do with how well she would do the job. They don’t like her husband, that she served under Obama, and that she’s a woman. People will make up all kinds of reasons they don’t like her but, in reality, it’s because she is a woman. It’s a shame that’s an issue at all,” Leveille said.
Clinton supports gay marriage, although prior to 2013 was against gay marriage. She stated that she believes marriage is a sacred bond between a man and a woman. Clinton then reversed her stance for the 2016 presidential campaign now supporting marriage equality. Many people dislike the fact that Hillary has changed her stance on different issues such as, marriage equality, Indian Nuke donations,and immigration.
“Hillary is all over the place,” said Roman.
Moreover, Clinton also believes in strong gun control laws and that anyone can own a gun. However, she is a strong defender of military use.
Though these two candidates have similar stances, they also have their differences. Democrats will have to look carefully at each candidate to determine which one they feel would better represents them.
