Opinion

Election update: new issues arise

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Another week has passed of adding fire to the burning clown car that is the 2016 presidential campaign.

1. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia’s death provokes new campaign issue.

With the death of Justice Antonin Scalia comes a vacant seat on the Supreme Court. Normally, President Obama would simply nominate someone and the Senate would have hearings and confirm them. But this is an election year, and the political polarization is strong. Republicans argue that Obama should wait until “the people have spoken” and choose a new president to appoint the new justice. The problem is, the people already spoke in 2012 when they elected Obama as president. He has the constitutional obligation to nominate a new justice and the Senate has the duty to hear and consider his choice. This level of political divide is absurd.

2. Bernie Sanders is gaining momentum. Quickly.

New polls are placing Bernie Sanders just four points behind Hillary Clinton. In some polls, he’s even ahead of Clinton by a small margin. It’s almost inconceivable considering he started this campaign with no money and polling at 3 percent. Sanders goes into Nevada only a few points behind Clinton and he stands to gain more momentum if he picks up more delegates this weekend.

3. Donald Trump is devouring the polls like a dinosaur.

The South Carolina primary is Saturday and Trump still has a commanding lead in the polls. There is almost no evidence to suggest that Trump will not gain the Republican nomination. As much as many people don’t want Trump to win, the momentum he has and the amount of support he gains every day is astonishing. All of this is done by him simply attacking other people and speaking his mind, regardless of fact and without considering the people he insults. He is breaking every rule in the book for how to campaign, and frankly — it’s fascinating.

Opinion editor Anthony Torres is a political science junior and may be reached at [email protected]

1 Comment

  • With reference to point 1, the people spoke in 2012 and have since changed their minds, as evidenced by the non-establishment candidates on both sides of the aisle.

    Point 2, Bernie can’t compete with the rigged delegate count available to Hilliary as super delegates, the DNC establishment, as it were.

    Point 3 is outdated as the latest NBC poll has Cruz on top, or at he very least, in a statistical tie nationwide with Trump.

    Dig a little deeper Anthony.

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