Finally, Some Policy in Politics!
By Katherine Lamont and Avani Sethi
The first (and only) vice presidential debate of the 2020 election occurred earlier this month, on October 7th. Unlike the first presidential debate, it was thankfully a bit more civilized and included commentary about policy. However, a debate now cannot go without a few disagreements and evasive answers from both parties. Although this debate likely didn’t change voters’ decisions for the election, Harris’s favorability ratings rose considerably, raising confidence in the Biden-Harris campaign. Senator Harris polled 10% higher in both policy and performance, and while Vice President Pence rated significantly lower than Harris, he polled better than President Trump had in the previous presidential debate. Additionally, excitement about voting has increased with each debate, and as a result a higher voter turnout may be expected come November.
Some of the top issues from this debate included court packing, the President’s health, and the Coronavirus pandemic. In the first presidential debate, Biden remained ambiguous on his views about court packing and Harris’s answers didn’t seem to clear anything up as well. Court packing is the adding of more justices to the Supreme Court. It is not something new considering that President Franklin Roosevelt attempted to do the same in 1937 but failed. During the debate, Pence asked “Are you and Joe Biden going to pack the court if Amy Coney Barrett is confirmed? …Your party is actually openly advocating adding seats to the Supreme Court, which has had 9 seats for 150 years,…” Pence added that this threat from Democrats is a “classic case of ‘if you can’t win by the rules, you change the rules.” Senator Harris did not respond immediately but later added, “The American people deserve to make the decision of who will serve for a lifetime.”, not saying yes or no to the question posed upon her. Later, Pence tried to bring up the issue again and Harris commented on the importance of appointing a proper justice and the lack of diversity in said justices.
As expected, one of Harris’s strongest points of attack was her critique of the Trump Administration for their lack of urgency in taking action against the coronavirus. “The American people have witnessed the greatest failure of any presidential administration in our country,” said Harris. Repeatedly, Pence denied her accusations, claiming that Trump was well prepared and did all he could to save American lives. In a counterpoint, he drew into focus the 50 million cases of swine flu in 2009 under the Obama administration, neglecting to mention that the swine flu resulted in 12,000 deaths compared to COVID’s 200,000. Beyond the death toll, Harris shined a light on the decline in both our economy and employment rates—more than 30 million Americans have had to file for unemployment in these past 7 months.
Another one of the debate’s most polarizing topics was the ongoing conflict over the health of both future presidents. President Trump, as well as over a dozen other whitehouse staffers including his wife, tested positive for COVID at the beginning of the month, causing him to cancel one of his debate appearances. Although Trump had yet to be discharged from the hospital, his diagnosis had brought focus back onto the idea of having either candidate as president given their old age. One of the most common arguments made against Biden’s bid for president is that he is 77, potentially the oldest president in United States history; Trump, meanwhile, is 3 years younger at 74. Harris and Pence, as VP’s, would hold responsibility if either candidate grew ill. Despite how often the question was posed, Harris said little else besides that she was confident in taking on the responsibility that comes with being first in the line of succession, while Pence repeatedly responded with assurances that the president is in fine physical health and is recovering quickly.
In light of Barrett’s confirmation on Monday night, there is an increased pressure on Democrats to consider using court packing as a solution. However, it is important to remember that this is only possible if the executive and the legislative branches go blue in November. Regardless of your political leanings, no one can deny that this administration has had a lackadaisical, uncoordinated, nevertheless poor response to the pandemic. Rising race tensions and ignorance of science will continue to fester under this administration’s policy. If you have not already, please remember to put pens to the ballot and check in those votes: our future depends on it.
Sources: [nbcnews.com, newyorker.com, npr.org]