The next Presidential Election will take place on Tuesday, November fifth 2024. In less than one year, the future of the United States will be decided. French teacher Larissa Arist is worried that the new election will be “a rematch of what we had in 2020 and it baffles [her] mind that in a country of 300 million plus people, we don’t have other candidates that could be taking a leadership role in our country.”

     Arist is referring to the current candidates as of December 12. The Democratic Party’s candidates are President Joe Biden, Marianne Williamson, and Dean Phillips. A poll by the Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research shows that only 26 percent of Americans want Biden to run again. 

     Senior Michael O’leary says that “Biden would not be [his] first pick because he’s too old.” But, some believe that Biden’s age is more of an asset than a hindrance. According to Stephen Foery, a creative services manager in Pennsylvania, “one of the benefits of living a long life is that you have a lot of wisdom to impart.” Foery believes that “it would be a shame to simply disregard him because of his age.”

     Marianne Williamson, who will be 72 years old on Inauguration Day, is a self-help author who the New York Times reports was a “former spiritual adviser to Oprah Winfrey.” This will be her second time running for President. Williamson has never held political office and supports this by saying, “those whose careers have been entrenched in a system that drove us in a ditch are hardly the ones we should consider uniquely qualified to lead us out of it.”

     Third, Dean Phillips is a moderate Democrat who was elected to the House of Representatives in 2018. The Times reports that he will be 56 on Inauguration Day and argues that “Mr. Biden’s age and low approval ratings mean the party should nominate someone else.” According to Phillips’ campaign website, he is committed to “making life for Americans more affordable.” The representative claims that he will “lead with principle, ethics, and inclusiveness of voices of all backgrounds.”

     O’leary says that “it will be cool to vote” because he has finally reached 18 years of age. While the student is “not too sure” who he will be voting for, he knows he will be voting for a Democrat. 

     On the other hand, there are many Republican candidates including former President Donald Trump, Nikki Haley, Vivek Ramaswamy, Asa Hutchinson, Ryan Binkley, Ron DeSantis, and Chris Christie. Reuters documents that “Donald Trump maintains his dominant position in the 2024 Republican presidential nominating contest, drawing support of more than half of the party’s voters.” 

     The Republican ticket has a steady balance between experienced representatives and aspiring social leaders. For example, Ramaswamy is a multimillionaire entrepreneur and author who will be 39 on Inauguration Day while Hutchinson is a 73-year-old former two-term governor of Arkansas who is “one of a relatively small number of Republicans who have been openly critical of Donald J. Trump,” says the New York Times.

     Arist “really feel[s] anxiety about this and want[s] to cry” when thinking about the upcoming election. The French teacher “is not a fan of Biden because of his age and feel[s] like we need younger leadership, period, in our country.” Arist also disagrees with “some of the extreme views that Trump has.” There are many available candidates in each party, but the question is do the American people feel comfortable enough to take a chance on someone new?