Originally Published in the November 26th Print Publication
Inflation has been the hot topic of 2024 and most voters in this year’s election took our nation’s recent economic challenges as an indicator of whom to cast their votes for.
Democratic and Republican voters alike have noticed the sudden rise in prices for just about everything, and both Republicans and Democrats have decided to take their frustration out on incumbents, and many votes cast for President-elect Donald Trump have been under the impression that his policies will benefit the economy. And while all voters are free to make their own political decision, many aren’t fully aware of Trump’s economic policies and how they may actually worsen inflation.
Trump’s economic policy states that he plans to impose high tariffs on most Chinese goods, also claiming that the taxes generated from these imported goods is paid to the countries that produce them, which is completely false. The truth is that U.S. importers actually get paid the tariff, which gets passed along to consumers in the form of higher prices. While tariffs are a non-negotiable step of our economic process, how a president chooses to use tariffs is a large factor that can either make or break the inflation problem most Republicans are concerned with.
All information about a president’s policies and viewpoints can be accessed by anyone through simple a search on Google, but the lack of research done by this year’s voters shows.
Trump has been public about his policies and opinions regarding immigration, and how he’s spoken about it has significantly affected this year’s polls. Researchers state that there are roughly around 11 million undocumented immigrants living in the U.S., but immigrants without legal status still have the right to live in the U.S. due to governmental processes. Most major cities across the country have passed laws only allowing Immigration and Customs Enforcements agents to enter immigrants into the deportation system.
However, Trump wants to fight back against these major cities and allow for local law enforcement and the U.S. Military to pass immigrants into the deportation system as well. Not only is this negative for our economy, potentially resulting in tens or even hundreds of billions of dollars being spent to allow for U.S. Military, ICE, and local police enforcements to deport these immigrants, but it can also affect employment and the running of jobs and corporations across the country.
But most importantly, Trump’s plans on immigration can rip families apart, especially ones that have been living in the US for decades. What we see online can strongly affect the decisions we make at the polls, but what we choose to believe and research on is a step that can truly impact the result of who runs our country. The polls this year reflect the little research people have been doing into the candidates, but by the time of the next election in 2028, when most of us will be able to vote, I hope that we have the sense to take our time to think our decisions through.
