Even though the 2020 Presidential Election is in November, candidates from both parties have campaigned and dropped out, leaving two very distinctive candidates. The individual states hosting caucuses help decipher between each candidate, and which party has a better chance of winning states with a bigger majority. With graduating and rising seniors becoming eligible to vote, the goals of each candidate have become more crucial to the young generation, as well as their response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Former Vice President Joe Biden (D) wants to continue with the Obama Administration’s proposed two years of free college. It would help offset the college payment, and community college would be paid for by closing a single tax loophole. The cost of college isn’t one of Biden’s most important issues, but his plan, started by Former President Obama, attracts Obama supporters.  He is also using his political head to criticize the current President’s COVID-19 response and say what he would do differently. The Former Vice President said he would take any economic means necessary to provide immediate relief to small businesses and individual Americans. He would open 10 free testing sites per state, and a full deployment of all medical supplies. He also references the 2009 HINI pandemic and the 2014 Ebola crisis to show that he has gone through these times before, and he is ready to be an effective leader.

President Trump (R) hasn’t acted upon the college loan crisis, but he has talked about proposing a plan to set a limit on the amount of student loans that a student’s family can take out. His idea prevents a large amount of debt but causes conflicts like how students who want a higher education cannot have the means to afford it. The Trump Administration also wants to end the Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program, which forgives the loans of people who work in public service jobs, such as teachers, nurses, firefighters or policemen, after 10 years of payments. Instead he wants to forgive all undergraduate loans after 15 years. This has been criticized for eliminating multiple structured payment plans, which help graduates by offering different percentages of their paychecks to pay back their debt. But for those who are part of the income-driven repayment, his plan is lower and easily calculated, and therefore simpler to payback.

President Trump has also been under scrutiny for his COVID-19 response. A timeline by CBS News compares the President’s actions with the number of confirmed cases. In February to early March, the President repeatedly states that the virus will go away, places will not shut down and the economy will not be damaged. He also tweeted on March 9 that there are 546 confirmed cases of COVID-19 and 22 deaths, while CBS News reported that there were 959 confirmed cases. By March 16, he declared a national emergency, and estimated the outbreak could last until August, which he later revoked and wanted to open the country by April 30. He has also been criticized for not supplying hospitals with enough resources to fight the pandemic effectively, yet on February 24  he sent a letter to Congress requesting $2.5 billion to supplement funding for a vaccine, and March 2 announced cooperation with the major drug and supply companies to help combat the pandemic.

While each candidate’s plan to solve important issues and world emergencies present their priorities, it will also give Americans an idea of how they act in a time of crisis. This will show younger voters their ideas, and will help them to decide what type of leader they want.

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