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US President Donald Trump and his Democratic rival Joe Biden are fighting for the presidency in a deeply divided America.
Trump has focused on “law and order,” Biden has been trying to strike a conciliatory note. The Black Lives Matter movement and whether Trump will release his taxes are among the many issues that Americans will consider when choosing their president.
As the close elections approach, Al Jazeera has been speaking with voters across the United States asking nine questions to understand who they support and why.
Mary A Shiraef
[Courtesy of Mary Shiraef]
Age: 29
Occupation: Graduate student, University of Notre Dame
Residence: San Mateo County, California
Voted 2016: Hillary Clinton
Will vote in 2020: Joe Biden
Election Main Issue: Immigration
Will you vote? Why or why not?
“I have already voted. And I always vote. This is a particularly important choice.
“I feel like America is on the brink of disaster. And especially given my concerns about democracy, I have many reasons. I am pushing against the notion of choosing one, I have several. I don’t know which one to start with [but] I guess the most important to me is the one that has affected my friends, so the removal of DACA, from many of my friends, basic access has deteriorated for me, and as has basic certainty and stability for their lives.
“But also, I attend the University of Notre Dame and the university, specifically the religious organization, [was allowed by] the Trump administration [to remove] access to birth control, which surprised me. So I suppose I expected a Trump presidency to impact our most vulnerable populations in the US, but actually I didn’t expect it to affect me. And I was wrong. “
What is your number one problem?
“I come from an evangelical background that historically votes with abortion as the main issue, and I have really been actively pushing against that, because I think that, especially at this time, using one issue justifies others that could become permanent infrastructure features of states. United that cannot be undone.
“However, to answer your question, an issue that is closer to me lately is immigration. I work on immigration issues. I also come from a family that immigrated to the US, which is why I did both personal research on our family history and research on immigrants outside of our family. That’s the closest to me, I started a project, as soon as COVID broke to start documenting changes in immigration around the world. And that particular project has shown me just how extensive the changes are in the US, currently using COVID-19 as a disguise, in my opinion. But the hypocrisy behind introducing so many changes to the immigration system, rather than having no national response at all, has been surprising. So that’s the closest problem for me. “
Who will you vote for?
“I voted for Biden.”
Is there a main reason why you chose your candidate?
“I think Biden will win honestly and I would have voted for him because he was only against the Trump platform. But ever since I made the decision to vote for him as the most viable candidate, I have been really impressed with him as a candidate. I think it’s really impressive, his commitment to American democracy [is impressive], [and] It really encourages me. I believe that their immigration policies are reasonable and humane. And I suppose the issue of immigration is at the forefront of my mind.
“But overall, I was very impressed by the character of Joe Biden. I know you are still willing to learn; I think it’s a great quality. And generally speaking, I think the level of crisis the US is in, incidentally, is what we need for someone who has the level of experience that Biden has. “
Are you happy with the state of the country?
“I am not very happy with the state of the country. I suppose the hypocrisy and level of selfishness that has emerged under the Trump presidency has been really troubling. I don’t criticize people’s motives. I don’t think people intend to be that selfish, but personal centrism – the focus on one issue in particular by many of my former friends and even family – has really overlooked the fact that it shouldn’t be vote. only with your own personal interests in mind, but [with] the concerns of those around you. That hypocrisy has been really disturbing.
“And the lies that Trump promulgates, I think they put us in a division of information beyond what we experienced before. I think that was a kind of rhetoric from past elections, ‘we’re polarizing, etc.’, and now we’ve gotten over it. It focuses on all aspects of society, all institutions. It’s pretty clear, the raw division. “
What would you like to see changed?
“I mean, I buy Biden’s promise on immigration: that he can accomplish what he set out to do in his first 100 days in office. I don’t remember all of them out of the blue, but he vowed to reverse the cruelest of the policies introduced by Trump, admitting that the level of deportations of Obama when he was acting vice president [were] inhumane and has agreed to reverse some of those policies. I don’t remember his exact promise on DACA, but I know that it is not to be reversed or downplayed to one year, as Trump has done. If you want to meet with the leader of Mexico within the first 100 days, I think it will be positive: just to have someone who has the level of diplomacy that Biden has, to start meeting with foreign diplomats, again, I think it will be a good idea. . positive direction for the country. “
Do you think the elections will change anything?
“It depends on who wins, how they frame that answer. But let’s say Biden wins. I think things have already changed so that people pay much more attention to politics. And in this country, I think in the past, our levels of protest historically were really very, very low, and that has changed quite dramatically since the Women’s March. I think that trend will continue. I think the turnout will be huge. I especially hope among African American populations [there] will be [a] historic feat, compared to our past holdings.
“The younger generation [is] really paying attention to climate change. I have students here [that are] 10 years younger than I am now, and just seeing their level of enthusiasm for saving the planet is great, and knowing that they will be the voters approaching the curve is really promising. I think this election will change a lot ”.
What is your biggest concern for the United States?
“I have been writing a lot of letters and the biggest concern that comes up quite regularly is immigration. You know, there are 4.5 million immigrants, I think, that [try] to immigrate to the U.S. each year, and their access has been inhibited beyond the [seen] before, and before, its access was already at an all-time low. So that’s definitely my main concern.
“I think there is a moral basis for what the country faces. So that’s kind of a new concern that I wouldn’t have brought to the forefront of my political arguments before, but voting for Trump, I have a moral aversion to that. I think it actively divides the country, and the differences are fine, but perpetuating the rhetoric on the other side is quite dangerous, and arguably has created conditions of civil war in America. The spike in violence is extremely worrying. And it has not touched me personally, but it has touched me and my friends. It is really difficult to pin down an answer to that question. But I guess the main concern for me is how immigrants have actually been treated and disenfranchised lately. “
Is there anything we haven’t asked about the choice you want to share?
“When I did research on my personal family history, I found many documents that my family had not seen before, such as the ship manifests that my great-grandmother took from Greece. She came when she was a child, she was brought by her uncle … I also found out that her uncle, I suppose, had to record everyone’s career. So he put himself as a laborer – this was the 1920s – he put his wife as a housewife, and he put his two daughters and my ‘yia-yia’ Bessie as academics. I don’t even know how old he was exactly, the documents said he was, I think, under 16 the first time … but the interesting thing is that I found out later that his age was wrong, and that it had to be legal. be corrected. And that had to be done before he could access his citizenship.
“That kind of little mistake you made [then] now it can be criminalized and become grounds for deportation, it has simply been paralyzing. Seeing some members of my own family vote for Trump and, you know, not knowing or dealing with this change over time and the immigration system impacting new populations, while we have benefited enormously … It really has. been paralyzing for me and for my response. It has been reaching out to as many people as I can and sharing good information. I think that has been happening a lot in the US, so I hope it continues. “
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