Republican National Convention Reaches Expectations
Donald Trump has officially been renominated as the Republican presidential candidate for the 2020 election at the Republican National Convention. Prominent Republicans spoke at the convention, including First Lady Melania Trump, the African-American Senator Tim Scott (R-SC) and many other senators, several of Trump’s children; and President Donald Trump. The virtual event pushed two key points: the party is united behind the Trump ticket, and a Biden ticket would be a disaster for the country. The convention reached its expectations, bringing in more viewers and money than the Democratic counterpart. Republicans raised $76 million, which is more than the $70 million raised during the DNC. The event also reached 148 million viewers, also more than the 122 million that watched the Democratic convention. There were no notable gaffes by the major speakers, other than media personality Kimberly Guilfoyle's speech, where she spoke out passionately and loudly— quite literally. The Republican convention raised more money and reached a larger audience than the DNC without being more controversial than normal Trump presentations. That is a huge win for the Republican Party, especially considering the Democrats’ great success at their own convention.
Biden’s Record-Shattering Cash Haul
In the month of August, Joe Biden’s campaign raised an incredible $364.5 million, easily beating the record set by Barack Obama’s $200 million in one month in 2008. For Biden, more than fifty percent of the money, $205 million, came from small online donations, with 1.5 million of the donors becoming first-time contributors to this year’s campaign. This ground-breaking flood of donations shows a huge wave of enthusiasm for the Biden-Harris ticket because only people that are truly enthusiastic about a candidate donate money. Although this campaign has been discredited by some as unenthusiastic and lacking energy, these financials prove that Biden has buying power over Trump and can use the money to further grow his lead.
The Final Stretch
Both the Democratic and Republican National Conventions have passed, and both Biden and Trump have been officially nominated for the presidential election with their respective vice presidents. The presidential election is in the final stretch, and the only major campaign events remaining are the debates. Although many voters have made up their mind, swinging independents still have almost two months to make their final decision on Biden, Trump, or a third party. This election, obviously a complete farce in terms of predictability and stability, cannot be foretold by polls and other traditional data. In the 2016 election, the polls lied in every possible fashion, as an easy Clinton win turned into an easy Trump win. Just because the polls are unreliable does not mean that Biden does or does not have a lead over Trump, as only the final election results will show whether the polls were true. The financial haul Biden received indicates that he has more legitimate support than many expected because of pollster skepticism. We will have the final result on November 3, only 55 days away. Until then, inconsistent information, questionable data, and best guesses will be all that anyone can provide.
Keaton Browder is our elections correspondent and a freshman at Liberty University.