Former Republican President Donald Trump and former United Nations Ambassador Nikki Haley are campaigning for their party’s presidential nomination in the 2024 general election, while President Joe Biden is effectively the Democratic Party’s contender. Several third-party candidates are also running.
Here’s a list of candidates
1. Donald Trump
Trump has used his civil cases and indictments in four criminal cases, which is unprecedented for a former American president, to enhance his popularity among Republicans and collect finances, helping him become the Republican frontrunner with 64%, according to Reuters/Ipsos polls. He won early primary contests in Iowa, New Hampshire, and Nevada, and he is working to replace Republican National Committee leadership with his own top friends ahead of the party’s July nominating convention.
Trump, 77, has called the indictments a political witch hunt to thwart his pursuit of a second four-year term, an assertion that the Justice Department has denied. Several legal challenges have reached the U.S. Supreme Court regarding his eligibility for the ballot following the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol and whether he can claim presidential immunity. If elected again, Trump has vowed revenge against his perceived enemies and has adopted increasingly authoritarian language, including saying he would not be a dictator except “on day one.”
He has pledged more drastic measures, including dismantling the federal civil service to install loyalists and enforcing harsher immigration policies like mass deportations and the abolition of birthright citizenship. He has also promised to repeal Obamacare health insurance, imposed stricter trade restrictions with China, and implied that he will not defend NATO members.
2. Nikki Haley
Haley, 52, a former South Carolina governor and Trump’s ambassador to the United Nations, has stressed her younger age compared to Biden, 81, and Trump, as well as her history as the daughter of Indian immigrants. She had established a reputation in the Republican Party as a strong conservative who could discuss issues of gender and race more credibly than many of her colleagues. However, Trump has increasingly targeted her, leveling discriminatory comments on her heritage and exaggerating bogus allegations about her eligibility for the presidency despite her birthplace in South Carolina.
3. Joe Biden
Biden, 81, who is already the oldest president in US history, will have to persuade voters that he has the capacity to serve another four years in office, despite low support ratings and a special counsel investigation claiming he suffers memory loss. Biden has slammed the study, and his supporters claim he is the only Democratic candidate capable of defeating Trump and preserving democracy. The most recent Reuters/Ipsos survey had Biden at 34% and Trump at 37%, both within a 2.9 percentage point margin of error. In announcing his campaign, Biden stated that he needed to safeguard American liberties, citing the deadly Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the US Capitol by Trump supporters. Vice President Kamala Harris will once again be his running companion.
The economy will be an issue in his reelection campaign. While the United States avoided a recession and is rising faster than forecasters predicted, inflation reached 40-year highs in 2022, and the cost of necessities is weighing on voters. Biden campaigned for major economic stimulus and infrastructure expenditure packages to enhance US industrial output, but voters have given him little credit for the latter.
Biden has led the response of Western governments to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, persuading allies to sanction Russia and support Kyiv, and he has been supportive of Israel in its conflict with Hamas militants in Gaza while pushing for more humanitarian aid. However, he has faced sharp criticism from some fellow Democrats for not backing a ceasefire in the Palestinian territory, where Gaza health officials say more than 28,400 people have been killed, thousands of buildings have been damaged or destroyed, and residents have insufficient food, water and medical supplies.
4. Dean Phillips
Dean Phillips, a little-known Minnesota congressman, stated in October that he will run a long-shot campaign against Biden because he believes the president cannot win another term. The 55-year-old billionaire businessman and co-founder of the gelato company launched his proposal in a one-minute video uploaded online, adding, “We’ve had some hurdles. We are going to fix the economy and America.” Phillips failed to win any delegates in South Carolina but finished second in New Hampshire. He was not on the Nevada ballot.
5. Robert F. Kennedy Jr
An anti-vaccine crusader, Kennedy, 70, is running as an independent after first challenging Biden for the Democratic primary, although he is trailing in polls. According to recent Reuters/Ipsos polls, Kennedy could impact Biden more than Trump in the presidential election, when third-party candidates have influenced the result of US elections even if they do not win. Trump’s six-point lead over Biden in Reuters/Ipsos polling remained even after respondents were given the option of voting for third-party candidates, including Kennedy, who received 8% support. Kennedy is the son of US Senator Robert F. Kennedy, who was slain in 1968 during his own presidential campaign. A surprising Super Bowl ad extensively showcasing his relationship with his uncle, former President John F. Kennedy, enraged his family members and spurred him to apologize.
6. Cornel West
In June, the political activist, philosopher, and professor announced that he would run for president as a third party, which is expected to appeal to progressive, Democratic supporters. West, 70, first ran as a Green Party candidate, but in October, he stated that people “want good policies over partisan politics” and announced his candidacy as an independent. He has pledged to eliminate poverty and provide houses.
7. Jill Stein
On Nov. 9, physician Jill Stein re-upped her 2016 Green Party bid, accusing Democrats of violating their promises “for working people, youth, and the climate again and again – while Republicans don’t even make such promises in the first place.” Stein, 73, raised millions of money for recounts following Trump’s unexpected 2016 victory. Her charges resulted in only one electoral review in Wisconsin, which determined Trump had won.