The United States of America holds general elections for government officials at local, federal, and state levels. At the national level, the country elects a president who indirectly acts as the head of state by people of every nation through an Electoral College. Also, all congress members, the federal legislature get elected by people from every country. The state-level has many elected offices where each state comprises an elective legislature and governor (Steinbrook, 2015). The local level also has elected offices in counties, towns, cities, villages, townships, boroughs, school districts, or special districts that may surpass municipal and county boundaries. All election levels of the United States get administered by individual states even though the constitution provides restrictions for federal officials' elections. This essay aims to compare and contrast the elections of 2008, 2016, and 2020 and assess how New Jersey people voted.
The 2008 United States Presidential Elections
The 2008 American presidential election saw Democrats Barrack Obama and his running mate Joe Biden contest against Republicans John McCain and his running mate Sarah Palin. During the election, Barack Obama was the first African-American to win the election and the third sitting American Senator. President George W. Bush, the incumbent president, was not eligible to run for a third term because of the term limits stipulated by the 22 nd Amendment. John McCain of the Republican party secured nomination defeating former Governors Mike Huckabee, Mitt Romney, and other contestants. Also, the Democratic primaries witnessed stiff competition between Obama and the early front-runner Senator Hillary Clinton (Steinbrook, 2015). Clinton's win in the primary of New Hampshire made her the first woman to secure a presidential primary of a major party. However, after a long season of primaries, Obama was able to secure a nomination in the Democratic Party.
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In New Jersey, the election that occurred in 2008 was part of the significant American presidential election. Voters picked 15 electors or representatives to the Electoral College, who voted for Vice President or President. Democratic nominee Barack Obama won New Jersey with a victory margin of 15.53%. Before elections, opinion polls projected a win for Obama, where they called the state a safely blue state. The state trended in the Democratic Party in recent years hence having little expenditure on the campaign. Therefore, New Jersey transformed into a blue state, and this showed when Obama won 57.14% of the state's popular votes (Steinbrook, 2015). The democratic primary occurred on February 5th, 2008, also called Super Tuesday, where Hillary Clinton won. However, New Jersey's participation in the election was 8.3% more Democratic than the country's average. The Republican primary occurred with 52 state delegates who got apportionment on a winner conquers all criteria, but the candidate left the competition before the primary.
Besides, people once viewed New Jersey as one of the most dependably Republican Party states, but in 2008, Obama managed to dominate most urban areas of the country. The areas dominated were Hudson, Essex, Camden, Somerset, and Mercer Counties. Places like Somerset County that Obama secured high votes tended to vote for the Republican Party in all elections from 1968-2004. John McCain also won in most Republican strongholds like Sussex and Morris Counties in Northwestern New Jersey (Steinbrook, 2015). The incumbent Democratic American Senator Frank Lautenberg gained 56.03% of the total votes beating Republican Dick Zimmer, who acquired 41.95% of votes cast. Moreover, Democrats secured the free United States in the 3 rd Congressional District of New Jersey that previously belonged to a Republican. Democrat John Adler managed to beat Republican Chris Myers by a victory margin of 3.30%, where Adler and Myers got 51.65% and 48.35% of the total votes, respectively.
The 2016 United States Presidential Elections
The 2016 American presidential election was a two-team race that marked the 58 th quadrennial presidential poll. The Republican ticket of entrepreneur Donald Trump with his running mate Mike Pence defeated former secretary of state Hillary Clinton and her running mate Tim Kaine on their Democratic ticket. Donald Trump and Mike Spence occupied an office on January 20th, 2017, as the 45 th President and the 48 th Vice President. The election was the fifth and the most current where the winning candidate could not secure the popular votes but managed to grab votes from the electoral college (Kennedy et al., 2018). Trump became the fore-runner of his party, defeating most Republican primary candidates like Senators Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz and Governor John Kasich, among other contestants. Hillary Clinton won the Democratic primary by defeating Bernie Sanders and becoming the major American political party's initial female presidential nominee.
However, in New Jersey, former United States Secretary of state Hillary Clinton emerged the winner together with its fourteen electoral votes, where she garnered 55.5% of the votes compared to Trump's 41.35%. The primary election in New Jersey happened on June 7 th , 2016, where the Libertarian, Republican, and Democratic parties participated. Registered members of every party had the authority to only vote in their party's primary, while unaffiliated voters chose any one primary that they could vote. In the Democratic primary, two candidates, Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders, appeared on the presidential ballot (Kennedy et al., 2018). Moreover, in the Republican primary, three candidates, Donald Trump, Ted Cruz, and John Kasich, appeared on the ballot. Generally, the 2012-2016 trend dictates that the Democrats occupied northern and central New Jersey suburban areas, while Republicans occupied the shore and southern New Jersey. Hillary Clinton secured places like Somerset, Union, and Morris Counties while Trump got votes from Salem and Cumberland Counties.
The 2020 United States Presidential Elections
The 2020 American presidential election is considered the 59 th quadrennial presidential election on November 3rd, 2020. The Democratic Party of former vice president, Joe Biden, with his running mate Kamala Harris, defeated the Republican Party of the incumbent president and his vice president, Donald Trump and Mike Pence (Rovner, 2020). Voters chose a combined ticket for vice president and president, which determined the Electoral College's presidential electors, who will consequently vote for the contestants on December 14th, 2020. The 2020 election is the first type in American politics since 1992, where the incumbent president failed to retain his position for re-election to a second term. The 2020 election also witnessed the highest voter turnout since the 1900 election.
New Jersey voters preferred representation in the Electoral College is by choosing various electors, whereby the state has 14 electoral votes. However, because of the Corona pandemic, the government postponed primary elections, giving Trump and Biden ample time to get enough delegates to make them possible nominees for their parties. According to opinion polls, Biden's influence in New Jersey emerged from an alliance of main Democratic constituencies, where he focused on union households, African-Americans, Asians, and Latinos. Biden's strong ties with Asian American voters were evident in New Jersey, consisting of the highest number of Indian/South Asian Americans, the most Democratic Asian American constituency (Rovner, 2020). Also, Governor Phil Murphy declared that primary election should become predominantly an election of vote-by-mail to avoid the spread of the COVID-19 Disease. Therefore, few polling stations were available on a previous day for those who wished to vote in person.
Conclusion
New Jersey is traditionally not a swing state because it voted Democratic in recent years for each of the two main political parties since 1860. The government alternated its governorship between the two main parties with a succession of Democrats and Republicans serving as governors. At the national level, New Jersey vouches for the Democratic Party due to the existence of Democrat senators since 1982, whereas George Bush was the last Republican presidential candidate (Rovner, 2020). Therefore, the political division witnessed in New Jersey between the Democrats and the Republicans shows that the state serves as the central voting hub. Comparing and contrasting the United States presidential elections indicates that New Jersey owes its allegiance to the Democrat candidates, supporting the Republicans.
References
Kennedy, C., Blumenthal, M., Clement, S., Clinton, J. D., Durand, C., Franklin, C., ... & Saad, L. (2018). An evaluation of the 2016 election polls in the United States. Public Opinion Quarterly , 82 (1), 1-33.
Rovner, J. (2020). US election 2020: how the candidates will determine the shape of American democracy and healthcare. BMJ . 371 .
Steinbrook, R. (2015). Election 2008—campaign contributions, lobbying, and the US health sector. New England Journal of Medicine , 357 (8), 736-739.
