As the presidential primary campaigns keep gathering steam, the numbers remain fairly constant among Republicans and Democrats. One thing both parties have in common is that each is trying to find out which nominee would be the stronger candidate to become the nation’s next president.
The Republican Party frontrunners continue to be Donald Trump and Ben Carson. An ABC/Washington Post poll released Wednesday showed Trump with 32 percent of Republicans favoring him as the party’s presidential nominee, with Carson trailing at 22 percent.
Hillary Clinton’s numbers appear to make her the Democratic frontrunner, especially after Wednesday’s announcement by Vice President Joe Biden that he would not run. Both Clinton and Bernie Sanders made a good showing at the recent Democratic Presidential Debate. Clinton’s poll numbers are at 47 percent, ahead of Sanders’ 25.7 percent rate.
“I think it was a good decision for Joe Biden to drop from the race from my point of view because it was a wise decision to make to understand where you should stop and where you should go,” said Dr. Nasir Ahmed, a professor in Public Administration Department.
Biden deciding not to enter the race may be the better thing for him to do instead of running, Dr. Ahmed said, because he now has a higher moral ground in directing the party in the direction it needs to go. “By not running he will be positioning himself in history better,” Dr. Ahmed said.
The Republicans probably wanted Biden to enter the race because they thought it would give them the upper hand in getting into the White House if the Democratic vote had to be split among three candidates instead of just Clinton and Sanders.
Poll numbers continue to fluctuate. On Tuesday, a CNN/ORC poll had Trump with 27 percent and Carson at 22 percent, while an NBC/Wall Street Journal poll had Carson at the same 22 percent but with Trump only 3 points ahead. On Oct. 14, the CNN/ORC poll gave Trump a 16 percentage point lead with 38 percent.
The poll numbers may end up meaning nothing. The date of the next presidential election isn’t until Nov. 8, 2016, so a lot can happen between now and then.