By Costas Pitas, Susan Heavey
(Reuters) -Democratic President Joe Biden and Republican former President Donald Trump will face one another within the Nov. 5 U.S. presidential election, after a divisive contest that included an assassination try on Trump.
A number of third-party hopefuls are additionally working.
Here’s a listing of the candidates:
REPUBLICAN PARTY
DONALD TRUMP
Trump, 78, suffered harm to his ear after an assassination try in July throughout a marketing campaign rally in Pennsylvania.
It was the primary taking pictures of a U.S. president or main get together candidate for the reason that 1981 tried assassination of Ronald Reagan.
Within the moments after the taking pictures, Trump pumped his fist on the crowd and mouthed, “Battle! Battle! Battle!” and a day later referred to as for unity: “On this second, it’s extra vital than ever that we stand United,” he wrote on his Reality Social community.
In an Oval Workplace handle to the nation, Biden referred to as for political rhetoric to be cooled down.
On July 15, the Republican Nationwide Conference started and it’ll formally nominate Trump to face Biden in what could be the primary presidential rematch in practically 70 years.
Trump picked J.D. Vance, a Republican U.S. senator from Ohio, as his working mate, elevating a politician who as soon as criticized the previous president however has since develop into considered one of his most stalwart defenders.
In Could, Trump grew to become the primary former U.S. president to be convicted of against the law when a Manhattan jury discovered him responsible of falsifying paperwork to cowl up a cost to a porn star to silence her forward of the 2016 election. He says he’s harmless and can enchantment the conviction.
Trump’s July 11 sentencing was postponed till Sept. 18 after he requested for an opportunity to argue he ought to have been immune from prosecution following a July Supreme Court docket ruling that presidents are entitled to immunity from prison prosecution for official acts.
Trump, in workplace from 2017-2021, has leveraged his unprecedented authorized challenges to solidify help amongst his base, and has solid his third bid for the White Home partially as “retribution” in opposition to perceived political enemies.
However after his felony conviction, 10% of Republican and 25% of unbiased registered voters mentioned they had been much less prone to vote for him, Reuters/Ipsos polling discovered.
Trump additionally faces expenses in a federal case involving efforts to subvert the 2020 election and a Georgia election interference case. He denies any wrongdoing.
A separate prison case accusing Trump of illegally conserving categorised paperwork after leaving workplace was dismissed in July, though prosecutors are prone to enchantment.
Trump is unlikely to face every other trials earlier than the Nov. 5 election. July’s Supreme Court docket ruling on presidential immunity makes it unbelievable that Trump can be tried on federal prison expenses relating to efforts to undo the 2020 election loss to Biden earlier than voters solid their ballots.
Trump has refused to decide to accepting the 2024 election outcomes or to rule out potential violence across the Nov. 5 contest or his sentencing, and is already laying the groundwork to contest a possible election loss.
He calls his supporters jailed for the Jan. 6, 2021, assault on the U.S. Capitol “hostages” and “warriors,” and makes use of more and more dystopian rhetoric, together with calling his enemies “vermin.”
If elected, Trump has vowed “revenge” on his political enemies and mentioned he wouldn’t be a dictator besides “on day one,” later calling that “a joke.”
He additionally desires the ability to interchange federal civil service staff with loyalists, whereas a consortium of Trump-friendly assume tanks touts a sweeping coverage agenda generally known as “Venture 2025” that takes intention at variety applications and the Justice Division’s independence, amongst different reported plans. Trump has sought to distance himself from the plan.
On overseas coverage, Trump sparked criticism from Western leaders for saying the U.S. wouldn’t defend NATO members that didn’t spend sufficient on protection and that he would encourage Russia to assault them. He has additionally questioned army help for Ukraine.
Trump has made immigration a prime home marketing campaign difficulty, vowing to hold out mass deportations with the Nationwide Guard and probably federal troops, finish birthright citizenship, and broaden a journey ban on individuals from sure nations.
He has referred to some migrants as “animals” who’re “poisoning the blood of our nation,” amongst different inflammatory remarks, and has not dominated out constructing detention camps on U.S. soil. However foreigners who graduate from a U.S. faculty would get a inexperienced card permitting them to remain, he mentioned, which his marketing campaign later mentioned would solely apply to the “most expert” graduates who had been vetted.
On abortion, Trump takes credit score for the U.S. Supreme Court docket ruling overturning Roe v. Wade and has mentioned abortion ought to stay a state difficulty.
Whereas he has criticized some Republican-led state actions corresponding to these in Florida and Arizona, he mentioned he would permit Republican-led states to trace ladies’s pregnancies and prosecute those that violate their state bans. Trump has mentioned he doesn’t help a ban on entry to contraception.
He promised to get rid of Obamacare medical insurance earlier than saying on April 11 that he wouldn’t “terminate” it. On schooling, he has pledged to halt federal funding to colleges with vaccine mandates and to get rid of the U.S. Division of Training. He has additionally vowed to undo a lot of the Biden administration’s work to combat local weather change.
DEMOCRATIC PARTY
JOE BIDEN
Biden has solid himself because the nation’s greatest hope to defend American liberties and shield democracy, saying Trump is unhinged and threatens the way forward for the nation.
Whereas he confronted no severe challenger within the Democratic primaries, his weak efficiency on the first presidential debate in opposition to Trump has prompted some Democrats to name for him to step apart because the get together prepares to formally nominate him.
The assassination try on Trump appeared to at the least briefly halt additional requires Biden to give up the race from high-profile Democrats.
Already the oldest U.S. president ever at 81, Biden should now persuade his personal get together in addition to voters that he’s more healthy for workplace than Trump, who’s simply three years his junior.
One in three Democrats assume Biden ought to finish his reelection bid following the controversy, however no outstanding elected Democrat does any higher than Biden in a hypothetical match-up in opposition to Trump, in line with a Reuters/Ipsos ballot launched in July.
A July Reuters/Ipsos ballot, performed after the controversy however earlier than the assassination try in opposition to Trump, places each Biden and Trump on 40% amongst registered voters, suggesting that Biden had not misplaced floor instantly after his poor TV exhibiting.
Trump leads Biden in lots of battleground states, a number of different polls have proven.
The financial system can even possible be a significant factor in figuring out whether or not Biden returns to the White Home amid low approval rankings.
Whereas the U.S. escaped an anticipated recession and is rising sooner than economists anticipated, voters have been disenchanted with rising meals prices, greater gasoline costs and elevated rates of interest, whilst more moderen knowledge reveals client costs moderating and inflation cooling.
Biden pushed by huge financial stimulus and infrastructure spending packages to spice up U.S. industrial output, however has obtained subsequent to no credit score from voters to date.
His marketing campaign has highlighted new semiconductor manufacturing crops, housing plansand different financial efforts. Two labor teams, the United Auto Employees union and the North America’s Constructing Commerce Union, have endorsed him whereas the Teamsters have but to announce which candidate they’re backing. Three teams representing older Individuals have additionally endorsed Biden.
Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris have prioritized abortion rights as a key difficulty whereas additionally forming a brand new coalition to enchantment to Black voters, a vital demographic.
Biden’s dealing with of immigration coverage has been criticized by Republicans and a few Democrats as he has struggled with thousands and thousands of migrants crossing the U.S.-Mexico border.
In June, he signed an govt order to curb migration alongside the southern border. He additionally introduced a brand new path for citizenship for sure immigrants within the nation illegally who’re married to U.S. residents.
The president has led the response of Western governments to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, persuading allies to punish Russia and help Kyiv, together with at NATO’s summit in Washington. He additionally secured extra funding from Congress.
Biden has supplied army help to Israel after Hamas’ Oct. 7 assault whereas urging extra humanitarian help for Palestinians as a Could Reuters/Ipsos ballot discovered Democrats stay divided over the problem.
He has confronted criticism from many Democrats and youthful voters for persevering with to provide weapons to Israel whereas largely failing to curb Israel’s lethal army offensive in Gaza. Biden has introduced a brand new Israeli proposal for a recent Gaza ceasefire in trade for the discharge of hostages whereas talks to finish the battle proceed.
MARIANNE WILLIAMSON
Finest-selling writer and self-help guru Marianne Williamson, 72, relaunched her long-shot 2024 presidential bid earlier this yr specializing in “justice and love” lower than one month after dropping out.
In a February assertion, she mentioned she was getting again in to combat Trump’s “darkish and authoritarian imaginative and prescient” after earlier suspending it as a result of she was dropping “the horse race.”
Williamson beforehand ran as a Democrat within the 2020 presidential main however dropped out earlier than voting started.
INDEPENDENTS
ROBERT F. KENNEDY JR.
An anti-vaccine activist and environmental advocate, Kennedy, 70, is working as an unbiased after initially difficult Biden for the Democratic nomination however missed the deadline to qualify for the primary presidential debate.
Whereas he lags in total polling, Kennedy might siphon votes from Trump and Biden, with a June Reuters/Ipsos ballot exhibiting he was backed by 10% of respondents.
The son of Democratic U.S. Senator Robert F. Kennedy, who was assassinated in 1968 throughout his personal presidential bid, Kennedy has drawn rebukes from his well-known household, which endorsed Biden.
Kennedy, who selected rich lawyer Nicole Shanahan as his working mate, helps Israel and questioned a six-week ceasefire backed by Biden.
He mentioned he views the U.S. southern border state of affairs as a humanitarian disaster and opposes Trump’s border wall. He has additionally vowed to repeal elements of Biden’s local weather invoice over tax breaks he says assist the oil business.
Kennedy has taken completely different positions on abortion rights, together with restrictions on when a lady can entry an abortion. He advised Reuters he thought each abortion was a “tragedy” however that it needs to be a lady’s proper all through the being pregnant.
He has been criticized for making false medical claims over time on vaccines however says he would nonetheless permit Individuals to entry them.
Requested about an alleged sexual assault, he mentioned in July that he has “so many skeletons in my closet.” His marketing campaign has additionally mentioned Kennedy had a mind worm greater than a decade in the past however he has absolutely recovered.
Kennedy’s marketing campaign has mentioned he’s formally on the poll in a handful of states to date, together with California, Michigan and Utah, though he faces a difficult, pricey battle to be listed in all 50.
CORNEL WEST
The political activist, thinker and tutorial is making a third-party bid for president that’s almost certainly to enchantment to progressive, Democratic-leaning voters.
West, 71, initially ran as a Inexperienced Celebration candidate however mentioned in October that individuals “need good insurance policies over partisan politics” and declared himself an unbiased. He has promised to finish poverty and assure housing.
GREEN PARTY
JILL STEIN
Jill Stein, a doctor who ran beneath the Inexperienced Celebration in 2016, is attempting as soon as once more in 2024.
She launched her present marketing campaign accusing Democrats of betraying their guarantees “for working individuals, youth and the local weather many times – whereas Republicans don’t even make such guarantees within the first place.”
Stein, 74, raised thousands and thousands of {dollars} for recounts after Trump’s shock 2016 victory. Her allegations yielded just one electoral overview in Wisconsin that confirmed Trump had received.
LIBERTARIAN PARTY
CHASE OLIVER
Whereas the Libertarian Celebration invited each Trump and Kennedy to talk at their conference in late Could, it in the end chosen Chase Oliver, 38. Oliver ran for a Georgia state Senate seat in 2022 and garnered 2% of the vote.