How American Politics Will Be Like In 20 Years
Prediction of the future is always hard, especially on matters that may take a sharp turn-over in a night. In the 90s, numerous political pundits and professors were pretty optimistic about the future of politics in the U.S. Nevertheless, some of these uncertainties were proved wrong when the country embraced the new leadership of liberal democratic capitalism. Currently, the future of American politics is wholly dependent on Donald Trump’s; what he has done in the office, what he is likely to do if he takes up another term, and how Americans will view Trump’s opponent before the November elections. Moreover, in April 2020, the Professor and Chair of Political Science, Wendy Schiller, elucidated that COVID-19 has changed the Democratic primaries (“Conversations on COVID: The future of American politics,” 2020). These changes are likely to change the minds of many people, come November’s Presidential elections.
In an interview that was hosted by Watson Institute for International and Public Affairs at Brown University, Schiller indicated that the COVID-19 pandemic will determine the future of Trump and his successors. In America, 30% of the people will always support Trump regardless of whether he delivers or not. Depending on how competently he leads the country towards the fight of this virus, the Democrats will have to decide before November. For instance, some may rely on Trump’s failure to communicate the truth about the virus at the beginning of the year, thus dismissing his leadership for the next five years. In such a time when the world is facing one of the biggest crisis in the 21st Century, a downfall in the country’s leadership and economy may lead to more citizens rooting for Joe Biden. Politics are expected to take a different turn since individuals will rely on their experiences over the next couple of months. How well the COVID-19 pandemic gets handled will determine the popularity of the Republican Party in the next and subsequent elections.
Another expected change is in the techniques and procedures of voting in the U.S. In the last election, the country relied on the voting procedures that were applied, 50 years ago. However, with the COVID-19 pandemic, people have been filling their census online. Amidst the lockdown, the online procedure was easy for most citizens. In 20 years, people might want to consider voting online since the census in itself has been successful. A lot of people will, therefore, argue that these electoral institutions ought to be changed since it has proved possible to live in the houses (“Conversations on COVID: The future of American politics,” 2020). In the next 20 years, although a credible technology will exist to allow online voting, it is expected that most Republicans will oppose the idea at first. Nevertheless, in 2040, Americans are expected to vote for their President online.
In the next 20 years, age will also be a determining factor in politics. The next President of the U.S. will either be Trump (73), Joe Biden (77), or Sanders (78). During the Democratic Party’s primary fields, he was overwhelmingly supported by the young generation. Young people were seen to transform American politics through their substantive ideologies in both parties. Surprisingly, Sanders was overwhelmingly supported by the younger generation, more than they did to their fellow millennial; Pete Buttigieg (Jones, 2020). It can also be observed that young people are joining political offices at an alarming rate. This shows that this is an inevitable process that may eventually do away with the political class, and ultimately be replaced by the millennial.