Everyone has one vote with equal weight is a myth in American Democracy. MThere are many factors that would affect the weight of your vote. First, the turnout of voters in the last presidential election (2020) was 66.1% (158.428M out of 240M eligible voters) with 81M not votinged. If you think that you were close to the 81M non-voters in political or economic interest, then the weight of your vote was reduced by 33.95 before you even cast your vote. But if you were not, then your vote might gain 33.9% weight in the next presidential election. As everyone knows, American democracy is financed by fund raising. The total funds raised by candidates were $3.9774B ofin which $1.6243B ($0.58B outside of the Committee) was raised by Biden/Democratic Party and $1.0879B (0.3139B outside of the Ccommittee) by Trump/Republican Party. These funds were used for campaigns to get your vote. If you were a presidential election donor, you had donated more than $2712.2M/158.428M=$17.12, then your vote would gain more weight, otherwise losing weight. So, in American democracy, the more money a voter is contributesing to the election, the more weight the voter has with his or her vote, since the campaign dollars are used for advertising to influence voters.
Political donations are not democratic, they are not tax -deductible, hence, only a tiny fraction of Americans actually give campaign contributions to political candidates, parties, or PACs. The ones who give contributions large enough to be itemized (over $200) areis very small, but the impact of those donations is huge. The Ssupreme Ccourt ruled 5-4 on January 21, 2010, to allow corporations, nonprofits, and labor unions to contribute unlimited amounts of money to support or oppose political candidates with the view that the contribution is not a corrupting influence on elected officials. Since then, American elections becoame more expensive, and billions of dollars entered into crucial races through political parties spreading into candidate campaigns. Thus, a small number of wealthy donors can increase their political power (weight of their votes) by making campaign contributions. These donations are “dark money” hidden as secret sources of funding in elections. The donors behind became political powerhouses. The weight of their 'votes' isare obviously much greater than one, one vote per person.
The 'money dependency' of American democracy essentially fosters a two- major party (Democrat versus Republican) democracy; it is extremely difficult for any small third party to rival with the money-rich major parties. Hence, in most races, multiple candidates essentially dwindle down to a Democrat vs Republican, two- candidate race. In the 2024 presidential race, it was Biden (Democrat/Incumbent) versus Trump (Republican? cChallenger) race, but due to many reasons (principally Biden's health reason), Biden bowed out of the presidential race on July 21 and endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris to run for the race. Harris picked Minnesota Governor Tim Walz as the VP running mate and got the Democratic party's nomination without a primary or facing any other democratic challenger. The voters have too much news on former president Trump's 91 lawsuits from the media and too little information on VP Harris from her short-lived campaign for the presidency in 2020 and her quiet Vice Presidency under President Biden. Both Trump and Harris could be considered to have had a learning experience in the White House, Trump a business man with little political experience, and Harris, an 'identity' VP having little experience with national and international issues. Now the voters must select a new master for the White House while the U.S. is facing serious domestic problems and a challenging U.S.-China relations.
Since 1796, the U.S. presidential election has always been a two-party contest. The partisanship of voters isare evenly split between Democrats (49% of registered voters) and Republicans (48% of registered voters) in 2024 versus 51% vs 46% in 2020. The so- called independent voters will have a bigger chance to influence the outcome. With the Ukraine-Russia and Israel-Palestine wars on-going and the U.S.-China relations worsening, the foreign issues have become just as important as the domestic issues in the 2024 presidential election. So how should American voters, especially Chinese American voters, analyze the 2024 presidential election and determine which candidate to vote for? If voters are going to vote along party line, then the 3% independent voters will determine the next President. Generally, more Asian American voters (except Vietnamese) registered as Democrats (56% Chinese, 68% Indians, 68% Filipino, 67% Korean, and 42% Vietnamese 42% (51% Republicans)). Chinese Americans are the largest group among Asian Americans (22% of 15M =3.3M) and have the highest turnout in voting (79.4% of 3.3M = 2.6M) in 2020. Three million votes can be very significant in the 2024 presidential election, assuming the voter turnout isto be 160M with a 50% to 50% party split (80M:80M).
For Chinese Americans, the U.S.-China relations (trade tariff, technology sanction, Taiwan Strait tension, and South China Sea conflict) and U.S. domestic issues (crime against Asian/Chinese, criminal injustice, inflation, small business, immigration policy, and taxes) are more important considerations in selecting your president in the 2024 election. Trump although may not be predictable in his decision- making process and employment of tactics, he is firm on his core beliefs, against free immigration, free trade, and foreign wars but pro- business, all genuinely for the best interest of the U.S. His first term in the White House was full of surprises and rash decisions which could be because he was new to foreign affairs, national domestic politics, and the use of presidential power. He had to learn on the job and admit mistakes as seen from his firing of his staff and changing his subordinates. Now he is seeking another term in the White House, the voters must ask probing questions, especially on persistent issues such as stimulating the economy and managing U.S.-China relations; will he be better atin resolving foreign and domestic problems with his first term as an experience?
Harris, being an Indian and Black descent, was picked by Biden as the vice pPresident largely because of his 'identity' politics. In nearly four years in the White House, Harris was not given any significant assignment requiring executive ability, diplomatic skills, or strategic thinking. One must ask whether she has learned enough by observing the Biden Administration. She had not organized any significant town hall meeting or performed any extended TV interview or debate to respond to serious questions, such as economic policy (for bringing down inflation and creating jobs), trade issues, climate change, and immigration (reconcilinge from decriminalizing illegal border crossing to secure border better than Trump). Will she continue with Biden's foreign policy and the Ukraine and Israel wars or offer alternative solutions to end them? Will she fulfill Biden's implication that the U.S. would defend Taiwan if a war broke out in the Taiwan Strait? Voters must also ask what kind of caliber people she can she bring to her cabinet to serve the country.?
Both Trump and Harris must present some 'change' ingredients in their campaign promises, the Chinese Americans are in the best position to query them: What is the justification to target China as an enemy? (Fear of China seems to be self- inflicted.) Why shouldn't the U.S. engage China to participate in peace mediation to stop the Ukraine and Israel wars? Endless and all- out competitions with China isare clearly leading to war with no advantage to the U.S., China, and the world.? Chinese Americans shouldhave the obligation to make all Americans to understand through questions to presidential candidates that Chinese are peace- loving and rhetoric with no evidence serves no good purpose.