Clinton takes off three days to recover from pneumonia
Hilary Clinton abruptly fell ill while attending the 15th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks in New York City. Clinton’s doctors diagnosed her with pneumonia and she subsequently took three days off of from campaigning, and cancelled her trip to California as well. According to the Washington Post, however, most voters believe that her health problems will not significantly influence her performance, and Clinton herself promised that her condition would not significantly affect her campaigning. Nonetheless, electoral polls have gotten much closer after the announcement of her health: according to a survey on the Huffington Post, the number of Democrats who believe that Clinton is in adequate health condition to serve as president has gone down 20 percent, now standing at 64 percent for those with confidence in her health.
“The health of any candidate could potentially be an issue for voters’ opinions,” said Jonathon Ames, social studies teacher. “Most people would understand that the campaign trail is a very exhausting and grueling process and sicknesses are prone to occur; at the same time there would be people who try to exploit that as a risk for Clinton being in office. However, I do not think that this will be enough of a reason for people to completely change their opinions.”
Bush formally endorses Clinton as top candidate
On Sept. 21, former President George H.W. Bush confirmed Clinton as his preference for president on Election Day. This served as a surprising choice for many, as Bush, a former Republican president, is endorsing a Democratic nominee, going against his original party. Nonetheless, Bush’s spokesman Jim McGrath delivered that Bush claims that Clinton has the wisdom and experience to lead the country. Bush’s pick is the fourth presidential endorsement, with the first being by President Obama, and the others by previous presidents Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton.
“It is not very surprising that Bush would choose to support Clinton,” Mr. Ames said. “The Republican party from the 1980s is not very different from the Democrats of today and are not as right-wing of the current Republicans.”
First round of presidential debates takes place
The long awaited presidential debate took place on the evening of Sept. 27, during which the two candidates had an intense discussion regarding various topics such as taxes, international policies and even an entertaining discussion regarding Clinton’s stamina and ability to serve as president. Led by Frank Luntz, both Hilary and Trump delivered their ideas and vision for the nation but reaction from the public has not been entirely positive. According to the New York Times reaction polls, citizens are disappointed in the lack of professionalism that Trump maintained throughout the debate and issues dropped during discussion, such as feminism. However, voter decisions have not swayed significantly after the first debate, leaving further discussion to the second round, which will take place on Oct. 10.
“To be honest, the debate lacked a general engagement from both candidates,” said Yoon Lim (10). “I was expecting a wild card of standing up for women as a valid point [from Hilary] but I think such strong claim was missing to make anything stand out as a turnover.”