Exciting US election: Hillary, Ted or Trump?

(Baonghean) - The 2016 US Presidential election has officially begun with the first votes in Iowa being cast on the morning of February 2, Vietnam time. This is considered a state that is "fated" for future Presidents. Looking at the preliminary results announced, Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton and Republican candidate Ted Cruz have won the highest number of votes. But will Iowa accurately predict the position of the next US President? This will still be an open question.

Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton won a narrow victory in the Iowa caucuses. Photo: Getty Images

There were few surprises in the results of the Democratic Party in Iowa when former US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was the leading candidate in the primary vote. Accordingly, Mrs. Clinton received 51% of the votes, just slightly higher than the 49% of candidate Bernie Sanders; but far ahead of Mr. Martin O'Malley with 1% of the votes.

However, the Republican Party's vote results surprised the public, although the top three candidates still won the most votes. Because billionaire Donald Trump is the most promising candidate of the Republican Party, has been very famous in the media recently and has always been at the top of the pre-election polls.

Republican Senator Ted Cruz after his surprise victory in Iowa. Photo: Reuters.

But in the end, Senator Ted Cruz broke through to take the lead in the first and most important state, Iowa, with 29%, while Mr. Donald Trump only won 26% of the votes. In third place was candidate Marco Rubio with 21% of the votes. The other two candidates, Jeb Bush - the younger brother of former President George W. Bush, only received 3% of the votes, and candidate John Kasich was the lowest with 2%.

According to the “tradition” of recent US presidential elections, the person who becomes the US president is usually the leading candidate in the party’s internal race in Iowa. Specifically, President Barack Obama and former President George W. Bush both won Iowa twice. However, if comparing the latest polls and the results of the recent Iowa vote, American public opinion is divided.

First of all, for the Democratic Party, with only a 1% difference between Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders in Iowa, plus the rapid narrowing of the gap between the two candidates, nothing can be predicted. The two-horse race within the Democratic Party is even more intense when each candidate has their own advantages. For candidate Clinton, she has devoted a lot of effort in Iowa and New Hampshire to overcome her past defeat to current President Barack Obama in 2008.

In addition, Mr. Obama has recently continuously made statements supporting and praising the former US Secretary of State and said that a US presidential candidate needs to have enough experience to replace him in the White House. However, Mrs. Hillary is still facing problems with accusations of using personal email, or being criticized by her opponent Mr. Sanders for some issues such as not having a strong enough stance on financial issues...

For his part, candidate Bernie Sanders, although criticized by Mrs. Clinton on many issues such as the “Medicare-for-all” health care reform program or having a too soft stance on gun control, has a clear advantage over Mrs. Clinton in the upcoming state of New Hampshire. Because all pre-election surveys show that Mr. Bernie Sanders has a big advantage in this state.

Republican billionaire Donald Trump gave a speech after coming in second in Iowa, saying: “I am proud to come in second in the Iowa primary and I look forward to the upcoming vote in New Hampshire.” Photo: AFP

If the Democratic Party is a two-horse race with no clear winner, the Republican Party is a three-horse race between three candidates: Donald Trump, Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio. The election results in Iowa also showed this with a not-so-different ratio. In fact, although candidate Donald Trump still has high support, Texas Senator Ted Cruz made a more impressive impression last January.

Meanwhile, each candidate has made strong statements that can add points in the past. For example, Senator Rubio has made confident statements about anti-terrorism and foreign policy; Senator Cruz is highly regarded for his immigration policy, and billionaire Trump has hit the right notes for voters when he pledged to negotiate trade agreements that are beneficial to the US, creating more jobs for the people in the country.

However, all these impressive factors are still not enough to create complete trust for voters. This puts the Republican Party in a dilemma, because the three leading candidates, billionaire Donald Trump, Senator Ted Cruz or Senator Marco Rubio, are not ideal choices, and have not shown themselves to be a representative image of the Republican Party if they were in the position of President.

Democratic candidate Bernie Sanders - runner-up in Iowa - affirmed that the result in Iowa is the message he wants to send to America and the world. Photo: AP

Even the two dominant candidates, Mr. Trump and Mr. Cruz, are both too pragmatic and too conservative. Meanwhile, the candidate that the Republican leadership has high expectations for, Jeb Bush, is losing ground. At this point, there is no factor for voters to be certain of, so their votes in Iowa have shown division and confusion, along with disappointment with imperfect candidates. Perhaps at this time, Republican voters are wondering who will be easier to adjust, not who is more talented, to be able to become the representative of the Republican Party in the race for the US President.

Thus, the internal race between the Democratic and Republican parties has just begun and promises to be exciting and full of surprises. After choosing the top two candidates of each party, the race to the White House will become even hotter with the competition between the top candidates of the two parties. Who will follow the footsteps of current US President Barack Obama? Everyone will have to wait for the results after November 8th at the end of this year.

Phuong Hoa