Even before Hillary Clinton officially announced her candidacy for president in April 2015, she was widely favored to win the Democratic nomination. As such, the explosive popularity of Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont, who was not nearly as well known as Clinton at the time, came as a surprise to many onlookers. Sanders cast himself as a more reliable champion of progressive policy than his rivals, promising a more aggressive approach to solving America’s deep-set inequities. By making proposals like taxing carbon emissions, dramatically reducing college tuition, and universal single-payer health care key components of his platform, Sanders both legitimated and popularized far-left economic policy in particular among Democratic voters.
The Democratic Party has never been quite the same. The 2020 presidential field was much more openly progressive than ever before — 10 candidates supported Sanders’s single-payer Medicare for All plan or some version of it, and all 17 others supported expanding coverage to some degree.
The fact that so many Democratic candidates supported Medicare for All and other far-left proposals, and the fact that progressives like Sanders and Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Ma., consistently performed well in the polls, gave progressive voters (like myself) hope that a candidate committed to structural change might actually win the nomination. As it became clearer that Joseph R. Biden would be the nominee, many staunch progressives expressed doubt about voting for the former vice president in the general election.
I understand the feeling. If you dive into any of the numerous flaws in U.S institutions — whether it’s police brutality toward Black and Brown communities, a prison system that prioritizes punishment over rehabilitation, or many leaders’ cold devotion to capital over human life — it’s hard not to feel an urgent need for systemic change. Considering several candidates might have confronted those problems head-on as president, it was somewhat disappointing when a moderate won the primary.
Tara Reade’s sexual assault allegation has further weakened Biden’s appeal to progressive voters, many of whom passionately support the #MeToo movement. Reade claims Biden groped her in 1993 while she was working as an aide in his Senate office. Understandably, some have suggested they would not feel comfortable voting for a man who has committed any form of sexual misconduct, let alone assault.
Despite these serious issues, progressives cannot stay home on November 3. We have a responsibility to vote for Biden.
Everyone should be passionate about issues like improving health care and preventing sexual assault — they have tremendous consequences for millions of people. As of 2018, 27.9 million nonelderly Americans lacked health insurance (an increase from 2016), reducing their chance of receiving necessary treatments and preventative care. Furthermore, one out of every six American women has suffered rape or attempted rape, both of which carry serious physical and mental health consequences. Given their widespread impact, it makes sense that these issues influence how Americans vote.
Even though it is extremely important to empathize with victims of healthcare inequity and sexual violence, it is also important to recognize just how much rests on this election. President Donald Trump has spent his years in office attacking the free press, waging an ill-advised trade war that has hurt U.S. farmers and businesses, dismantling environmental regulations, supporting human rights abusers abroad, inflicting untold physical and psychological harm on undocumented immigrants, bungling the coronavirus pandemic with a mixture of incompetence and lies — the list goes on. He may be reelected and allowed to continue to inflict pain and suffering on millions of human beings. That is a real possibility.
But whether Trump is reelected is up to us. Contrary to the common refrain, your vote really does matter. Trump won the presidency on the margins; if not for fewer than 80,000 votes across just three states, he would not be the president.
Americans have a tendency to see voting as an inherently personal act, which misses the fact that election results can have immense consequences for hundreds of millions of people. Every eligible voter must recognize the power they wield. If just 11,000 more people had voted for Clinton in Michigan, 47,000 in Pennsylvania, and 23,000 in Wisconsin, many of the people of color, migrants, and others hurting under Trump would likely be far better off. While Democratic presidents have also harmed marginalized communities, it is highly unlikely that a President Clinton or President Biden would pursue the cruel policies of the Trump administration.
It is unfortunate to feel unable to vote for someone who perfectly represents your own opinions and passions. But while it is painful that we must choose between two men facing sexual assault allegations, we have no other options. Particularly in this election, the stakes are too high to stay home. Everyone with the privilege of suffrage has a responsibility to use our vote to protect marginalized communities, both at home and abroad.
Even for those who prioritize universal health care or women’s rights above all else, a Biden victory would still mean a massive improvement to U.S. policy. While he is unlikely to pursue a single-payer plan, Biden has committed to expanding the Affordable Care Act, increasing access to Medicare, more aggressively regulating prescription drug pricing, and creating a government-run public health insurance option. All of these changes would substantially increase health care access and quality of life. By contrast, President Trump spent his first months in office working with congressional Republicans to repeal the ACA. Though their efforts failed, the administration has continued to dismantle the law through executive authority and judicial challenges. With another four years, they might just succeed.
And while the sexual assault and misconduct allegations against Biden deserve to be heard, and he must be held accountable for his actions, a Biden administration would be vastly better for victims of sexual violence and women on the whole. Where the Trump administration has cut and blocked funding for domestic abuse resources, restricted reproductive rights and access to abortion, and dismantled protections for survivors of campus sexual assault, Biden has committed to establishing and enforcing legal protections for survivors of domestic violence, expanding sexual assault education in schools and colleges, convening a task force to combat harassment online, and ending mandatory individual arbitration, which prevents many women from bringing class action or joint lawsuits against abusive employers. Biden himself may be a problematic figure in the long history of misogyny, but his administration could be transformative for the lives and legal rights of millions of American women.
If you choose not to vote for Biden because he does not support Medicare for All, you risk handing the Trump administration another four years to destroy the Affordable Care Act. If you do not vote for Biden because he has been accused of sexual assault, you risk allowing the Trump-appointed Secretary of Education, Betsy DeVos, to strip away what remains of the Title IX protections for victims of sexual violence on college campuses.
Unequal health care access, misogyny, and other deep-set inequities in our society require sweeping changes to be rectified, but those changes may not all come at once. I hope that, someday soon, we will have the chance to elect a president committed to creating a more just society. But in this election, that is not an option. For now, we must use our power as voters not to advance the progressive cause, but to prevent a malignant president from eliminating what progress has already been made. If you are conflicted about this election, ask yourself this: If you are comfortable with another four years of President Trump because the alternative is not far enough to the left, can you truly call yourself a progressive?
Image Source: “Joe Biden” by Gage Skidmore is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0.