It seems like every politician and want-to-be politician is running for president on the Democratic ticket. At one point, there were a whopping 27 people running. That number is currently down to 19, but that is still a slightly ridiculous amount of people running for one job. The ten top candidates, all qualified for the most recent Democratic Debate in September and have careers ranging from a former vice-president, senators, former White House Department heads and even an entrepreneur. This is the most crowded Democratic field in recent memory and it has made a lot of people wonder who to vote for.

Even after reviewing all the candidates and researching their opinions and stances on issues thoroughly, it’s nearly impossible to find the perfect candidate. Based on popularity, Joe Biden seems like the obvious choice, but this conclusion is not well supported. He has repeatedly not given or refused to answer questions about whether he would support expanding the fence on the U.S.-Mexican border and whether he supports temporarily detaining asylum-seeking families who are waiting for their claims to be processed. These are very huge issues for both the US and South and Central American countries as the number of asylum seekers continues to grow.

I personally would not vote for someone who refused to give a clear answer to such important and impactful questions and policies. Although, quite frankly, no one fits the bill exactly for me.

The person that comes closest to my ideal candidate and president is Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren. She supports my stance that the government should subsidize public 4-year colleges, implement a carbon tax, ban fracking nationwide and eliminate the filibuster in the Senate. Warren has a definite shot at winning as people love her and she is seen as a practical and logical Democrat who has a distinguished reputation in government. She has served on the Senate Committee on Armed Services as well as the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs. She has sponsored the Genetic Research Privacy Protection Act to ensure the scientific community’s continuing work and the Veterans Care Financial Protection Act of 2017 to give veterans the money and securities they deserve. This act has cracked down on scam artists in the Veterans Aid and Attendance program and has ensured the financial protection of poor veterans who deserve assisted care. She has been doing very well in the most recent national polls as a presidential candidate with an 18% approval rating in a recent CNN poll. She represents the best of the Democrats, but even she is not perfect.

 Her foreign policy plan is shaky as she is not open to re-joining the Comprehensive and Progessive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership. America needs this cooperation with the rest of the world if we are to accomplish anything. We need to rejoin this partnership as its goal is to connect the major world economies together and allow for growth and to create a free trade bloc.

She also would not reopen diplomatic relations with Syria if the current leader, Bashar al-Assad, remains in power and she refused to answer if the US has a moral responsibility to stop genocides and the use of chemical weapons around the world. America has always been a leader in protecting human rights and stopping atrocities overseas, and we have a moral duty to stop genocides around the world. Standing by and waiting is not going to change it or stop it from happening.

Although she has a lack of a good foreign policy plan, I believe that Warren is the best Democractic candidate because of her aggressive domestic policy, her experience in government, her devotion to the Amercian people and her need to make true change in this country.

Warren might fit the bill for me, but some students can’t find a candidate to support in such a diverse field. Senior Jolly Rop said, “I’m not very excited about any of them because my opinion is that half of them are bland centralists, and no one likes a centralist.” Senior Jolly Rop said, “The other half are pretty idealistic and they’re not pragmatic enough.” It seems like these candidates do not line up with everyone’s views of a perfect president resulting in people like Rop who can’t decide on one to support.

There’s no such thing as a perfect 2020 democratic candidate. With no perfect candidate in sight, this primary season could result in a divided Democratic party and division is more hurtful to the party than anything else. I personally support Warren, but we need someone to unite the Democratic party over one message such as Obama did in 2008. We can’t have Warren’s fighting Biden’s. This is hard to say, but the Democrats need their version of a Democratic Trump to unite the party.