Erasmus+

US
Presidential Election

Eighth grade students learned about the authorities in the Republic of Slovenia and the method of their election in the lessons of homeland and civic culture and ethics. They learned about the parliamentary and presidential elections and learned about the characteristics and tasks of the National Assembly, the government, the president, and the courts.

During the distance school, the US presidential election took place, so they covered various media (TV, websites, and social networks, as well as newspapers and radio).

They have produced a project task, comparing the method of electing the president of the Republic of Slovenia and President of the United States and their duties and functions. They monitored the elections most intensively during the voting and counting of votes until the announcement.

State and local media

The students found that state media actively monitored political developments in the U.S. and commented, analysed, and predicted possible outcomes. Individual contributions have been published since the announcement of the candidates and were reported much more intensively during the voting. From February to December 2020, the Slovenian News Agency published over 500 articles on the topic of the American elections, of which as many as 137 in the last month.
In the local media, they noticed significantly fewer articles that generally presented what was happening in the USA, and they also mentioned the former first lady, who has Slovenian roots, several times. During this period, the Slovene media noticed a predominance of articles on the topic of COVID-19 and elections in the USA. Many of the contributions focused on Donald Trump’s reactions during the vote count and commentary, as well as the announcements at the announcement of the results in each state.
Some students also followed the American media and found that the Slovenian media often only summarize articles in foreign media. They also noted that some media outlets strongly supported Joe Biden and others Donald Trump. These media criticized the opponent with their contributions and emphasized the good sides of the selected presidential candidate.

Election monitoring

Students often do not follow elections because they say they are not interested in politics. However, it is difficult to completely avoid this, as in November the articles were published in all media. This time, the elections were monitored in order to prepare a project assignment. In addition, due to the epidemic, they were at home most of the time and therefore made more use of various media. The students noticed that the US election is a big media pomp and is covered by media from all countries as it is one of the most influential political positions in the world. They mostly followed the media through social networks and websites as well as television. They noticed that there were several articles in the Slovenian media commenting on the controversial actions of Donald Trump, so they were mostly surprised that there was a fairly close fight between the two candidates. Students, their parents and relatives were mostly of the opinion that Joe Biden is more suitable candidate for President, but they are not burdened by who the new US president will be.

Consequences

Most students believe that there will be no significant changes, regardless of who is the president of the United States, as Slovenia is a small country that has no special political influence. The previous first lady had Slovenian roots, but Slovenia did not benefit from it. The tweet of the Slovenian Prime Minister, in which he prematurely congratulated the later loser, caused quite a bit of outrage in the Slovenian and foreign media. However, students feel that this action will not have long-term consequences, yet it is not the most promising start.
Students feel that the U.S. election is a big spectacle that overshadows the news that need our attention more. They believe that the media should pay more attention to poverty, hunger, climate change and the ever-growing violence. They hope that politicians will spend more time changing the environment and raising people's quality of life.

Tina Hrastar

It was the summer of 2020 when Democrats and Republicans were choosing their candidate for the presidential election. Democratic National Convention, on 19th August of 10 final candidates, among which the most chances seemed to have Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders, Joseph Robinette Biden jr., Vice President during President Barack Obama, from 2008 to 2016, was nominated.

Between 24th and 27th August the Republican National Convention was held, where on 27th August the nomination was given to Donald John Trump, the 45th President of the USA.

Shortly after both candidates were known, speculation began as to who the presidential candidates would choose as their vice-presidential candidates. Donald Trump chose faithful Mika Pence, while Biden selected Kamala Harris, which was a surprise.

Debates began in September. The first, moderated by Chris Wallace, was a sign of Trump's constant interruption of the interlocutor, we didn't learn much about the candidates' programs. The direct debate between the two candidates took place once again, this one was much more polite, led by Kristen Welker. Mike Pence and Kamala Harris also met face to face.

Different media commented differently on the presidential election - Trump's loyal Fox News openly supported Trump in its news, while the Washington Post and the New York Times, both more left-leaning, supported Biden. In Slovenia, too, the news was very different, but the majority supported Biden, only an extreme Nova24TV regularly wrote so-called Pro-Trump propaganda. At times, the candidates seemed to compete more against the media than with each other. Even the media fought a battle against each other.
Elections were held on November 3, where a record number of voters voted. Due to the large number of ballots, the counting took a long time. But in the end, with 81,283,485 against 74,223,744 and more importantly 306 against 232 in electoral votes, Biden won and thus became the oldest president. But the battle for the citizens of the United States is not over yet - the chaos has only just begun.

https://www.dnevnik.si/tag/predsedni%C5%A1ke%20volitve%20v%20ZDA

Trump started allegations of electoral fraud, while having the full support of the right-wing media, including our prime minister. He accused them of having his votes stolen, of exchanging ballot papers, although he did not present evidence, and the Electoral Commission denied all allegations. His ardent supporters blindly followed him in all his claims, they did not want to hear the explanations of the commission. The chaos with the results continued for a long time, culminating on January 6, when the results were counted in Congress, and Biden would also officially become the winner. On that day, January 6, there was a domestic terrorist attack on the Capitol by a gang of Trump supporters, when they invaded the Capitol, smashed it, and tried to break into the hall where the counting took place. During the attempt of the terrorist attack, a woman was shot, and police officer died as well. Another 3 people died from unrelated health problems. Trump's supporters are to blame for the attack, but a very large part of the blame lies with Trump, who in a speech before the terrorist attack called on supporters: "Now, it is up to Congress to confront this egregious assault on our democracy. And after this, we're going to walk down, and I'll be there with you, we're going to walk down, we're going to walk down. Anyone you want, but I think right here, we're going to walk down to the Capitol, and we're going to cheer on our brave senators and congressmen and women, and we're probably not going to be cheering so much for some of them.” and “And we fight. We fight like hell. And if you don't fight like hell, you're not going to have a country anymore."
Many media, both Slovenian and American, have turned a blind eye to this truth. But in the end, Biden and Harris were sworn in on January 20, 2021 at the inauguration, officially becoming the president and took on a very demanding task as he has to fight the coronavirus, welcome the 4-year separation of people and repair relations with allies.

Andraž Matoš, Class 9 A