The singer made the announcement at the end of his epic 10-minute speech for a lifetime achievement award.
"And yes, as you probably could’ve guessed in this moment, I’ve decided in 2020 to run for president," West said, before walking off stage.
Kanye for president? Now, the idea may not seem that absurd if one takes a look at what’s happening in 2016 presidential campaign.
Currently, five Democrats and a total of 17 Republicans are running for president. The US voting age population is nearly 246 million people (as of 2014), but still over two dozen candidates – disregarding a number of independent and third party contenders – seems to be overwhelming.
Currently, despite the fact that some contenders have a similar stance on a number of issues (healthcare, foreign policy, social problems etc.), both the Democrats and Republicans are still lacking consistency in their election campaigns.
What is more, the number does not always equal quality. For instance, Republican voters have mixed feelings about the sheer list of GOP candidates. According to a Monmouth University poll conducted in July, 39 percent of Republican voters said the current number of candidates was bad for the party, while 34 percent said it was good. Despite their mixed feelings on the number of candidates, Republican voters had a different stance about their quality – 69 percent said they were dissatisfied with the quality of their candidate pool, according to a Huffington Post/YouGov poll.
Of course, there are candidates among the pool of contenders who will be kicked out of the race in the course of the campaign. However, post-campaign benefits allow them to promote themselves or their political platform, the author adds.
The practical result of the situation may be that it is extremely hard for voters to make a right choice, if any. Paradoxically, the freedom to choose and vote may turn into the inability to do that.
However, what could Kanye West’s recent announcement mean for the future of the electoral process in the US?
With no doubt, candidates such as Trump (and possibly West in the 2020 campaign) make the presidential race more spectacular and presidential debates more popular. The problem is that they would take away votes from candidates with much more realistic and thoughtful programs but poor acting skills.
