- Hello, this is Jack from ToFluency.com.

Now, today we are going to have a conversation in English

giving you an English lesson on the election,

the U.S. election, which is happening in-

- November.

- November, just over a month.

Now, what we're going to do in this video is

give you some of the key terms

so that you can talk about this election in English

and learn some vocabulary, such as left wing,

right wing, polls, polling station,

debates, campaigns, news cycles.

And we're going to just have a discussion on this election

but, more importantly, give you the vocabulary

so that you can talk about it yourself.

Okay, so-

- It's also important to note that,

while we are gonna be talking about the election

and we do have our own opinions

and beliefs about the candidates involved,

that we're gonna try to keep those

out of the conversation as much as possible.

- Yeah, so it's not our opinion

on who we are going to vote for

or who we want to win, but it's more of a discussion

about the election in general.

And you can have a discussion below,

so please leave some comments.

So what we're going to do first,

before we get into a lot of the nitty gritty,

a lot of the details about everything,

is we're just going to lay out the foundation

of the election and talk briefly about what it's all about,

because it can be confusing

and it's different to what I'm used to from the UK.

So, the election is every four years.

- Correct.

- And who are we voting for in this election?

Not which candidate,

but what type of things are we voting for?

- Which roles or positions?

- Yes.

- So obviously there are more elections that happen

in between those four years,

but every four years

is when we have a presidential election.

And so that's gonna be one of the biggest

and definitely one of the most talked about positions

that is up for election this year.

Also we have senators, depending on where you live,

who are up for election, House of Representatives,

and then a lot of other government positions too

at the state and local level.

- There's a lot of research to be done

if you want to know who to vote for.

Because the president, that's the big one,

that's the one everyone talks about.

And I'm sure you know it's Donald Trump versus Joe Biden.

Those are the two main candidates.

There are also third-party candidates.

- This is true.

- But in the U.S.,

it's really overtaken by the Democratic candidate

and the Republican candidate.

And we'll talk more about those two parties later

and what they more or less represent.

But this is the big one, the presidential election,

and people are saying it's the biggest election

of our lifetimes.

- (exhales) Yeah.

- But they say that every time.

- I mean, yes, there is always a lot of hype,

but I think that this time

there is a lot of different opinions

between people who are considering voting Republican

and people who are considering voting Democratic,

or have historically voted that way.

And so it's definitely an election year

that feels more important.

It feels like there's more at stake.

- Yeah, more at stake, which means...

How would you explain that?

- Oh, good question.

So kind of that there's more

that people are deciding on than usual.

- Yeah, or the outcome is going to be more important

and it's gonna change.

So, yeah, there were different kinds of elections,

the big one, the president, but then you also have,

you say it depends where you live, the senators,

the representatives, everyone voting for representatives.

And these two are both, they represent Congress.

Now, we're not gonna go into what that all means

'cause it is complicated.

We're not probably the best at explaining this,

but just know that these are people

who represent everyone who lives in a certain area.

- Oh, but by the way,

Jack actually has had a recent refresher

because you became an American citizen last year.

- Last year, so I know a little bit about it

'cause on the test I had to answer some questions.

- Was the test hard?

- Well, there were 100 questions

and they gave you the 100 questions ahead of time

and the answers that they want to hear,

so if you can memorize it, it makes it a lot easier.

But things like 100 senators.

I think 435 representatives?

- That sounds right.

- Something like that.

But, yeah, there are also local elections.

So there are also state elections.

So you vote for representatives in the state

and governors and treasures

and then there are city elections too.

So there are a lot of things to think about

when you're voting.

Now, one term that I want to bring up is party line,

to vote, how would you say it, to vote by party line?

- Yeah or to vote down the party line.

- Which means that if you are a Democrat,

then you just vote for the Democrats,

no matter what position it is.

And vice-versa, if you're a Republican,

then you might want to do that as well.

But there are also a lot of independent voters

who are undecided and they don't know which to vote for.

And they might vote for some Republicans

and some Democrats, dependent on the candidate.

But let's just talk about the Democratic party

and Republican party 'cause I want to bring up some terms

to describe those two parties.

Firstly, there are some nicknames for the parties.

What are those?

- Well, I can talk about the kind of mascot

or animal that represents those parties.

So the animal that represents the Republican party

is the elephant

and the animal that represents the Democratic party

is the mule.

- The mule.

And Republican is represented by the red color.

Democratic party, blue.

Now we can also talk about left wing

versus right wing here,

which is not always easy to explain.

- It is difficult to.

- But I'm sure you have the same term

in your own native language too,

where policies are or parties or either left wing,

right wing, or somewhere in the middle.

And you have things like far left, far right,

center left, center right, center.

But a good way to explain it is to talk

about some of the important issues

and what those parties represent.

- True, and also another word that we often use

as an adjective for describing that divide

is that people who are more right wing are conservative

and people who are more left wing are liberal.

- Yeah and that term can be a little confusing sometimes,

liberal, because there's also the classic liberal,

who is someone a bit different than the modern liberal.

- Same for conservative.

- Yes. - Yes.

- So issues, whenever there is an election,

there are certain issues that come up

that people want to talk about.

Now, this year, the coronavirus is a big issue,

but we also have other things like the economy,

foreign policy, healthcare, and immigration.

So those are four issues

that both parties want to put their side forward.

So let's just take the economy.

I think one of the big differences between the two parties

is that the Democratic party, when it comes to the economy,

they want to tax the rich and give that money to the poor.

It's very simplistic.

- Or use that taxation to fund public programs.

- Yes and welfare.

And the Democratic party like to talk

about increasing taxes on certain people.

The Republican party,

they talk about no or less taxes, fewer taxes,

and more of a free market economy.

Very simplistic.

There's a lot of nuance and subtlety here,

but that's a good way to describe it.

How would you describe healthcare as well

and the differences between the two parties generally?

- In healthcare, it's hard to completely summarize

because we have a very different opinions

even among, for example, the Democratic party.

If you're more left wing, you are probably wanting some form

of more socialized healthcare.

So that would be kind of the far left by American standards.

And then the center left is in support

of what was called Obamacare,

which made certain rules about insurance companies,

that everyone had to be insured,

and also funded more people to get insurance

in various ways.

And then on the more conservative side

or right wing side, Republican side,

there's a push to repeal, or take away, Obamacare

and have a free healthcare market

without the expansion of socialized healthcare

or the kind of protections and funding from the government

for insurance that came in with Obamacare.

- So this is quite a complicated topic.

We have a lot of words there, things like insurance.

And also it's important to have a good overview

of what the American healthcare system is.

Now, if you're from Europe,

then you won't pay for health care,

in most cases, when you go to the hospital, to the doctors.

This is funded through taxes,

whereas in the U.S. you buy insurance

or you get insurance through your workplace,

through your employer,

and then if something happens to you,

you have to go through a very sometimes complicated process

to make sure that the insurance company pays

for the health care.

And, again, here, it's very complicated in how it works,

but I think Kate summarized it really well.

And a good way to say it is nationalized healthcare

versus privatized healthcare.

And there's a big debate in America about this.

But generally speaking,

that nationalized health care is never really put forward

or introduced as a policy.

It doesn't really have the backing

or people don't put it forward as much.

(brisk music)

Moving on to some fun stuff now.

Election season is crazy.

- Is it?

'Cause this is actually your first election season.

This is the first time you're going to be able to vote

in a presidential election.

You've been in the United States for a past election.

- Yes, that was the Trump versus Clinton election.

- But because you weren't a citizen,

you weren't able to vote.

- No, but last time it was so interesting

because no one thought that Donald Trump had a chance

of winning and little by little,

it became more apparent that maybe he's going to win.

But even on election night,

people thought no way, this is not gonna happen.