2024 Features Record 4.2 Billion Voting for Political Leaders

2024 will be the first time that more than half the 8 billion people on Earth are going to the polls to vote for their leaders in 65 elections, including Tuvalu as the smallest with a population of 11,400, and India as the largest nation with a population of 1.4 billion. The year of the voter kicked off this week with ballots being delivered by small fishing boats to Tuvalu’s nine Polynesian islands that each elect two representatives. The big issue for voters was status of continuing diplomatic recognition of Taiwan since 1979. The United States sought to influence the election by promising to lay the first submarine cable to connect Tuvalu to global telecommunications networks. Pakistan newly-elected a National Assembly over the weekend that appointed Shehbaz Sharif as Prime Minister, following allegations of large-scale vote-rigging and delayed results. The country’s most popular politician, former Prime Minister Imran Khan is currently sitting in jail, while the military continues to suppress his supporters. Vladimir Putin will be seeking his fourth term as Russian President this month. Putin looks to be a shoe-in based on his record current approval rating of 86%, after the combination of this week’s huge military victory in capturing the Ukrainian fortress of Adiivka and convenient death in prison of major opposition leader Alexei Navalny. India elections for the Lok Sabha (House of the People) are set for April – May. The latest “Mood of the Nation Pol” indicates Prime Minister Narendra Modi's ruling Hindu nationalist party will secure an over 60% majority in general elections based on a huge economic boom as Western manufacturers are moving to India to avoid China impending deflationary crash and the rising risk of social chaos. European Union representing 27 countries and 448 million people will elect the European Parliament between June 6-9. A major study by the European Council on Foreign Relations found that Marine Le Pen’s Rassemblement National party that is polling at 31 percent, coupled with support from other anti-European populists parties, will gain control from so-called mainstream socialists for the first time since the EU founding in 1993. According to the Economist magazine, the most important election this year is the U.S. presidential race in November that has the potential to unleash what it recently described as “the biggest danger to the world” of 2024: former President Donald Trump securing a second term. The Economist essentially highlights that the media, the intelligence agencies, and political impeachments stopped Trump’s first term agenda. But there will be no way to throttle Trump populist and anti-migrant policies in a second term from causing real change. March 2 New York Times/Siena National Poll found that the percentage of voters who strongly disapprove of how Joe Biden handled his job as president has risen to 47 percent — the highest point in his presidency. In so-called purple battleground states, Biden trails Trump 9 points in North Carolina; 6 points in Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, and Nevada; four points in Wisconsin; and two points in Pennsylvania. More importantly, in an expected general election ballot that would includ