With the crazy year of 2020 coming to a close, it’s only fitting that the presidential election between Vice President Biden and President Trump is shaping up to be one for the ages.

As election day nears, Americans can only wonder: Is this the most important election in history?

Jesuit history teacher Paul Klausenburger thinks although this is an important election, there have been ones far more pivotal.

“I think that to say that this is the most important election in American history is hyperbolic,” Klausenburger said. “I think that you can point to others that had greater significance than this. You can certainly point to 1860 if you want to find an election that…had more on the line.”

In addition to the 1860 election, Klausenburger pointed to various other elections as well that carried more importance.

“You can look at the election of 1932 when you had twenty five percent plus of the work force unemployed,” Klausenburger said. “You can look at the election of 1940, when we were on the verge of entering the second world war. You can go back to 1800 and talk about the big question people had then [which] was would there be a peaceful transfer of power between John Adams and Thomas Jefferson.”

Although Klausenburger believes it’s not the most important election, it could be a healthy democratic election due to more people voting this year than ever.

“I don’t know exactly what will happen on election day but certainly the projections are that it’s going to be a high voter turnout which I think is very good for our democracy,” Klausenburger stated.

On November 3rd, the candidates each have one more opportunity to overcome their biggest hurdles. But with two very different candidates, they both have different obstacles. So what exactly is the biggest hurdle each candidate has to cover in order to reach the White House?

Junior Alexandra Reynaud believes that the biggest obstacle for the former Vice President is to energize people to go out and vote for him.

“I think for Biden it’s energizing people and     making people who are maybe disenfranchised by a political state…and mobilizing those people,” Reynaud said. “Or I guess drawing support from people who are less moderate.”

Junior Ethan McBride believes that the President needs to do more and talk less.

“He says what he does but sometimes what he says he’s doing he isn’t doing,” McBride said. “He’s gotta do more right now in terms of getting relief and just projecting a more calm but more confident manner about the COVID recovery.”

As for their views on what the opposing candidate needs to do, Reynaud says Trump “is very polarizing, and that’s his biggest issue he needs to overcome,” while McBride says Biden “[is not] campaigning nearly as much as he should.”

Klausenburger stated that the absence of a major 3rd party ticket this year could affect the outcome of the election.

“One thing that’s radically different from sixteen is we don’t really have any viable 3rd party candidates,” Klausenburger said. “Jill Stein, for example, likely took votes from Mrs. Clinton or Mr. Trump.”

Although election day is on Tuesday, Klausenburger believes that America won’t find out who their next president is on that day.

“It’s very likely we will not know the results of the election on election day,” Klausenburger stated. “I would be surprised actually if we knew the results. It does really come down to Pennsylvania…and unfortunately they can’t start processing mail in votes in Pennsylvania until election night.”