As we leave November behind and head towards the end of the year, the presidentialelection is drawing nearer and nearer; it is now less than a year away. As candidates make speeches, take part in debates, and fundraise, members of the general public are putting up posters, attaching bumper stickers to their cars, and perhaps even going door to door to campaign for their candidate of choice. Social media platforms are ablaze with heated
discussions about Bernie Sanders’ new and controversial ideas, Hillary Clinton’s personal emailaccount, and even Donald Trump’s hairis it real?among many other politicsrelated topics.Three Democrats and twelve Republicans are currently in the running, but these numbers willbe significantly reduced in the spring when the primaries occur and one candidate is selectedfrom each party. Then, one single candidate will be elected president by voters in the fall of2016. Whether you are eligible to vote or not, the following information on the major candidatesof each party and the opinions of Maumee Valley students may help you sort your preferencesout.
Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders have established themselves as the leadingDemocratic candidates. Clinton is a persuasive, wellknown politician who is highly experienced:not only has she run for president in the past, but she has also served as Secretary of State,United States Senator from New York, and First Lady. She attended Yale Law School, and wasnamed one of the most influential lawyers in the country by the National Law Journal. She isconcerned with issues like climate change and energy, prevention of gun violence, health care,women’s rights, and affordable college tuition. Bernie Sanders does not have as broad a rangeof political experience as Clinton, though he has served as mayor of Burlington and Senator ofVermont, but his ideas are fresh, bold, and thoughtprovoking. He wants to make collegetuitionfree, create more jobs that pay decent wages, and put a stop to racial injustice as well asincome inequality.
Marco Rubio, Donald Trump, Jeb Bush, and Ben Carson are the major candidates from the Republican Party. Rubio is a United States Senator from Florida, and he is concerned with honoring veterans, protecting senior citizens, and putting a stop to gun violence while protecting the Second Amendment right of the American people. Trump is a reality TV show star and a real estate entrepreneur who also supports protecting the Second Amendment right, as well as building a border wall between the United States and Mexico and ensuring that veterans have access to proper health care. Jeb Bush, a former governor of Florida and a well known political figure because of his relation to George W. Bush and George H. Bush, wants to defeat ISIS,strengthen border security, and protect the privacy of American citizens by making the Internet more secure. Ben Carson is a retired neurosurgeon, and he hopes to eliminate Common Core education, prevent the country’s debt from increasing by creating a Balanced Budget Amendment (which states that the country cannot spend more money than it brings in) and keep open Guantanamo Baya high security prison in Cuba where terrorists are held.
Maumee Valley students have a variety of views on which candidate will make the best president. Aubrey Hockin, sophomore, says, “I don’t have a preferred candidate, I just don’t want Trump or Clinton. Carson seems okay.” Sneha Kamath, freshman, strongly stated that Bernie Sanders was her favorite candidate, because “his idea of free college is great for our community.” Emma LK, sophomore and member of Young Democrats Club, also supports Bernie Sanders. She says, “BERNIE 2016!!! I like his stance on all of the issues and the way he’s running his campaign without the backing of billionaires.” Susu Alkhalili, freshman, is fairly neutral on this topic; however, she would choose Sanders or Clinton as her favorite candidate if she had to. A survey was also sent out to Maumee Valley high school students, and out of the seventy-eight respondents (which is about 40% of the high school population), 11.54% associated themselves with the Republican Party, 53.85% associated themselves with the Democratic Party, and 34.62% did not associate themselves with either party. The same group also chose a preferred candidate: 53.95% selected Bernie Sanders, 17.11% selected Hillary Clinton, 9.21% selected Donald Trump, 5.26%selected Marco Rubio, 3.95% selected Ben Carson, and 2.63% selected Jeb Bush.To learn more about any of the candidates of the 2016 presidential elections, visit theNew York Times article “Election 2016: What to Know About the Presidential Race Today” or the personal sites of each of the candidates.
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