Who are you voting for in the 2016 election? Come November, the United States will be voting for a new President. As President Obama leaves the Oval Office, who will take his place.? Is America Feeling the “Burn”, or is Trump really trying to make America “great” again.
In a poll conducted at Colonia High School, 100 people were surveyed about politics and the candidates of the 2016 election. 61 women, and 39 men ages ranging from 13- 67. Overwhelmingly 52.5% of the votes went to Bernie Sanders and his campaign. If you were to ask around most Americans would tell you this is one hard election.
“I hate the two candidates that are gonna win the nomination… Hillary and Trump, I might stay home this election day. But feel the burn baby, feel the burn,” chanted History Teacher Mr. Parry.
Candidate Bernard “Bernie” Sanders is 74 years old, and is a Democratic candidate for President of the United States. According to his website in 2006, he was elected to the U.S. Senate after 16 years as Vermont’s sole congressman in the House of Representatives. Bernie is now serving his second term in the U.S. Senate after winning re-election in 2012 
with 71 percent of the vote. Sanders was born and raised in Brooklyn, New York; Sanders has attended both Brooklyn College and University of Chicago. While attending University of Chicago Sanders joined a group called The Young People’s Socialist League, a youth version of the socialist party; Through this organization Sanders made American history, in January of 1962 Sanders lead a sit-in outside of the president’s office at his college. The sit-in was started because of a new housing rule that stated black and white students could not live in the same dorm as one another; this was the first sit-in in Chicago history. Once he graduated from UC sanders moved up north to Burlington, Vermont, to work as a carpenter and a filmmaker. During his tour as Mayor of Burlington, Sanders brought down the housing prices and progressive taxation; he also helped by promoting environmental protection, child care, women’s rights, youth programs, and the arts. Following his career as Mayor, Sanders went on to a career in the Congress, two terms in the Senate, and now hoping to become the next President.
Second runner up was Hillary Clinton with 19.2% of the vote. Mrs. Hillary Rodham Clinton is a 68 year old women from the state of Illinois and is a Democratic candidate for the 2016 Presidency. According to her website Hillary grew up in a middle-class home in Park Ridge, a suburb of Chicago. Her dad, Hugh, was a World War II Navy veteran and a small-business owner who designed, printed, and sold drapes. Hillary’s mother, Dorothy, had a tough childhood. She was abandoned by her parents as a young child and shipped off to live with relatives who didn’t want to raise her. Clinton’s passion for human and child rights grew based off of her mother’s struggle. When Clinton was a young girl she went to a Martin Luther King Jr. speak with her church youth group, which aided in the path of a passion for social justice. Graduating from Wellesley College and Yale Law School, Clinton became very involved in social justice activism. She was also elected by her senior class at Wellesley college to be the first ever student speaker at their commencement ceremony. Clinton in her attempt to wear every hat she could find has a platform that is made up on; including raising middle class incomes, expanding women’s rights, instituting campaign finance reform, and improving the Affordable Care Act.
In a poll conducted by Good Morning America and then later tested at Colonia High School, stated that one out of every five Bernie Sanders supporters would switch parties and vote for Donald trump over Hillary Clinton, If Sanders could no longer run. When tested at Colonia High School with a test subject number of 50, conductors found that at least one out of every five Bernie Sanders supporters would vote for Trump over Clinton if Sanders was out of the race. With a total of 50 Sanders fans and 13 of them switching over to the Trump campaign shows a lack of interest on the democratic side for Hillary Clinton. For her to be able to sweep the nomination before the constant convention, Clinton needs to be able to gather more Sanders supports before they run away to the Republican side.
Third Runner up was Donald Trump with only 13.1% of the votes. The 68 year old mega billionaire businessmen, has never truly been a part of politics before the election of 2000. In New York City, in the borough of Queens, Donald Trump was born. Trump graduated from Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, and followed in the footsteps that of his father. Trump began working for his father and was later given full control of the real estate business, this is when he renamed the company to Trump. In the year 2000 Trump first campaigned for President, but withdrew before any votes were cast. Fast forward 15 years he announced his candidacy for President in the republican party. With a platform based on reducing illegal immigration, views on foreign policy and the short term ban on Muslims entering the US, did not leave most Americans with a good taste or feel in their mouth about Trump. Now nearing the end of the election, Trump is the presumptive nominee for the Republican party, as of now running unopposed.
In a poll conducted through Twitter and Facebook, citizens were asked about which political party they affiliate most with. Between the ages of 15-18 the highest recorded answer was 39 teenagers affiliated themselves with the democratic party. Overall, the democratic party won in every age group ranging from 1-39 votes. Though Mr. Meixner Math teacher at Colonia High School feels differently, he is not affiliated with any party rather “I vote based on people on opposed to parties.”
Other information gathered was that 40% of men were voting for Hillary Clinton. For a candidate who says she is running for women everywhere and is trying to fight hard for women’s rights, you’d think that she would have a higher percentage of women voting for her. Even with this dip Clinton is still beating Sanders in the primary elections. With Clinton beating Sanders by 272 delegates but needing a total of 615 delegates to clinch the nomination she is a long way off from being able to say she has the vote in the bag. In moments like these voters can see that Sanders has played the underdog card on more than one occasion and has worked for him. With sanders commonly winning different election by 10 or 15 votes, votes can see that the race isn’t over till it’s over, and with the close number of delegates shared between the democratic party this race is definitely not over.
When people were asked about if they believed if the voting age should be changed most said 63.6% of voters were okay with keeping it at 18, but Mr. Parry History teacher at Colonia High School said that “the voting ages should be 21 at least… Didn’t you hear our President (President Obama) at the Rutgers commencement speech, ignorance is not a virtue.”
High school junior Stephanie Kontra claimed that 35 was a good age to vote because you can’t run for president until then, so you should not be able to vote until you are 35. When Kontra was asked about a running mate for the candidate she wants to win (Bernie Sanders) she said, “ I think Mrs. Abrams should be his running mate.” Mrs. Abrams is her high school creative writing teacher, who also teaches freshman English.
