“It’s not very right to tell people their opinions are wrong,” said senior Mallory Mitchell, who supports Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump. “I think people should be entitled to their own opinions.”
This election is full of extreme opinions, from Democratic socialist Bernie Sanders to businessman Trump. The people are just as divided.
In a primary held throughout the school, conducted with a survey by The Omniscient through student email, the Democratic polls declared Sanders the nominee, whereas the Republican polls decided on Trump. This is a slightly different turnout than the North Carolina polls that declared Hillary Clinton the winner for the democratic party but kept Trump the Republican frontrunner.
“I’m supporting Bernie Sanders,” sophomore Rania Kazmi said. “What his campaign is centered on is making sure that everyone in America is equal and that this really is the melting pot, that everyone in America is happy and safe. He’s fighting for rights for women, trans people, gay people, agender people, so on and so forth…. Mainly I’m supporting him because it affects me a lot, because I’m super gay and also Muslim.”
Sanders is best known for his ideas of taxing the wealthy to make college tuition free and fighting discrimination.
Trump’s ideals are on the opposite end of the spectrum. He is best known for his immigration policy of building a wall on the border of the U.S. and Mexico, intending for the Mexican government to fund this, and his anti-trade with China speeches on the basis that the country is destroying the United States’ economy.
“I like his immigration policy, not necessarily the wall policy; I also like his gun rights policy and his economic policy,” Mitchell said.
Some say a reason that these candidates are gaining popularity is the concept of anti-establishmentarianism.
“For the past 20 years, there’s been this established way of politics, and not very much gets done,” said junior Nolan Holmberg, who supports Sanders. “Generally, anti-establishment candidates are not funded by large corporations or huge banks or stuff like that. For instance, Bernie Sanders isn’t taking Super PAC money. Candidates like Donald Trump…for the most part, he is funding his own campaign. I do admire those things about Bernie Sanders and Donald Trump, about how they’re not going to have their views change because of someone else’s money.”
Anti-establishmentarianism is possibly the one thing that both Sanders and Trump supporters agree on.
“I’m fed up with the establishment and special interest groups having control over politicians,” said junior Nicholas Cantin, who supports Trump.
There are still establishmentarian candidates earning votes, such as former Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton, who has won the North Carolina primaries.
“I’m supporting Hillary Clinton,” junior Destiny Bryant said. “She is a very strong woman, she knows what she’s doing and she’s already had an office close to the president being secretary of state…. I think her being a woman is amazing; we need a woman president, because women don’t have the rights that they need.”
Other students also support Clinton.
“She supports women’s rights, and she is tolerant, kind and supportive of everything I stand for,” senior Skyler Waugh said. “I think it’s time we get a lady president in the White House…. I think that everything Hillary stands for is important.”
With a ballot full of “extreme” prospects, some voters seek a candidate that falls more central on the political scale.
“I’m supporting John Kasich,” senior John Dunning said. “He’s a moderate guy, he’s trying to work with both sides and his economic policies line up with the ones I think are best for the country.”
– By Emmy Robertson