By Samy Long, Editor-in-Chief
http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2016/10/who-will-win/497561/
As you are reading this, we know who was elected to be the 45th President of the United States (congratulations …………….). ………………. will have her/his work cut out for her/him, because the 58th Presidential Election and all the circumstances surrounding it, drastically politically polarized the country. Due to both of the major political candidates, Donald Trump for the Republican Party and Hillary Clinton of the Democratic Party, experiencing numerous controversies, the United States split ideologically like never before. Politics in America have rarely been this divided. However, the situation wasn’t always so crazy.
The Republican Party nomination pool was very large when the election process began in 2014, with over 17 hopeful politicians fighting for the honor to represent their party for the position of President of the United States. Major contenders included Texas U.S. Senator Ted Cruz, neurosurgeon Ben Carson, Florida U.S. Senator Marco Rubio, and reality TV star and businessman Donald Trump. The political outsider (Trump) gained huge popularity due to his habit of speaking his mind, unencumbered by the constraints of “political correctness”. Some of his comments contributed to his widespread popularity, due to their controversial nature. On June 16, 2015, the same day he announced his candidacy, Trump remarked, “When Mexico sends its people, they’re not sending the best. They’re bringing drugs. They’re bringing crime. They’re rapists and some, I assume, are good people, but I speak to border guards and they’re telling us what we’re getting.” This comment became the basis for Trump’s immigration policies and naturally led to his stated goal of building a wall between the United States and Mexico, for which his campaign gained fame. After Ted Cruz and John Kasich dropped out of the running, the nomination for the Republican candidate essentially ended, and Donald Trump formally accepted his Republican nomination. His candidacy created a strong and passionate following, with Trump frequently speaking to the largest audiences of the election season. The popular candidate’s campaign hit a huge slump due to a leaked video from 2005, where the Republican nominee expressed his power to do whatever he wants with women because of his celebrity status. He essentially admitted to groping women. Following the release of the tape, multiple women came forward with accusations of past explicit experiences with Donald Trump, and his poll numbers hit an all time low.
From the get go, Hillary Clinton was seen as having no competition for the Democratic Presidential nomination after announcing her candidacy on April 12, 2015. However, she was given a run for her money from Vermont Senator, Bernie Sanders, who announced his candidacy on April 30th, 2015 and enthralled the youth vote and created a huge movement for grassroots change. The Senator captured a demographic notorious for abstaining from politics with his promises of free higher education and high taxes on the richest of the rich. Sanders surprised everyone by losing to Clinton in the first caucus in Iowa by only 0.2%. Despite a tough contest, Hillary Clinton announced her acceptance of the nomination at the Democratic National Convention on July 28th, 2016. Clinton announced her Vice-President, Tim Kaine, on July 22, 2016. Just five days before her acceptance, Wikileaks released over 20,000 emails from the Democratic National Committee. These emails exposed the inherent media bias against Bernie Sanders since the beginning of the race. Along with the DNC email leak, Clinton also faced an email scandal of her own after using her personal email account for top-secret government communications while serving as President Obama’s Secretary of State. It was also reported that up to 30,000 emails were deleted by Clinton or her staff. In July 2016, FBI Director James Comey announced that although Clinton was careless, she did not do anything criminal and she would not be indicted. This sparked controversy throughout the country as those who already believed her to be untrustworthy now believed the system was rigged in her favor. Her trustworthiness became a major factor in Clinton’s campaign, and a major reason for her unfavorability. As bad as her unfavorability became, it never reached Trump’s lows.
A week before the election, the FBI started leaking more anti-Clinton documents and emails. Time will tell how much that hurt Clinton.
Because of both candidates’ unpopularity, many potential voters started considering third-party candidates as a viable option. Libertarian nominee Gary Johnson gained a large amount of media attention as people began to realize they wanted to vote for neither candidate. Johnson was available on all fifty ballots as a Presidential nominee, a feat that not many third-party candidates can claim. The Green Party’s nominee, Jill Stein, also gained some steam as an alternative to hardcore Bernie Sanders supporters who were also tired of the United States’ major party candidates.
Vacaville High School students weighed in on the election by showing who they would vote for, if they could. Out of 1892 students in the school, The Bark conducted a poll with a sample size of 200 students who were randomly selected to participate. The students were given the option to choose between Hillary Clinton, Donald Trump, Gary Johnson, Jill Stein, or Undecided. We asked 50 students from each grade to “vote”. These students came from AP Calculus BC, French III, Biology 9, World History, AP English Literature and Composition, Newspaper, United States History, Integrated 1, Yearbook, English 10, and English 9. A majority of the student population, 35.8%, remained undecided or abstained from having an opinion between the Presidential candidates. Within Vacaville High School, Clinton won the popular vote, earning 31.3% of the vote, followed by Trump at 25.4%. Third-party candidates Johnson and Stein scored a combined total of 7% of the remaining votes. According to the results of this poll, Hillary Clinton would have won the presidency for Vacaville High School, assuming that the undecided voters remained undecided, or refrained from voting.
The 2016 Presidential Election was conducted on November 8th, 2016 with _______ winning the popular vote. In December 2016, the Electoral College will formally choose the President of the United States based on the votes of the people, but there will not likely be a difference between the popular vote and the Electoral College’s decision. The new President will be sworn in on January 20th, 2017.
The Republican Party nomination pool was very large when the election process began in 2014, with over 17 hopeful politicians fighting for the honor to represent their party for the position of President of the United States. Major contenders included Texas U.S. Senator Ted Cruz, neurosurgeon Ben Carson, Florida U.S. Senator Marco Rubio, and reality TV star and businessman Donald Trump. The political outsider (Trump) gained huge popularity due to his habit of speaking his mind, unencumbered by the constraints of “political correctness”. Some of his comments contributed to his widespread popularity, due to their controversial nature. On June 16, 2015, the same day he announced his candidacy, Trump remarked, “When Mexico sends its people, they’re not sending the best. They’re bringing drugs. They’re bringing crime. They’re rapists and some, I assume, are good people, but I speak to border guards and they’re telling us what we’re getting.” This comment became the basis for Trump’s immigration policies and naturally led to his stated goal of building a wall between the United States and Mexico, for which his campaign gained fame. After Ted Cruz and John Kasich dropped out of the running, the nomination for the Republican candidate essentially ended, and Donald Trump formally accepted his Republican nomination. His candidacy created a strong and passionate following, with Trump frequently speaking to the largest audiences of the election season. The popular candidate’s campaign hit a huge slump due to a leaked video from 2005, where the Republican nominee expressed his power to do whatever he wants with women because of his celebrity status. He essentially admitted to groping women. Following the release of the tape, multiple women came forward with accusations of past explicit experiences with Donald Trump, and his poll numbers hit an all time low.
From the get go, Hillary Clinton was seen as having no competition for the Democratic Presidential nomination after announcing her candidacy on April 12, 2015. However, she was given a run for her money from Vermont Senator, Bernie Sanders, who announced his candidacy on April 30th, 2015 and enthralled the youth vote and created a huge movement for grassroots change. The Senator captured a demographic notorious for abstaining from politics with his promises of free higher education and high taxes on the richest of the rich. Sanders surprised everyone by losing to Clinton in the first caucus in Iowa by only 0.2%. Despite a tough contest, Hillary Clinton announced her acceptance of the nomination at the Democratic National Convention on July 28th, 2016. Clinton announced her Vice-President, Tim Kaine, on July 22, 2016. Just five days before her acceptance, Wikileaks released over 20,000 emails from the Democratic National Committee. These emails exposed the inherent media bias against Bernie Sanders since the beginning of the race. Along with the DNC email leak, Clinton also faced an email scandal of her own after using her personal email account for top-secret government communications while serving as President Obama’s Secretary of State. It was also reported that up to 30,000 emails were deleted by Clinton or her staff. In July 2016, FBI Director James Comey announced that although Clinton was careless, she did not do anything criminal and she would not be indicted. This sparked controversy throughout the country as those who already believed her to be untrustworthy now believed the system was rigged in her favor. Her trustworthiness became a major factor in Clinton’s campaign, and a major reason for her unfavorability. As bad as her unfavorability became, it never reached Trump’s lows.
A week before the election, the FBI started leaking more anti-Clinton documents and emails. Time will tell how much that hurt Clinton.
Because of both candidates’ unpopularity, many potential voters started considering third-party candidates as a viable option. Libertarian nominee Gary Johnson gained a large amount of media attention as people began to realize they wanted to vote for neither candidate. Johnson was available on all fifty ballots as a Presidential nominee, a feat that not many third-party candidates can claim. The Green Party’s nominee, Jill Stein, also gained some steam as an alternative to hardcore Bernie Sanders supporters who were also tired of the United States’ major party candidates.
Vacaville High School students weighed in on the election by showing who they would vote for, if they could. Out of 1892 students in the school, The Bark conducted a poll with a sample size of 200 students who were randomly selected to participate. The students were given the option to choose between Hillary Clinton, Donald Trump, Gary Johnson, Jill Stein, or Undecided. We asked 50 students from each grade to “vote”. These students came from AP Calculus BC, French III, Biology 9, World History, AP English Literature and Composition, Newspaper, United States History, Integrated 1, Yearbook, English 10, and English 9. A majority of the student population, 35.8%, remained undecided or abstained from having an opinion between the Presidential candidates. Within Vacaville High School, Clinton won the popular vote, earning 31.3% of the vote, followed by Trump at 25.4%. Third-party candidates Johnson and Stein scored a combined total of 7% of the remaining votes. According to the results of this poll, Hillary Clinton would have won the presidency for Vacaville High School, assuming that the undecided voters remained undecided, or refrained from voting.
The 2016 Presidential Election was conducted on November 8th, 2016 with _______ winning the popular vote. In December 2016, the Electoral College will formally choose the President of the United States based on the votes of the people, but there will not likely be a difference between the popular vote and the Electoral College’s decision. The new President will be sworn in on January 20th, 2017.