It has been four years since President Joe Biden was elected into office, meaning it is once again time for a presidential election. Although it is only the primaries, many voters are already anticipating the election.
There are currently eight nominees still in the running. Two Democrats, three Republicans and three from other independent parties. The favored candidates from these eight are Donald Trump and President Joe Biden, just like in 2020.
For many students, this is the first year they can vote in the presidential election, and many of them have mixed feelings about the candidates.
According to Circle, there are over 8 million people who will have reached voting age in 2024, meaning the young population will play a crucial role in determining the next president.
“I don't feel very represented by the people that are running for the presidency,” said Hiley Kresse, a junior studying communications.
She said feels that none of the main parties really represent her beliefs.
“I feel like the Conservative Party is very far in one direction,” she said. “Democrats are still kind of middle of the line, and they’re not taking any more strong stances on things.”
Several other students shared Kresse’s sentiment about the election and the candidates.
This year is Rowan Thompson’s, a sophomore studying integrated language arts, first time voting in a presidential election.
“I'm not super overwhelmingly supportive of either of the candidates,” said Thompson. “There are no candidates chosen yet. But any of the projected candidates, I'm not really feeling either.”
Thompson is hoping for a candidate from an independent party to make it to the general election this year. She thinks that with that there will be more variety and new ideas coming into politics.
Both Kresse and Thompson expressed that they hoped that regardless of which candidate is elected president, they follow through with the ideas and beliefs that they expressed during their campaign.
“I would prefer a candidate to be very vocal about their opinions, and what they believe is true, and what they would want to bring into a political scene,” Thompson said.
Kresse used some of President Biden’s actions as an example of this.
“I think that there's been a lot of things he has not taken super strong stances on just out of trying to preserve his presidency,” Kresse said. “I wish he would stand up and take more strong stances.”
One candidate, other than Donald Trump and President Biden, that has stood out is Nikki Haley. She is the former governor of South Carolina and a former United Nations ambassador.
Though she is making herself known, she is not necessarily well-liked among students. One stance that Nikki Haley takes is raising the age to receive Social Security to 70. Additionally, she said would want to change the retirement age. Lilly Bruggeman, a sophomore studying psychology and social work, disagrees with this stance.
“They think the retirement age should be increased to 70 when America's life expectancy is 77,” Bruggeman said. “The politicians we have now could potentially really ruin things for us just because we don't want to work until we die.”
Students also wanted to see a change in the divisiveness of politics. Thompson talked about the importance of seeing both sides of the story and how there needs to be more diverse viewpoints among elected leaders.
“Politics are very divisive, and I feel like sometimes our politicians are just playing into that and encouraging that division,” said Kate Sensenich, a junior studying English.
Regardless of which candidates make it to the general election, these students still plan on voting for whoever they think will be a better fit as the president of the U.S.
“I will still vote no matter (what) because I think that voting is important,” Kresse said. “Even if I don't 100% back to the person that all will end up voting for. I do think it's kind of a lesser of the two evils situation.”
