Written by Behki Valls Moragas
“I hate Hillary and I hate Trump. If you ask me what I think it’s a giant douche versus a turd sandwich.”
These are the words of Vinnie, inhabitant of Montclair university. The New Jersey native is a candidate sceptic, as is the case for many young people in the United States. Both Clinton and Trump have had minimal millennial votes (under 30% for Clinton and 20-30% for Donald in key primaries), and there seems to be evenly distributed dislike for both, which makes for the outcome of the election unpredictable at best, and morose at worst.
When asked, Vinnie explained his dissatisfaction of the unfairness of the American system and lack of representation for other candidates. “There’s a third party candidate but nobody allows him to debate because the whole election system is rigged. His name’s Gary Johnson he’s a little bit stupid but a genuine guy.”
With 70% of supporters being under 50, Gary Earl Johnson, of the independent party, would surely, at least, be considered for some airtime, yet is easily overshadowed by the “freak show” of Trump and Clinton. The dramatics of this election have been a point of scrutiny for observers over the world, with many angered by the apparent mockery of something that should be relatively serious. Media bias of candidates (in favour of Hillary and Clinton) has been critiqued continuously, and unsurprisingly, other candidates are failing to keep up, let alone be able to compete.
Getting closer to the Finish Line
Daniel, a transfer student from Bournemouth University, has been in Montclair since the end of August, and is experiencing the end of campaigning first hand;
Daniel, a transfer student from Bournemouth University, has been in Montclair since the end of August, and is experiencing the end of campaigning first hand;
“In those stupid little gift shops you get Trump t-shirts and Hillary t-shirts, and you get them as masks, they’re sort of playing on that a lot. But saying that, we saw a guy in front of Trump tower wearing a t-shirt saying ‘dump trump’… I think everyone is getting tired of it really,” he mused.
It’s not only the people in the eastern states who seem to be growing weary. Des Moines has seen protesting through mock campaign signs, ranging from locals nominating their pets to more nihilistic ones proclaiming doom for the US. With similar dissatisfaction coming from other states and groups, campaign events would appear to have been blown out of proportion by the media, yet seem to cause further dramatics.
“[The university] warned us to stay away from rallies, for safety reasons.”
It seems that 2016’s Presidential election has started a new trend in political campaigning, offering more excitement and overzealous theatrics more commonly found in reality television. While this has been entertaining from an observer’s point of view, it has created unrest, and has left a majority of American people having to decide which is the lesser of two evils.
Is this how the leader of the free world should be elected?
Leave a Reply