On Tuesday, the time will come for Americans to elect the president that will govern the country for the next four years.
Due to the drastically different platforms of each candidate, this has been a high tension, polarizing election grabbing the attention of Albion College students along with the rest of the United States.
Republicans on Campus
For the Republican Party, current President Donald J. Trump is running for re-election.
“His economic policy is the biggest for me and general across the board,” said Cameron Hall, a sophomore from South Lyon and current Albion College Republicans president. “What he’s done to bring jobs back to the US, to try and eliminate outsourcing.”
Hall said that he, along with his family members back home, plans to vote in person on election day for President Trump to serve his second term in the oval office.
Growing up, Hall said he has always leaned to the right when it came to politics. Coming to college, Hall’s political beliefs didn’t change.
“I feel like my views have been re-enforced since being here,” said Hall.
Democrats on Campus
For the Democratic Party, former Vice President Joe Biden is running for the presidential election.
“I just filled out my absentee ballot yesterday,” said Sara Crisenberry, a senior from Jackson.
Crisenberry said, due to the fact that we have created an Albion Bubble and students aren’t supposed to leave campus, she felt like the absentee ballot was the way to vote. This restriction goes alongside the regulations put into place to protect students from COVID-19.
“I was going to do that anyways because of the whole pandemic thing,” said Amber Zoerman, a junior from Holland. “It’s just easier for me. One, not having to drive even without all these Albion bubble restrictions. And with the bubble, I think it’s really important anyways.”
Zoerman also shares similar political beliefs with her family.
“My mom has always been a Democrat,” said Zoerman. “She voted for Obama twice and she hates Trump.”
Unlike Zoerman and her family, not everyone voting for the Democratic Party did so in 2016. Some people who voted for Trump in 2016 aren’t voting for him in this year’s election.
“My family is all voting for the same presidential candidate,” said Crisenberry. “In the past, my mom did vote for Trump, but she has seen he didn’t do a very good job, and she is voting Democrat this time. My dad is going with the choice that’s pro-choice, pro-LGBT and pro-women’s rights.”
Zoerman said that many of the reasons she finds herself voting for Biden stem from the things that make her who she is, including her background with some of the more controversial issues such as the Affordable Care Act and Planned Parenthood.
“I looked at this as a lesser of the two evils,” said Crisenberry. “I don’t agree with everything he is running for, but I know for sure that I was not going to vote [for] Trump.”
College is the time where people find who they are and for Zoerman and Crisenberry, and Hall on the other side of the political spectrum, college has strengthened their beliefs that they grew up with.
“I have always followed more of the Democratic beliefs than Republican beliefs, but I think being a political science major, I’ve definitely been able to be more educated on why I think the way I do and can kind of explain it better,” said Zoerman. “I’ve just learned more. I understand better why certain things are important and how the streams of thoughts kind of work. They haven’t changed, but I have become more educated.”
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