Democrat: Itiola Akingbola

Growing up in a very liberal household, Senior Itiola Akingbola had to adapt to her family’s beliefs. Although that’s how she was raised, Akingbola identifies herself as something else.

“I’m a little bit more moderate than my family,” said Akingbola. “But that’s what I believe in.”

In spite of the fact that Akingbola is moderate leaning, she aligns herself with the Democratic nominee, Hillary Clinton. To her, Trump has shown poor choices and lacks the presidential traits the country desperately needs.

“Trump has only worked for himself,” said Akingbola. “Hillary is progressive, she can work with both sides. She’s a good person, she’s worked for the people for the past 30 years. She is a true leader and I think that’s the one trait that America needs right now.”

Although Akingbola thinks Clinton is the right choice for the country, she thinks that Clinton is too guarded and needs to be more personal.

“I wish she could show the real Hillary.” said Akingbola.

According to her, Clinton may seem distant, but she also thinks that Clinton was precise and prepared during the presidential debates.

“Donald Trump had a good first section but he lost it, he was cornered by Hillary and he showed the American people that he is not ready to lead.”

But what issues does Akingbola believe in that make her side with Clinton? To her, foreign policy is very important, as well as a woman’s right to make her own decisions about her body. She also believes that the wealthy shouldn’t have a lower tax rate than a working family should.

“Those are the issues that I think are very important right now.” said Akingbola.

As Clinton leads the polls, Akingbola expects Clinton to win in a landslide and take action immediately.

“I think she should start working on congress. It was a crazy election and they need to show the American people that they’re ready to work. That they’re ready to work along the aisle and get things done.” said Akingbola.

While a majority of students don’t get much coverage about political news, Akinbola does stay updated, mainly through the social media platform, Twitter. As students argue that they lack the political knowledge due to coverage, Akinbola suggests looking thoroughly before making a political standpoint.

“It’s a really good way to get recent, updated news but it’s also [has] bias sometimes so you have to look for good sources.” commented Akingbola.

As a Democrat, Akingbola recommends that the Republican side gets their act together and get back the principles that started their party or they will be decimated.

“If they keep going in that direction, the Republican party will no longer [exist],” said Akingbola.

Republican Side: Cat Jeng

Armed with fliers and decked out in a Trump T-shirt, Sophomore Cat Jeng stationed herself in front of Gunston’s entrance at 6:45pm, ready to greet parents who were attending back to school night. While volunteering, a man began accusing her of being ignorant and stupid for being a Trump supporter.

“I was standing there volunteering and he’s talking down to me like I’m a little child, and that I don’t know what I’m talking about,” said Jeng. “I think that’s really wrong, but that’s how our

world works right now.”

Jeng supports Trump for a number of reasons, among them is her belief that he will lead the country in a better direction economically.

“In my opinion, Hillary Clinton doesn’t fully understand that you can’t have everything for free, without someone paying for it,” she said. “I feel that Donald Trump would do a better job fixing the economy.”

Though she supports Trump, she recognizes that he is not without his fault, like the perceived lack of professionalism he shows in front of the media and at the debates.

“[He] could have been a little bit more calm with the way that he was telling Hillary she was wrong and could’ve done without the interruptions,” said Jeng.

While following the elections and debates, Jeng decided that she doesn’t hate Hillary or the Republican party. Although she wasn’t fond of Hillary’s performance in the debates, despite any positive feelings she may harbor for the Democratic party.

“Clinton was quite condescending, and I thought the first debate was very sketchy with all of the accusations going on about how she possibly had the questions ahead of time,” she said. “[She] also got a lot of extra talking time, and kind of ran Trump over whenever he would try to explain something.”

One of the recurring topics brought up at the Presidential debates was that of illegal immigration, which Jeng feels very strongly about.

“I believe in deporting people who came over illegally. Not all immigrants are illegal and I think it’s wrong that they get a free pass on everything. Our school system takes in a lot of not-so-legal immigrants and gives them a pardon. I think it’s absolutely disgusting and unfair.”

However, despite Jeng’s fervent support of Trump, there is one topic they disagree on.

“I am pro-choice. I believe that a woman’s body is a woman’s body, and no one has the right to tell her what to do. I’m not for abortion, I believe women should make that decision,” said Jeng.

Throughout this election, social media has played a crucial role, but Jeng has remained cautious when viewing posts on platforms like Twitter and Instagram and chooses to carefully decipher those posts.

“I actually run my own page on Instagram. I don’t follow it so closely on social media because a lot of it is not so much opinionated, but tinkered with and includes lots of lies. It’s really hard to follow is and distinguish what’s true and not true.”