From California wildfires to nationwide protests, today’s events are hard to ignore. In fact, it is contested issues such as environmental policy, coronavirus response, and healthcare regulation that are at the heart of the upcoming presidential election. Staunch differences between each candidate’s platform have divided Americans, many of which have strong preferences for who their future leader should be. Is the West community nearly as divided? To find out, I asked students to anonymously submit their preferred candidate, citing the reasons for their decision. Below are some of the responses:

“TRUMP! Great president and will keep being a great president…[Joe Biden] can’t run this country and he’s racist!!”

“Biden. Trump wants to remove the Affordable Care Act which will leave a lot of people without health insurance.”

“Biden because he believes in climate change, wants to improve education, and wants to improve healthcare.”

“Trump because he helped the economy a lot before the pandemic. I know he isn’t a great person but the unemployment rate was really low with him as president, which benefitted a lot of people.”

“Biden because he focuses on issues such as climate change and wants to abolish private prisons. I also believe he will provide more police reform, and he won’t push to take away women or LGBT rights.”

“Biden…I think Trump might legit not know what’s in the Constitution.”

“Both candidates suck.”

“Biden because of how awful Trump is. He doesn’t care about minorities, the poor, etc. In my opinion, it is very selfish to support Trump this election because your first priority is money.”

Of course, these responses don’t necessarily reflect the ratio of students who support each candidate. However, they offer insight into what issues, qualities, and policies students deem as important for the future. I encourage the West community to continue to voice such opinions—both in conversation and at the booths!