Beginning to avidly learn about politics during a presidential cycle may not be the best idea in the first place because there is so much to catch up on. The 2016 cycle was certainly no different. If your interest with politics was piqued recently due to your age, there was a massive influx of information--a lot of which was negative--that you had to deal with.
1. You may have begun your research with the news.
Perhaps you started with CNN, FOX or any of the other major news networks. After a couple weeks of watching clips of candidates speaking, briefly interrupted by news of another violent attack or celebrity wardrobe malfunction, something felt wrong. Maybe you thought that the reporters were biased towards one party, or you thought that the news was becoming secondary to entertainment. Either way, you may have abandoned the televised media in search of more neutral, fact-based reporting.
2. Then you might have turned to the internet.
Your hopes of finding the straight-up facts were looking a little more bright--and indeed, the third party news sources were not quite so pessimistic. At least, if they were, they were pessimistic towards both sides. You also learned about “the establishment” and developed your own opinions about it.
3. Eventually you looked up videos of the candidates talking for themselves.
You realized that many of the speeches had clearly been rehearsed, revised and performed, and it was still unclear what many of the candidates actually believed. What words were truly theirs, and what words were put there by others?
4. You realized that Trump could potentially be the future president of the United States.
5. And so could Hillary.
6. You witnessed the rise and fall of Bernie Sanders.
7. The FBI’s decision on Clinton’s email scandal might have increased your distrust in the government.
8. You may have had a massive political identity crisis if you didn’t relate to either main candidate
After all, if you’re going to vote for one of these two individuals, shouldn’t they reflect many of your values? Isn’t there another option? It seemed that no matter how many political tests you took or how much research you did, you were on a highly underrepresented point on the political spectrum.
9. So, you researched third party candidates.
10. You finally realized that the two-party system is whack, but it’s a little too late.
11. And worst of all - you didn’t have any prior elections to compare it to.
If this is your first time being aware enough of politics to follow the election, you likely were overwhelmed with realizing how many people distrusted the government and the two leading candidates. But has it always been this way? I was in middle school during the last election--don’t ask me.