I am a 19-year-old female from the state of Washington. I am registered to vote in Washington, but that is about as far as my political knowledge goes. I have been following the political race mostly through what shows up on my social media. I do not watch the debates and I don’t have in-depth knowledge of each candidate's policies. I have been on Bernie Sander’s website once for a paper I wrote back in September. I do intend to vote in the election and I do intend to become more informed, but I thought I would share what a politically uninformed young adult (me) knows about the political race.

The political race through my eyes has been mostly through social media, and as the race has progressed, many things have changed. When this race began, all I ever heard about was Donald Trump and his theories. Back when Trump first announced his candidacy, there seemed to be some new news everyday about things Donald Trump did or said. Frankly, the fact that Donald Trump was and is being taken seriously at all as a potential candidate makes me want to avoid the presidential election overall. Trump still shows up every once in a while, but I am beginning to notice more about the candidates that people I know seem to be rooting for.

As I said, I was born and raised in Washington State. Overall, Washington is a generally more liberal state. This is becoming very clear to me as I know absolutely nothing about Ted Cruz’s policies or who else is even left in the Republican Party race beyond Donald Trump. Besides building walls and banning immigrants, I could not tell you how Donald Trump intends to deal with any other issues currently facing America. This might be true of people with more information than me, but it is absolutely the case for me. I really only know who Ted Cruz is because he has beat Donald Trump in some primaries. What I do know about, however, is the Democratic Party candidates.

Actually, I do not really know very much about Hillary Clinton. I know she is hoping to be the first woman president of the United States, which could be very good. I also know she is often surrounded by scandals. I know that it is a close race between Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders for who will win the democratic candidacy.

Bernie Sanders -- I can tell you a lot about him. Or at least more than any of the other candidates. I know that he wants to tax the rich and give to the poor. I know he runs on a platform of being for the people. I know he is often criticized because people believe his campaign and plan is to closely aligned with socialism.

Obviously, I know very little on politics and need to do some research before voting time comes around in November. I think its important to show how presidential candidates media presence effects young voters like me. I have also realized just through writing this article that where one comes from affects what one sees. My upbringing in a liberal state gives me knowledge of liberal candidates (who yes I probably will vote for), but it leaves me lacking knowledge that I should have.

I would encourage young people to learn about what is going on in the political arena and to vote. Avoiding learning and the election is how our country will end up with Donald Trump as president and I do not want that. Educate yourself and use social media for good.