Poll Results

Recently Hillary Clinton has gained popularity over Donald Trump with the millennials. Which is proven in the Millennial Public Opinion poll which caught many of the International news stations eyes. The poll found that "people ages 18 to 35 prefer Clinton to Trump by 44 points." Another idea that they found was that people ages 18 to 35, "have widespread distrust of this year's presidential candidates. " With Trump's accusations, Hillary's email scandal, one could say, what's next? While many of them are experiencing distrust with this year's candidates, others are going with it. However, in a different poll Trump is ahead. But Per investors.com/politics, "Trump takes 41 percent support to Clinton's 40 percent in the Investor’s Business Daily/TechnoMetrica Market Intelligence poll released Wednesday." Even though Trump is ahead (by one point) in the poll's Most Likely to Win answers, Hillary is ahead by 32 percent.

I made a survey via Survey Monkey, for my peers at Asbury University and found that only 12.50 percent were voting Hillary after the third debate. 62.50 percent voting Trump. I also asked how strong they felt about their choice receiving responses like, "Not at all strong" to responses like, "Very strong. " and even receiving this response, "Very. Neither Trump nor Clinton are fit to be President. If the choice was only between those two, I would have to go with Trump. " I find it safe to say that there are some great trust issues with these candidates. When there's people voting for a candidate, just so they have a chance to not have the other in office, there's a problem. I also interviewed via email with a couple of students who took the survey whom had separate views on the whole election.

When interviewing these students, I asked, "Do you think that the persona of the candidate should influence who you vote for?" And one of the respondents replied, "I do not think the persona should influence who you vote for, at least not to a great extent. A great candidate can be very personable and charming, but have terrible policies. I believe policy is the most important factor in choosing a candidate." The other respondent replied, "Yes the persona of the candidate should influence your vote. Especially when thinking about foreign affairs. We cannot have a president who is disrespectful because he/she is the face of our nation." Both respondents gave well rounded answers, answers that make you think about this election deeper than you did before. Secondly I asked them, "What are the values that are important to you, that are addressed also which whom you are voting for as of right now?" The first respondent again replied, "Some values that are important to me are right to life, national security, and religious liberty. The first issue was specifically addressed in the third debate.......Clinton has experience with national security, having been Secretary of State - but has a terrible track record. I am not 100% pleased with Trump's policy on this subject, but his positions are still much sounder than Clinton's, especially on issues of immigration and terrorism." The other respondent replied, "Currently I'm voting for Gary Johnson. Economic stability and civil peace are two huge issues in our country. Trump, in my opinion, provides economic stability, but if elected, civil violence would be at an all-time high. Hillary, in my opinion, will help civil peace, but will damage our economy." Donald Trump's charming, but can he be destructive? Could he stir up civil violence? You see it all over the media, public forums, and even on new stations like NBC and CNN. The headlines containing, "Will Trump Cause a Civil War?" Well, per another poll from PoliticalForum.com, only 28.57 percent of people whom participated in this poll said there would be, while 57.14 percent say otherwise.

Could Gary Johnson Be A Better Choice?

When I shot out this survey, a couple of the students suggested that Gary Johnson could save us from the aftermath that would come to follow if Trump or Clinton were to be elected. So I dug up some more research and found that there's another poll that suggested the millennials will act the same as the last two presidential elections, by voting very heavily for the democratic nominee, but since Johnson is running, they consider share supporting a third-party candidate. And in this case, that candidate is Gary Johnson from the libertarian party. The Washington Post mentioned, "For any politician, millennials are a prized block. Roughly one in six voters have been younger than 30 in the past two presidential elections, according to Census Bureau data." Even Vanity Fair mentioned, "According to the recent Quinnipac poll, 29 percent of voters between the ages 18 and 34 would rather vote for the libertarian candidate, Gary Johnson...." Gary Johnson even visited Purdue University, and told News 18, "..most millenials are craving less government and want more social change. He said he reflects what most millennials believe in, which is making many convert to the libertarian vote." according to Wilfi.com's article on Johnson visiting Purdue. Johnson also included, "I think most millennials recognize that choice in life, freedom and liberty," ... "I should be able to decide anything in my life that I want as long as I don't harm others."

Everyone was ecstatic and the internet went crazy when Trump shared his views on abortion, but Johnson ALSO believes that the government should not fund them, but it's the women's choice. Another view of Johnson's that the millennials are about is that he approves of vouchers for church childcare & church schools. Which seems to be an opposite for Hillary.

Among all the polls, this election is a scary one. When I was talking with my interviewees they gave me more explanation on how strong they felt in their choices. Again, someone preferring Trump over the others because they didn't want Clinton, while the others are for Gary Johnson because they feel neither Trump nor Clinton could serve as president. Would Gary Johnson serve as a better president? Even if Clinton and Trump are higher in the polls? Ultimately, we have trust issues, violence scares, and so much to think about before we vote. We'll just have to see where this goes.