With presidential primaries and caucuses in full swing, it seems that every time I open any form of social media, I’m bombarded with political posts, tweets and advertisements.

Having grown up in a traditionally republican area of the country, I’m a little surprised as to the number of people I’m friends with who are in support of Bernie Sanders -- a Democratic Socialist.

While I’m glad that my friends are utilizing their right to vote, I hope that they do their research so that they fully understand what voting for a democratic socialist means.

In June of last year, Julia Glum for the International Business Times wrote in her article, “Poll data indicates young Americans are warming to socialism in the run-up to the 2016 presidential election, but many can’t identify what exactly the term means.”

From this, I gather that many of my peers are in favor of something that they can’t even define. To me, voting like that is rather like taking an exam without knowing what subject it’s on.

Millennials have definitely warmed up to socialism, and subsequently Sanders, as the days have moved closer to the democratic nomination. This article from The Huffington Post tells that 41 percent of millennial democrats support Sanders, while only 35 percent support Clinton.

I think a huge factor of why millennials are in support of Sanders is because he throws around terms like ‘free healthcare’ and ‘free college’ and they think, “Hey, I like free stuff; he’s got my vote.”

Jesse Watters, a Fox News reporter, travels around the United States to ask random citizens questions about current events, political happenings and general United States history. Recently, Watters travelled to the University of Oregon to ask questions to students supporting Sanders.

Watters asked one student, “How’s Bernie gonna make college free?” The student responded by saying, “Um I believe he’s taking taxes from...I can’t remember.”

Unfortunately, what millennials fail to realize about these promised ‘free’ things, is that there is no way these things can be free. At the end of the day, someone has to pay for that x-ray or sociology course. The student mentioned above is right, Sanders does plan to pay for these ‘free’ things through taxes, but if it’s being paid for, is it really free?

So, at the end of the day, regardless of who you vote for and where your political beliefs may fall, make sure that you’ve done your research and you’re not voting blindly.