How will seniors vote

  “Be a good candidate, have a good policy, don’t try to win us over, ” said Quinn Oberg, senior at HR, when asked how he thought a presidential candidate could win youth votes. HR seniors have strong opinions on the presidential race, but what are their concerns, and how do they feel about the candidates and how they address their needs?

  According to the article “The Shrinking Youth Vote: Why 2016 May Be More Competitive Than Pundits Predict” from, dated on December 16, 2014, the youth voters’ share of the electorate dropped from 18% in 2008 to 13% in 2012. Many of the current HR seniors will be able to vote in November, and it seems that they are generally more willing to vote than the national average – in a survey about their vote taken by 38 seniors,  only 5 have declared they aren’t going to vote, and 1 has admitted to being undecided.

  The same survey brings to attention the seniors’ political preferences, which are just as diverse as in the rest of the country. While the general attitude is leaning towards more moderate candidates, like Marco Rubio, Ted Cruz and Hillary Clinton, more radical runners like Bernie Sanders and Donald Trump also find supporters.

  Christian Green, senior, felt like teens are easily impressionable in the vote: “Teens are voting for the most relevant candidate, someone who has a bold offensive; that is why Trump is so likable, he has a bolder plan.”

  According to the survey, quite a few seniors do not feel knowledgeable enough to support a certain candidate, or feel like none is worthy to be supported.

  There is one runner who receives mostly positive feedback in the survey, both from supporters and non-supporters – Bernie Sanders. Most of the feedback on him is about his electoral promise to make college tuition free, which reflects the main concern of seniors – education. Others issues that seniors in the survey have mentioned as caring about are environmental protection and national security.

   But seniors have more pressing concerns about candidates – an anonymous written answer from one of the survey participants stated that it would be good “If they even mentioned our age group in their speeches”, while Oberg, when asked what is the biggest problem of this presidential race, said, “Too much money in campaigns”.

   HR seniors’ political opinions represent the whole diversity of the US voters. Just like the rest of the country, everybody will vote for the one who defends or promises to defend their interests the best. When asked for advice to other seniors, Green said, ”Please vote smart (…) do your homework on candidates.”

Vlaicu Motrescu, Staff Reporter

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Survey results; total particpants: 38 people. PhotoCo: Vlaicu Motrescu