President Obama won another term in office on Tuesday November 6, 2012. Not only did he win the national election, but he won New Trier’s mock election as well.
Senior Sydney Weiss, a political science student and first-time voter, said she based her decision for whom to vote on the candidates’ views on the environment and on taxes.
“The environment has a lot of impact on my decision, because I want to be an environmental engineer,” Weiss said. “Ideas that [a candidate is] going to bring to the table about global warming and natural recourses encourage me to vote for that candidate.” Regarding taxes, she said, “The rich should pay more taxes than the poor, so the poor and the middle [class] are not smooshed by the weight of the taxes.”
When asked if her priorities would ever change when considering a candidate, Weiss said, “I don’t know if the environment will always be my biggest priority, but I’m definitely an advocate for women’s rights, and pro-choice, and that will always affect my decision.”
Senior Stephanie Davis, another first time voter, said she hoped to “Get down to the facts and see who’s actually working.” She initially predicted Obama would win the popular vote because of his persona. “I feel like Obama will help with gay rights, equality, and acceptance of differences in people,” she said. “Obama will break barriers between different cultures, languages, and religion.”
Overall, when students were asked about what impacts them when choosing a candidate, the replies included values, morality, principles, beliefs and leadership.
After the elections, senior Alexa Zajecka said, “I voted for Obama because he’s the lesser of two evils. The issue that most affects me is the issue on women rights. I feel like Obama’s going to bring more jobs to America and not export them out.”
On the other side of the spectrum, Republican Club member and sophomore Dylan Murphy said, “The first thing to look for in a candidate is competency; there’s a lot to look for, and sadly it comes down to your gut feeling.” He said he worries people sometimes are ignorant about complex issues and don’t take the time to thoroughly investigate both sides.
“There are a lot of people who look at one side and don’t try to educate themselves on both sides,” Murphy said. “They draw their own conclusions, and take what people give them and run with it.”
Reilly Tangen, another sophomore Republican Club member, said, “People are focusing in on social issues; we should focus more on the economy and political issues first then focus on social issues.”
Students like Tangen and Murphy, neither of whom are legal voting age, had the opportunity to vote in the SA-run mock election.
After the national election was over, Zajecka was glad it finally ended.
“We all knew Obama was going to win anyway,” she said. “I was sick of all the commercials, the videos, the phone calls, the political talking.
Regarding the election as a whole, however, history teacher James Atwell advised current and future voters, “Educate yourselves, learn about the facts of each candidate and make smart decisions.”