Tuesday, November 8th marks the day the United States will decide who the next President will be.

Beginning in 2015, candidates for both the Republican and Democratic parties of the United States began campaigning for their run for president. This seemingly paid off for Republican presidential candidate Donald J. Trump and Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton, who seems to have “intimidated the other candidates” to drop out before the end of the primaries, leaving only the two of them, and Bernie Sanders.

Ending June 14th of this year, primary votes named Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump Democratic and Republican nominees for the presidential election, leaving them enough time to campaign further to potentially win office in the November voting.

Besides their campaigning, Trump and Clinton have made a show out of their race on their social media accounts, especially their Twitter feed. Grey Vandeberg, a junior at Bob Jones argued,“This election is definitely one that’ll be remembered for the absolute ludicrousness of it all around. I feel like it has nothing to do with policies, plans, or common sense, but rather has everything to do with the personalities of both candidates.”

The two presidential candidates that are known all over the news are not the only ones running. Third party runners Gary Johnson, a Libertarian, and Jill Stein, a member of the Green Party are also joining the race for this year’s election.

Although Clinton is winning in numerous Trump vs. Clinton polls, does that really make her qualified? On March 10th, 2015, Clinton revealed she deleted over 30,000 emails from her government email, clearly unaware of the repercussions that could be placed upon her; however, Clinton owned up to her mistake and tried to make it right, but it is still taking the internet by storm. According to CBS News, the FBI discovered many classified emails sent using her email, causing an uproar of citizens claiming she should be imprisoned.

Throughout her campaign, however, Clinton has made it clear that she wants a fair tax system, to reform the criminal justice system, to protect animals and wildlife, women’s rights, gun violence, K-12 education, and much more. “I believe Hillary, while flawed, has presented policies that make sense,” Grey Vandeberg stated.

Disagreeing with Clinton, Chenoa Gentle, a sophomore Republican at Bob Jones stated, “My main candidate of choice out of the four is Donald Trump. I agree with his tax plan and profile for the United States.” She went on to say, “The election seems to be completely run by the media, and Trump is not the candidate I would like to see represent Republicans.” 

Donald Trump has spoken out about many of his free thoughts and opinions throughout his campaign in person and over social media. One day prior to the October 9th debate, a video clip of a conversation between Trump and Billy Bush was released by The Washington Post. In this clip, Trump used profane comments towards women. This upset many people, and 44% of voters encouraged him to drop out, according to The New York Daily News. On that day, Trump released this statement on his Twitter: “The media and establishment want me out of the race so badly – I WILL NEVER DROP OUT OF THE RACE, WILL NEVER LET MY SUPPORTERS DOWN! #MAGA.” 

Although Trump has many more flaws and mistakes, he is still pushing through to the election. Some of Trump’s policies include repairing the economy, creating more jobs, building the military, ending Common Core, protecting the Second Amendment, and more.

Like many students at Bob Jones, there are some who simply do not care for any of the candidates. “I’ve decided that both political parties are being unreasonable and are far too extreme in what they are suggesting we do,” junior Grace Billmann stated. “My neutrality has pushed me away from political parties. I’ve switched between conservative and liberal many times, but now I just don’t want to be associated with either party because neither of them represents my views.”

The other two candidates, Stein and Johnson, have their own platforms, but they are unfortunately nowhere near Trump and Clinton’s success.

None of the candidates have had a perfect run, but whose year will it be?

Early voting for this year’s presidential election begins on October 24th, and the official election day for all registered voters is November 8th. Although most students at Bob Jones are unable to vote, many students like Chenoa Gentle and Grey Vandeberg express their opinions throughout the school, which can be difficult at times because of everyone’s different views and opinions. Vandeberg said, “I don’t shy away from my opinions, and I continue to fight for what I believe to be the correct decision every day.”