The upcoming 2024 presidential election has been causing stirs in the political world. Every single outcome will profoundly affect our country’s future, deciding the direction of the next four years of our lives.
“Right now, it’s looking at a 50-50, which is surprising,” said Jake Sim, a seventh-grader on the Dream Team.
According to a poll sent out to RCMS students, out of the 41 responses, 48.8% of students stated that they followed politics, and 51.2% stated that they didn’t.
Furthermore, 55.3% of students support the Democratic Party and 26.3% support the Republican Party. In addition, 13.2% of students support neither party, 2.6% support the We the People party and 2.6% support the Green Party.
Jake said, “I will support whichever side has the better morals and beliefs.”
Presidential Candidates
The 2024 presidential election has just turned into a rematch between Donald Trump and Joe Biden, the winners of the primary election. Both candidates have been president before. Donald Trump served a four-year term from 2017-2021, and Joe Biden is the current president. Both candidates seem to be evenly matched in terms of popularity.
According to The Hill on May 20, the public opinion is evenly split between Trump and Biden, with each candidate at 44.8%.
However, in the student population, although Biden seems to have more support, more students think Trump is set to win.
Keira Ferrara, a seventh-grader on the Majestics Team, supports Trump.
“My parents voted for him,” said Keira when asked why.
Rakshana Damodaran, an eighth-grader on the Dream Team, leans more toward Nikki Haley, who dropped out before the primary election.
“I feel like the country should have a younger president,” she said.
Some students and faculty members have mixed feelings about both candidates. Mr. William Darr, the Discovery Team civics teacher, stated that he wasn’t sure of which side to vote for.
“I have a lot of conflicting views,” he said.
A portion of the student body also leans towards voting Joe Biden.
“Biden is a firm believer of NATO and that working together can solve problems,” Jake said. “Trump is America first and border issues.”
The poll also found that 25.6% of students who responded support Biden, and 25.6% are undecided. The next highest demographic was 18.6% of students who supported Nikki Haley, then Donald Trump, Jason Palmer and Vivek Ramaswamy tied at 9.3%. Lastly, 2.3% of students who responded support Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
Winning candidate
In the same poll, 56.4% of students responded that they thought Trump would be the winning candidate, and 33.3% answered that they thought Biden would be the winning candidate. Further, 7.7% weren’t sure who would come out on top, and 2.6% thought Robert F. Kennedy Jr. would win.
Rithik Samanthula, an eighth-grader on the Explorers team, said he believed Donald Trump would win.
“The population generally agreed that Biden hasn’t passed a lot of bills,” he said.
Rakshana said that she didn’t support Donald Trump.
“I don’t really trust a president with a criminal record,” said Rakshana.
Mr. Darr cited the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol.
“He seems comfortable with provoking what a lot of the founders would have called mob violence,” he said.
On the other hand, Keira said Trump might lower prices.
“He might stop importing gas from China and making the gas prices so high,” she said.
Silvia Metcalf, a seventh-grader on the All Stars team, said that one of the cons of Biden was his age.
“If Biden serves another term he might die in the term,” she says.
Mr. Darr said age is only one factor.
“Biden stands a bit more for preserving some of the traditional things in government,” said Mr. Darr.
Presidential focus
The president’s main focus in their next term is also something that should be determined. According to the Pew Research Center, some of the biggest issues in America today range from economic problems like inflation, healthcare costs, and the budget, to drug addiction, gun violence, and violent crime.
Mr. Darr said, “I think that the most powerful thing that unity in the country is the general principles that the government was founded on.”
The next presidential election will be on Nov. 5 and will decide the U.S. president for the next four years.
“The constitution was created to try to make room for disagreement and difference,” Mr. Darr said.
