One of the greatest perks of attending a Big Ten University like Michigan State is having the opportunity to meet a diverse group of people. As election day came up, students at MSU were fearful of the results. I walked around campus asking several students about being first time voters and their thoughts about the election. Here are some their responses:
Rachel Posler
Northville, MI.
Senior
Q: What were your reasons for voting for Hillary?
R: I voted for Hillary because Donald Trump's whole thing on woman is just garbage. I think he's racist, he only cares about rich people and that's not going to help me out in the future.
Q: Do you feel that there were any issues during the presidential debates that weren't addressed that you would have liked to seen covered?
R: I think it was just a lot of defending what they did. So nobody really answered any questions it was more just like Donald Trump saying, "Oh you're wrong about this I didn't say this," and Hillary's like "Emails, emails can we stop about the emails." And I feel like nothing was really resolved.
Q: What do you think this means for Women's Rights that we could have potentially had the first women President?
R: I voted for Hillary but I wish we had a better candidate for women. But I think it's awesome because it's been a long time and Susan B. Anthony would be pretty proud of this. I wish she could rise from the grave and vote, but she can't.
Q: What has been your biggest political influence?
R: Well the thing is when I came to college I kind of just had my dad's beliefs as more of family and then now that I have all these very liberal friends my families like super upsett I went here and their like you're like totally denying your beliefs. So Thanksgiving is going to be really fun this year.
Alysha Sharir
Malaysia
Freshman
"Where I come from we don't like tell people who we vote for. Kind of like everyone keeps low key like quiet but over here everyone's like I'm going to vote for Hillary or I'm going to vote for Trump."
Killian O'Conner
Clinton Twp, MI.
Freshman
"Trump just comes off as really arrogant and doesn't sound very smart. Doesn't sound like he's going to do anything. He makes it sound like he's going to do stuff but he has no real method. I didn't hear either candidate talk about the environment or stuff. But, I'm not really sure what either's policies are."
Shreyas Talamakki
Canton, MI.
Freshman
Q: So you are not voting in this election?
S: I am not voting.
Q: What is your opinion about the American structure of politics?
S: It's a two party system so which I don't really think is ideal because you only have two choices. Even if there is a third party candidate normally they harm the chances of the other candidate from winning.
Q: If you were voting who would you be voting for?
S: Probably Hillary. Initially I was with Bernie Sanders but since she became the presumptuous nominee if I had a choice I would have gone with her.
Q: If she is elected what do you think she will do for women's rights?
S: She might advocate more pro choice laws which she is for that issue. I think she will maybe improve women's wages too.
Q: Do you think that social media has had a negative or positive impact on the election?
S: I think that it has a positive impact because it has helped Hillary reach a broader audience.
There you go folks. Here's what some of your fellow peers think. Remember: Not every political discussion has to be a debate it can simply be just a conversation between two people.
