The Presidential Debates

The+Presidential+Debates

Mitchelle Mojekwu

The presidential elections are soon to come and discussion has arisen on the candidates. During electoral campaigns it’s become a custom for the candidates to engage in debates. During these forums, candidates discuss the most controversial issues of the time.  Arguably, many of the elections have been decided by these debates. For the 2020 presidential primary, there will be 12 debates. So far there have been three. Curious if high schoolers are keeping up with them, I asked them:

Have you been keeping up with the Presidential debates or campaigns as a whole?

“No, I’ve just been hearing about it from Trevor Noah’s YouTube videos. He’s so funny,” said Debbie Mojekwu, ‘23.

What Debbie is talking about is Trevor Noah’s “Voting with Conviction in 2020” youtube video. Trevor Noah has informed his viewers that he has big plans when it comes to covering President Trump and the Democrats in the 2020 election cycle.

Sherye Kam, ‘22 expressed her opinion on the campaign as well. She said, “No because I don’t have a say until I’m 18 but I know there’s an Asian guy running and that is good because Asian representation is lacking in politics; but also his stuff is kinda dumb like I’m pretty sure he’s giving 10 families 1K a month or something like???.”

The candidate Sherye mentioned is Andrew Yang of the Democratic party. His main focus is establishing a universal basic income of $1,000 per month for all Americans.

I asked one more student on whether they’ve kept up with the debates and campaign. Zora Kresak-Kiaer, ‘21 responded, “Nah, I wish though. I’ve been pretty busy with school and extracurriculars.” It’s safe to assume that some kids aren’t really focused on political events and campaigns. But at the same time they know a bit on the candidates and the process of how elections work which shows awareness, to say the least.