Although we are still a year from electing our next president, the race for party nominations are officially underway.

The Republican field started with a total of eighteen candidates, and is now down to fifteen due to Rick Perry, Bobby Jindal and Scott Walker dropping out. As of recently, however, it has looked as though only a few of the candidates actually have a chance at winning, due to not only the debate rules but also a recent poll held by CNN, which has Trump leading at twenty two percent, Ben Carson at twenty percent, and Marco Rubio in third with twelve percent. Jeb Bush, who was an early favorite to be win the Republican nomination, has done nothing to assert himself in the already crowded field, and desperately needs a breakout debate performance on December 15 to remain a viable candidate.

“I’ve been shocked and appalled by Donald Trump’s success in the polls, as I’m sure many students have been as well,” said senior Marcus Hicks.

 The Democratic race, on the other hand, seems to be much more compact in terms of the number of candidates and who’s leading in the polls. There was only six candidates to begin with, and three dropped out immediately following the first debate. Bernie Sanders, Martin O’Malley, and Hillary Clinton are the only candidates left. O’Malley needs a very strong debate performance on December nineteenth or he too will be at risk of dropping out.

You can check out the full debate schedule right here: uspresidentialelectionnews.org/2016-debate-schedule.