The 2020 election is coming up in one month, and as it anticipated as one of the most important elections in history, Expressions decided to ask San Luis Obispo High School students about who they want to win and who they think actually will.
Expressions: First, how would you describe your political views?
English teacher Brian Moss: While as a teacher, I don’t want to impose my own beliefs or political views on students, I certainly have strong convictions. I’d describe myself as a far-left leaning democratic socialist. Our country’s history is stained with injustice, oppression, and disparity. While some progress has been made, we’ve still got a ton of work to do. I believe that the concept of equality in the United States is a myth. Our entire society functions to keep those with wealth, privilege, and power propped up, often at the expense of others, and only offers limited opportunities, rife with obstacles, to marginalized groups. I’m a proponent of Black Lives Matter, gun control, LGBTQ rights, gender equity, universal healthcare, immigration and criminal justice reform, and broadly narrowing the economic gap.
Senior Vivian Swenson-Ruiz: Leftist Libertarian.
Senior Tanner Van Brasch: I’d say I’m an Independent leaning towards the Right.
Criminal Justice teacher Curtis Barlett: Conservative.
Senior Sonja Cowgill: I would definitely say I’m Liberal.
Expressions: Of the two nominees or any past candidates, who do you want to be the next president?
Moss: Although I would have liked to have seen some younger candidates from diverse backgrounds in the race, given the options, my initial choices were Warren and Sanders. That being said, at this point, Biden, whether I like him or not, will get my vote. Any alternative or lesser of two evils works for me. Frankly, I think a brick dressed up in a suit and tie would do a better job than our sitting president.
Swenson-Ruiz: I want Biden to win. He’s the best option for women, immigrants, people of color—everyone that Trump seems to have a bias against. Biden will help us progress past Trump’s phenomenal mistakes. He does have some controversy surrounding him, but I’d rather settle for Biden than have Trump in office again.
Bartlett: I prefer Trump over Biden due to the Socialist influence currently in the Democratic Party.
Cowgill: I hope that Joe Biden wins the election, even though he is nowhere near my first choice. In many ways important to the position of president—even though he is not an ideal candidate—Biden is more competent than Trump.
Expressions: Of the two nominees, who do you think has a better chance of winning?
Moss: At this point, I think it could go either way. Vote. Many people were shocked by the results of the last election. I wasn’t. This country is polarized, and the potential for foul play and disputed results is high. Expect the unexpected. On a side note, the electoral college negates true democracy and should be abolished.
Van Brasch: I think Trump will win the election because of how his last four years went, which included having the lowest unemployment rate in the last 50 years (pre-COVID-19). He is much more mentally sharp than Biden and when he proposes ideas he delivers instead of making false promises. For example, working with North and South Korea on a peace treaty. Most importantly, he doesn’t get pushed around and is for the people; he already lost 1 billion dollars just by running for President.
Swenson-Ruiz: Again, I hope Biden wins but Trump has an almost cult-like following: the people who support him will never change their minds about him being ‘the best person for the job.’ I would hope that this isn’t the case, but I don’t have faith in people to see how terrible Trump is and has been for this country.
Bartlett: Not really sure, but I’m leaning towards thinking that Biden will win.
Cowgill: It’s difficult to tell, but I think Biden has a better chance of winning, especially based on recent polls and the breaking news about Trump’s income taxes.
SLOHS history teacher Seamus Perry: As the race currently stands, it is Biden’s to lose. Though the polling was off in 2016, I think many of the polling organizations have adjusted and are properly rebalancing their data. So, based on the current polling and without considering ‘swing states,’ Biden is leading in states with 250 or so electoral votes, while Trump only has 170 or so. This means Trump effectively has to sweep the swing states to win. It’s possible, but unlikely, particularly given that we only have a few weeks left before the election. My cautious prediction is Biden with 291 electoral votes to 247 for Trump. If Biden does better than expected, I could see him getting close to or more than Obama in 2008, who received 365 electoral votes. So, there’s still a lot of uncertainty, but the path for Biden to win is much wider than Trump’s.
