With the election now over, after a very long eighteen months of campaigning for both parties, students have been able to develop their own opinions about what candidate they thought would be best for our country. During the mock election this year, BSM students showed a slight preference for Romney rather than Obama, so during the school day, students were asked, “how do you feel about President Obama getting elected to a second four year term?”
Many students felt that Governor Romney had a specific way he was going to adjust how the situation has been for the past four years. “I don’t like [Obama’s] economic policies. His thoughts about [the role of government] are wrong. Thomas Jefferson said ‘the greater the government, the smaller the people.’ I had confidence that Romney would grow the economy by giving small businesses a chance to grow,” senior Luke Musech said.
President Obama was the incumbent candidate, and students used the past four years of economic data to complement their opinions. “Our debt in our nation went up and I feel like it is only going to go up further, and [Obama’s] healthcare plan is bad for my mom because she works for a healthcare company,” senior Jarred Oftedahl said.
Although many students had strong opinions as to why Obama would not make a good president for four more years, some students showed their support for the incumbent president. “I was very satisfied with Obama being re-elected. He hasn’t changed his opinions since 2008 so that’s why I trust him,” junior Lars Oslund said.
Having been the incumbent, President Obama had the advantage of using the evidence and knowledge he gained from the past four years. “I really think that in his last term he did really well and he benefitted a lot of people especially the middle class. It’s good that he has been re-elected so he can work on that more,” sophomore Anna Kessler said.
Although some students agreed strongly with certain candidates, others found it was difficult to choose between each candidate. “I lined more with Romney, and his beliefs based on the economy. But when looking at Obama and what he has done, although it wasn’t as progressive and we haven’t seen results quickly, the economy isn’t terrible. I’m disappointed Romney didn’t win but we will be okay with Obama as our leader,” junior Kenzie Pavlik said.
While many students were only able to cast their vote in BSM’s mock election, by the time of the next presidential election the majority of current senior high students will get to have a say in the actual results.
