Prepping for the election

Presidential candidate Donald Trump goes campaigning with his daughter Ivanka.

Found on Facebook

Presidential candidate Donald Trump goes campaigning with his daughter Ivanka.

By Michael Wright, Staff Writer

With the Iowa primary election only one week away, the nation is becoming more involved in the political campaigns of the current candidates. Some of the students at Chaminade University have also been focusing on the issue and decided to give their opinion on what candidates they like on the matter.

Some had positive views on presidential candidates Bernie Sanders (Democrat) and Ted Cruz (Republican). Others had expressed a dislike of other candidates like leading Republican candidate Donald Trump and Democrat Hillary Clinton.

The primary election is the first round of voting for the presidential election that will narrow each political party’s number of candidates down to just one who will represent it in the general election in November.

Freshman Dasha Directo has been following the political candidates recently. She is currently interested in considering Sanders as her choice in the election. Sanders is suggesting a plan to increase taxes in order to provide free college for potential students across the country at public colleges and universities.

Dasha Directo is a freshman who wanted to give her opinion on the presidential candidates.
Michael Wright
Dasha Directo is a freshman who wanted to give her opinion on the presidential candidates.

“If I were going to vote for anyone, it would be Bernie Sanders,” Directo said. “He has a lot of good ideas, especially the free college.”

She also felt that Clinton would be a poor choice. Clinton’s email scandal – using a private email server while she was the nation’s secretary of state – concerns Directo over the competence and character of former senator. According to Fox News, the number of emails involved in the Clinton email scandal is at least 1,340. According to an article from Newsmax on Jan 25, former Republican Congressman Tom Delay said on The Steve Malzberg Show that sources within the FBI have told him the organization is ready to recommend the indictment of Clinton to the attorney general due to overwhelming evidence.

Alesi Reyes, a 19-year-old sophomore from Tucson, is currently planning to vote for Republican Sen. Ted Cruz. She is a strong supporter of Cruz’s flat tax plan that the senator said will eliminate all tax brackets and allow just one standard percentage rate for all citizens. The change is supposed to simplify the tax process on a national level that would make doing taxes on a postcard possible.

“I like the fact that he wants an exact tax percentage,” Reyes said. “I don’t think you should be taxed more just because you’re wealthy. If you worked to get up there, why should you be punished?”

Reyes also condemned Trump due to his comments concerning immigration at his announcement for the presidency on June 16, 2015 at the Trump Tower in New York. As a woman of Hispanic descent, she felt incredibly insulted.

“When Mexico sends its people, it’s not sending its best,” Trump said. “They’re sending people with lots of problems, and they’re bringing those problems with us. They’re bringing drugs. They’re bringing crime. They’re rapists, and some, I assume, are good people.”

The Washington Post had submitted an article containing a graph done by NBC News/WSJ that depicts the Hispanic demographics’ view on Trump. According to the graph, roughly 75 percent of Hispanic voters have a negative opinion of Trump, although he is still leading the polls.

The upcoming 2016 election for each party’s candidates will vary this year. The Democratic caucuses will be on March 26, and the Republican caucuses will be on March 8.