Political views in OilerNation

Survey says 42% of students will vote Trump, 29% Clinton 

By Alexis Mitchell and Sarah Stubbs

@AlexisMitch14
@sarahxstubbs

The Pulse recently sent a survey to all University of Findlay students via a UF update email. The first 100 responses show that if UF were to have its way, Donald Trump would be president.

About 42 percent of the sampling said they would vote for Donald Trump for president on Nov. 8. Twenty-nine percent of students are either not voting, undecided, or voting third party while the remaining 29 percent are voting for Hillary Clinton.

The survey ran from Oct. 13 through Oct. 25 and elicited 525 student responses. Unfortunately, due to a Survey Monkey restriction, the Pulse is only able to analyze 100 of the responses and that is what is reflected in this article.

Of the first 100 responses, 76 were from female students. Additionally, 91 percent of all participants indicated that they are registered voters. UF is a predominantly female school and women are more likely to vote than men nationwide, according to the Washington Post. In the 2012 election, 53 percent of votes came from women voters, according to exit polls.

According to a separate survey created by Harvard’s Institute of Politics, the number of Millennials preferring the Democratic Party has doubled over the past year. The Republican Party seems to be dominating the University campus, though, with 44 percent of students identifying as Republican, according to the Pulse’s survey.

With an equal number of survey participants voting for Hillary Clinton as they are voting third party, not voting at all, or are still undecided, it’s interesting that 31 percent of students said they do not identify with any of the current political parties and consider themselves Independent.

According to USA Today College, Millennials care about the economy more than they do any other political issue. College students are often in conversation about finding a job after graduation, getting a job with paid leave, and minimum wage.

In the Pulse survey, though, the post popular response was national security: 28.42 percent of students ranked national security as their main priority issue while the economy took a close second with 25.84 percent of students saying the economy was their most important issue. UF students are also concerned about education (20.21 percent), gun control (18.95 percent), and immigration (7.45 percent).

According to the Pew Research Center, this may be the last presidential election that is dominated by the Baby Boomers and older generations. The young vote is increasingly influential and interestingly enough, the Pulse’s survey elicited 49 percent of its responses from freshman and sophomores, who are usually anywhere from 18-21 years-old.

The Pulse, along with the rest of student media in the Findlay Media Network, will be hosting a mock election on Tuesday, Nov. 1 where it will be determined whether or not Oiler Nation would select Trump as its next president of the United States.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *