We’re facing a new Civil War.
But this time, students are involved in the fighting.

Although there aren’t physical battles, the words of students can be more piercing than a bayonet. With the current election, arguments between Democrats and Republicans are as strong as ever, forcing students to pick a candidate and advocate for them.

Also, unlike the Civil War, the main worry for voters isn’t about their opposition setting up a government in another country, but rather in our own.

Students are key for change today and in the future. These students’ diverse perspectives on our current politics illustrate the decisions of our presidential candidates by explaining their points of view on policies about important American and foreign issues which show their visions for the future. With this upcoming election, it’s important to know that we aren’t just voting for another candidate, but someone to help guide the future of this country.

Junior Sean McCauley and sophomore Kalayani Gifford side with Kamala Harris of the Democratic Party because of Harris’s new policies she wants to bring to America.

“I feel like Harris is the only candidate that is capable of running in an office while upholding the values of the American people, to help those who are in need of assistance,” McCauley said.

Senior Gael Bustillos and junior Roni Bardugo prefer Donald Trump of the Republican Party because of how he ran the country when he was president.

“The country has been at peace with Trump,” Bustillos said. “There was a very well-maintained economy in the country from 2016 to 2020 and I also believe people could afford homes when Trump was the president. I believe Trump can make [the U.S. economy] better again.

Gallery • 2 Photos

Keith Luo

Senior Gael Bustillo explains his stance for choosing the Republican presidential candidate, Trump, based on his past political tenure. "There was a very well-maintained economy in the country," McCauley said.

Students elaborated on why they think their political candidate would help the U.S. more below:

Q: Which presidential candidate will aid the economy the most and why?

McCauley: “Harris’ plan would be to invest more into the middle class and try to stop things like rising prices during inflation. [Products will become] more accessible and [the middle class] will have more [wealth available]. In terms of comparing Trump’s and Harris’ plan, I feel like Harris has a thought-through plan.”

Bustillos: “Under Trump’s plan, inflation will go down and taxes will be lower. When Trump was president, people could afford homes. Teenagers had a well-balanced economy to start independent stuff, such as owning homes. I believe and I hope that Trump will help bring that back.”

Q: Which presidential candidate will take the best steps toward global peace and why?

Gifford: “[Kamala’s] approach of making sure the most civilians are saved is a very good way to mitigate conflicts on both sides. One of the main things she advocates for would be providing restrictions on guns. Take school shootings as an example. We should not be in [a] position where kids have [the] fear that there’s going to be a school shooting, because we’ve had bombing threats, we’ve had gun threats. These threats shouldn’t be happening where we go to school. It shouldn’t be something so common that it’s a numbing occurrence.”

Bustillos: “I believe [Trump] could make everything well because right now, everyone and every country has a conflict [with] each other. But I think [Trump] can [foster] peace and some treaties. [In addition], Trump made many alliances with a lot of countries. He made alliances with China and Russia. I think if Trump is president, he can have peace-treaty conferences as he did when he was president from 2016 to 2020.”

Q: Which presidential candidate will solve the border crisis best and why?

Gifford: “I do genuinely hope Harris will solve the border crisis. This is less of a problem compared to how we are going to best support the influx. It’s rhetoric that some people say, ‘Oh migrants are stealing jobs.’ That doesn’t make sense, because a lot of the jobs that they’re taking are jobs that need to be filled and aren’t. I hope that there will be better management at the border but whether she’ll do it or not is left to be seen.”

Bustillos: “[Trump is] going to send his people to the borders to protect them better. When he was president, he couldn’t finish the whole border. There was a lot of work that had to be put into it. He’s going to want to do better with that. I believe Trump is very secure, and he’s prepared to make illegal immigration stop. Yes, give benefits to the ones who are coming with nothing. In the frontiers, I’ve seen people that they’re stopping. [They were] stopped because they were trying to come illegally to the United States. On the other hand, they are still well-treated by systems that give them safety. But Trump will do a better job on the border because he knows 10 million illegal immigrants coming to this country is not great. Trump is going to help solve this problem. He’s going to send the patrol and people that are well-trained to be more secure and detect the frontiers.”

Q: Which presidential candidate will help solve crime rates the most and why?

Gifford: “Harris believes that police officers can be abusive, as we’ve seen with George Floyd, etc, while Trump thinks they’re just trying to do what they can. I think his ‘support’ for the police is not going to lower crime rates. I’ll break this down into two parts. Harris isn’t saying, ‘Defund the police.’ We don’t want that because we need a police force. However, Trump’s focused support of the police really hides problems that have been happening. For example, there are police officers who are corrupt and who need to be held responsible. That’s something that Trump is avoiding by saying that the police are doing everything well. A good stance to take is not blaming the entire police force, but making sure that you check and making sure they know what they’re doing so that cases like George Floyd and Breonna Taylor won’t happen again.”

Bardugo: “[Trump] would definitely militarize the police. He would definitely encourage harsher punishments for those [who] reach the limits of criminal offenses. He would take the police more seriously and make sure they get training, and I feel like he will ensure for them to be the best that they can be.”

After reviewing different stances of students’ respective sides on a few topics of concern, Gifford elaborated that making a choice is not just a presidential choice, but also where they stand on specific issues.

“I really do hope that there will be peace and there will be less conflicts,” Gifford said. “As for how we’re going to implement that, both sides haven’t done that. I think part of it is trying to not offend one group or the other, which makes sense.”