Independent Student Newspaper for the University of Texas at San Antonio

The Paisano

Independent Student Newspaper for the University of Texas at San Antonio

The Paisano

Independent Student Newspaper for the University of Texas at San Antonio

The Paisano

Voters incapable of saying preferred candidates’ names

In a recent survey conducted by VOTE, a student political awareness group, researchers sought to examine the political climate of UTSA. In the study, over 400 students were asked whom they were voting for and why. They discovered that the majority of students claimed to have found a clear candidate to endorse in the upcoming presidential election but were completely unwilling to divulge which candidate they had chosen.

Pollsters found that students had extremely strong feelings regarding the upcoming election. Politically informed students would make declarative statements such as “Between the two candidates, I kind of know what mine sort of stands for. Maybe,” expressed junior English student Jenny Tull.

When asked why they supported their chosen candidates, students lauded them with exasperated praise.

“Better than nothing,” said freshman finance major Richard Million.

“Well, at least they aren’t the other one,” said Forrest Green, a sophomore communications student.

“What am I going to do, vote third party? Ha, good one,” chuckled junior political science major Ferris Wheeler.

The majority of students defended their choices by attacking the opposition’s track record, stating the candidates were untrustworthy, unreliable and insincere toward the issues of which they claimed to stand. The surveyors found students on both sides showed great concern over the opponent’s track record, believing they would say or do anything to get their vote.

“I went to Washington D.C. for vacation this summer and attended one of the candidate’s rallies,” stated senior business major Rick Shaw. “They made some decent points about changes needed in our country.  I was very surprised to wake up the very next day to find that they took the exact opposite stance on Twitter less than three hours later and said that they could never support everything stated the night before as it would be absolutely devastating to the country. My candidate wouldn’t do that. Right?”

Students displayed distrust in the opposition’s candidate in light of recent scandals, with about 35 percent of the students surveyed expressing that they couldn’t trust a candidate with such a seedy past. “How can I trust a candidate who’s had that many scandals?” asked freshman Andrew Valdez. “The president is supposed to represent our entire country. I don’t even understand how they could get this far into the election with a record like that.”

The political divide at UTSA is only going to get more heated as passionate students defend their candidates as the upcoming election draws near. With whom will UTSA students settle?

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