Even though there is still over a year until the next national election, the political machine is in full swing. We wanted to know if Vassar students felt that their views would be represented in the 2020 election. To find out, we asked around!
“There are so many views, and so many candidates. Probably some will align, but probably not in any one candidate. I guess I’m not hopeful for anybody.”
–Laila Barcenas-Meade ’22
“I do have strong political opinions, but I don’t think they correlate with what politicians promise. The things I look at are really hard to advocate for.”
–Prat Parhi ’21
“No! I’m from Georgia, and we have really bad gerrymandering. Even if I switch my voter registration (from Georgia to New York) I don’t really feel like I represent Poughkeepsie. I never see enough news about environmental racism, or hear enough from native voices about caring for the land. There are not enough radical candidates and in context my opinions are considered radical to the point that I don’t even share my complete thoughts with my Democratic family just to avoid drama.”
–Echo Hertzberger ’21
“I don’t think there’s enough urgency regarding creating climate action policies that have a chance of succeeding. My ideas are more radical than the ones represented on stage. There definitely needs to be more questioning of the financial sector, but politicians are rich, so…”
–Katia Galambos ’21
“It is impossible for views to be fully represented, but so far this election has been better than the past.”
–Amanda Montgomery ’22
“From the Democratic debate I saw, I think some of my views will be represented.”
–Leila Mishalani ’22