BY NOAH DILL
For the last seven months or so America has been forced to endure an event that can only be described as a strong mixture between The Purge and The Hunger Games. This hectic turmoil has included a potential ban on all Muslims immigrants, a private email server, a wall between Mexico and the U.S., a democratic-socialist movement, and one presidential candidate bragging about the size of his anatomy on national television. Mariemont students woke with anticipation on Tuesday March 15, as this anarchy fueled rampage, volunteered as tribute to come and compete in the 2016, Ohio Primary.
In the Ohio Primary, a registered voter must choose to vote on either the Republican ballot or the Democrat ballot for their parties nominee. Ohio is a “winner take all” state, meaning that whoever won the state, for either party, would gain all the delegates that state offered. There are 66 delegates available for the Republicans and 143 delegates for the Democrats.
Going into the primary there were two likely candidates for each party. On the Democrat side, only two candidates remained, Hillary Clinton and Senator Bernie Sanders. On the Republican side, the polls predicted that either Donald Trump, or Ohio Governor John Kasich would win.
It’s no secret that Mariemont is a red, conservative territory. However, the question on everyone’s mind was would Mariemont, and more broadly, Hamilton Country stay with the Republican front-runner despite his explicit remarks, or would they vote for a more moderate candidate, such as their governor John Kasich? Many students, including senior Lindsay Harden voted in the Republican primary for John Kasich despite not being a Republican. “I voted for Kasich because we need to stop Trump,” Harden says. Senior Logan Urbanski concurs with Harden claiming he voted for Kasich because “he is the only adult on the debate stage.”
Although Trump is the frontrunner, no one in Mariemont was willing to declare that they voted for him. Mariemont’s government teacher, David Wolfford, describes the Trump’s success as being the result of three factors
1) name recognition
2. people who have never voted before are now coming out and voting for Trump
3) anger and the tell-it-how-it-is mentality
Wolfford explains how you have a lot of people voting in the Republican primary because of Trump. “You have working class, Blue Dog, Democrats coming out and voting for Trump, just as you have liberal Democrats voting in the Republican Primary to prevent Trump from getting the nomination,” he says. After a close race, Kasich (46.8%) won Ohio against Trump (35.6%).
Although Clinton (56.5%) crushed Sanders (42.7%) in the Ohio Primary, it was nearly impossible to find a student at Mariemont who voted for her. Hamilton County voted with Clinton, perhaps due in part of her husband speaking in Cincinnati over the weekend. Through the campaign cycle, Sanders has attracted a younger crowd as a result of his liberal views and plans for free college tuition.
Senior Andrew Moeller voted for Sanders because he agrees with his liberal platform. “The fact that he is trying to make college free for students, is incredibly helpful,” Moeller says.
Senior Emmy Wiesenberg concurs with Moeller and explained that she voted for Sanders mainly because of his stance on college tuition. “I like his thing about college — the free college tuition or whatever,” Wiesenberger says.
In the end, Ohio managed to survive another primary, and the students of Mariemont feel fairly satisfied with their voting process. Ohio remains relatively moderate and is not feeling the Bern, nor is it jumping on the Trump Train.