Missouri students discuss debate, presidential race
While some students had their mind firmly made up heading into Sunday’s presidential debate, others hoped the keep focused on a bevy of national issues.
Hundreds of young people filled the Washington University campus Sunday to take part, somehow, in the debate between Democrat Hillary Clinton and Republican Donald Trump.
Students lined up behind the stages of cable news outlets like CNN, Fox News and MSNBC ahead of the debate that took place on the other side of campus. People touting signs, both official campaign boards and homemade posters, walked from stage to stage.
Others brought large, apolitical displays to the heavily-traveled and exposed areas of campus. Dylan Bassett, a senior at Washington University, stood next to his giant, painted beach ball, with a 13-digit number stenciled into the side of it, and a chain dangling from one end – a number representing the $1.4 billion in national student debt.
“People with student debt get married later, they buy their homes later, they’re generally participate as individuals later in society,” Bassett told ABC 17 News. “And so we’re trying to just highlight the burden on their lives.”
Bassett said the student group WU for Undergraduate Socio-economic Diversity helped him assemble the display, and spent about $150 on the beach ball, painted black with white numbers along the side. He said the issue of student debt was a large part of Senator Bernie Sanders’ campaign for the Democratic nomination, but hasn’t received as much attention since Clinton became that party’s nominee. Bassett said the group does not make political endorsements, but hoped to keep the issue squarely in the public view.
“In this general election, I don’t think it’s been an issue that’s a focal point, but hopefully when one of these individuals is elected to office they sort of take this into account.”
The issue of student debt never came up in Sunday’s town hall-style debate, moderated by CNN anchor Anderson Cooper and ABC News reporter Martha Raddatz. In fact, several issues people told ABC 17 News they wanted to hear also never surfaced, such as the minimum wage and a full-blown climate change debate.
Molly Parker-Brigham, a sophomore at Washington University, said she supported Clinton from the early days of the primary. She said while other millenial voters fueled Sanders campaign, she liked many of her homestate U.S. Senator’s policies. However, she felt Clinton had the exerpience to implement changes she supported. PArker-Brigham felt the usual Clinton criticism of her trustworthiness may be subconsciously overblown by some, with Clinton in position to become the first female president.
“We’ve never had a female president and people are very afraid of uncertainty and they’re afraid of a future where they don’t know what’s coming,” Parker-Brigham told ABC 17 News.
While many touted signs for Clinton on campus, others were more ambivalent about their choice. Student Alex Ocanto didn’t feel either candidate truly represented how he felt, and thought the country could do better with its presidential nominees. He said, though, that Clinton had what it took to do the job better than Trump, who he and his friends agreed made a “mockery” of the process.
“Personally, I was a big supporter of Marco Rubio,” Juan Valera told ABC 17 News. “I like Paul Ryan, John Kasich. I kind of wish one of them was up there representing us.”
“Honestly, it’s like a coin toss,” student Vivek Shah said. He threw his support to Libertarian candidate Gary Johnson, which he said aligned best with his views from limited military presence in the Middle East to legalization of marijuana.
The candidates will next debate at the University of Nevada-Las Vegas on October 19.
