The Undecided Voter
On September 26th, 2016, Ray Liang sits on his couch in disgust of what he’s seeing in the first 2016 Presidential Debate between Hilary Clinton and Donald Trump on his 48-inch Vizio television. A cool breeze fills the room on a windy night, Liang takes the final sip of his Corona as he listens to Trump, the Republican nomination for President speak. Trump finishes his remarks about his immigration policies if he were to be elected and Liang throws his remote in anger at the floor dissembling the remote into two pieces.
“To have to choose between one of these candidates right now, we might as well blindfold ourselves at the voting booth and hope for the best, said Liang.”
Liang, a 27-year old graduate student in Mount Sinai and eldest child of two immigrant parents, never found a need to tune into the election. In Liang’s pursuit for a PhD in biomedical research, politics were rarely in any of his studies. Although Liang registered to vote when he was 18, he never made it a goal to go to the voting booths and select a candidate. Throughout the years of 18-27, Liang identified himself as an undecided voter. He never truly agreed with the ideals of the Republicans but was never satisfied with the accomplishments of the Democrats to give them his vote.
According to the June CNBC All-America Economic Survey, a large chunk of the voting public remains undecided. The poll of 801 registered voters conducted June 11-14 shows Clinton with a 40 percent to 35 percent lead, but the poll’s margin of error is plus or minus 3.5 percentage points. Pollsters for CNBC say the survey shows a tight race with 25 percent undecided, including 14 percent who right now choose “neither” candidate.
Liang’s uncertainty in voting for Clinton, the Democratic Party Nomination or Trump reflects a growing population of undecided voters. Some voters choose to not vote as a sign of social movement while others can’t distinguish which candidate would be their ideal candidate even though voters must identify as either a Democratic or Republican.
While Liang reflects a student pursuing a PhD, Carina Santana, a 20-year old undergraduate Baruch College student, remains in the category of the undecided voter. Santana comes with a Mexican immigrant background and national identity. Therefore, the immigration policies of Trump disgust Santana.
“To take away someone’s rights, their way of living here for the past couple of year is just inhumane, said Santana.” “My parents came into this country as immigrants pursuing the “American Dream” of a nice house, car and a beautiful/handsome significant other. Now all of that hangs in the balance, I wonder who will stand up and call Trump out on everything that he’s saying and getting away with.”
Liang and Santana share a common trait. Due to their parent’s backgrounds coming from an immigrant standpoint, the lenience in immigration policies have centered that of pardoning immigrants for overstaying their visas. The uncertainty in their cast of votes renders the nation that stands for democracy and freedom in uncertainty.
“It seems almost as if we’re too biased but in all reality, everyone has got to realize that if Trump were to actually be President of the United States, we might not get a chance to leave on our own free will, said Liang.” “Trump has indicated time after time that he would force immigrants as well as the second generations of children and babies that were born in the U.S. from immigrants out of their homes. Meanwhile Clinton isn’t building a strong case either with her sneakiness of her e-mails.”
Both Presidential candidates Clinton and Trump have faced scandalous circumstances surrounding their campaign. Trump refuses to reveal his tax forms and was recently exposed on sexually assaulting women on a daily basis while Clinton’s health concerns grow along with the pressure from the Trump campaign to unveil the secrets behind her e-mails of which were rumored to have confidential information detailing a military operation.
With the Second Presidential Debate, the Town Hall of undecided voters asks the presidential candidates their questions. The moment where a man with a red sweater named Ken Bone stood up to ask a question, the Internet started trending with the name of Ken Bone in social media. The excitement in the Presidential Debate escalated. Suddenly, the undecided voters had a leader/figurehead to look to for guidance.
With an insurmountable amount of fame and publicity came a consequence, the niceness and leadership of Ken Bone soon turned to dust as the internet that once made him extremely famous was the source that exposed Ken Bone’s true opinions in matters such as Trayvon Martin and George Zimmerman. The undecided voters remain conflicted.
In an interview with CNN, Cook Political Report national editor Amy Walter answered the mystery of undecided voters: “Walter said for the first time that she can remember, she’s having trouble trusting the data that’s coming from the campaign trail, and that undecided voters are struggling to choose between the lesser of two evils.” “What I hear from these groups, is just this idea of like ‘You know, I don’t know if I trust Hillary Clinton,'” she said. “One woman said, ‘I don’t trust Hillary Clinton on terrorism’ — to sort of get to your point of instability in the world — ‘but Donald Trump is going to get us into World War III.’ So, that’s why people are like ‘I’d rather cut my arm off than have this election, because that’s what you’re making me choose from.”
With the third and final Presidential Debate, undecided voters hope to see a shift in the styles of both Clinton and Trump to justify a clear decision to the voters on who to vote for in November.
“At one side, Trump will give us the next Hunger Games, said Liang. “Clinton isn’t trustworthy so I might as well start planning my move to Canada.”
