All last week, our Twitter page @thenewhampshire had a poll asking our followers who they were going to vote for on Election Day. With Twitter limiting us to four choices, we had our followers choose between “Clinton,” “Trump,” “Third party” and “not voting.” Sunday night the poll closed and our results are published in today’s paper on page 4. As you can see, 71 percent of those who answered voted for Clinton, 14 percent for Third party, eight percent for Trump and seven percent for not voting. We editors at The New Hampshire were thrilled to have 150 people involved in our poll, however we are worried about the fact that seven percent of respondents said that they are not going to vote.
Although we cannot know the demographic of our poll voters, it is extremely difficult to ignore the fact that there is a good chance more than half of the people involved in the seven percent of the “not voting” are UNH students or New Hampshire residents. To anyone who is choosing not to vote in this election, especially New Hampshire students and residents, please strongly reconsider your choice. New Hampshire is an extremely important state in this election and every vote counts.
It is understandable that many people feel trapped in this election. The choice between Clinton and Trump may not suit your personal beliefs, but, the reality of the matter is that one of these two people will be our next president. It is vital to the future of our nation to take a look at these two candidates and pick the one you agree the most with. Make a pros and cons list, read opinion articles, keep up with the national debates; essentially what we are asking is for you to become an informed American voter.
New Hampshire is a very important state in this election and is also very unpredictable. According to The Wall Street Journal, the Trump campaign is hoping that New Hampshire will be an “Election Day fire wall,” although Clinton is currently leading in the polls by a slight percentage. That being said, during the primary, Trump won the vote of the Republican Party while Bernie Sanders won the Democratic vote.
According to ballotpedia.org, New Hampshire is considered a key battleground state in this general election. Between 1900 and 2012, New Hampshire has cast their vote in favor of the winning candidate 82.78 percent of the time. New Hampshire has also supported the Republican candidate more often than the Democratic candidate, 62.07 to 37.93 percent. That being said, the past three elections New Hampshire has voted in favor of the Democratic candidate.
Although it may seem possible that many of Sanders’ followers will vote for Clinton, one cannot ignore the fact that New Hampshire’s ethnic and racial makeup is a benefit to Trump. According to The Wall Street Journal, Hispanics only account for three percent of the population in New Hampshire and African Americans comprise only one percent. This now increases the importance of winning the white male vote, a national trending advantage for Trump. However, following the comments from Trump regarding sexual assault being recently released, The Wall Street Journal reports the incident may have “threatened” his margin among the white male vote.
New Hampshire is a state that matters greatly in this election; taking advantage of the opportunity to cast a vote that could choose the president is one that should not be given up. Get registered, find your polling location and be sure to cast your informed vote on Nov. 8. Your vote could change the world, Wildcat.
