Based on the most recent polls announced by major news outlets (including FOX news, CNN, NBC and Wall Street Journal, CBS and New York Times), Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton remain in the lead for their respective parties for the 2016 presidential election.
More recently, Trump has faced growing opposition in the Republican Party from opponent Ben Carson, while Bernie Sanders is gaining traction among Democrats. Further down in the polls, candidates like Carly Fiorina and Marco Rubio (Republicans) are tied after Fiorina’s performance in the second GOP debate. In the Democratic Party, voters eagerly wait to see if Joe Biden announces his candidacy, for polls put him near the lead, even without announcing.
While Trump has been leading the polls for the Republican Party for the past few weeks, many do not believe he will be there for much longer.
Dr. Joseph Fitzgerald, an assistant professor of history and political science at Cabrini, is not registered to vote for a particular party and therefore will not be voting in the primary. However, he said, “I don’t think Donald Trump will be the Republican Party nominee.”
“If you look throughout history, especially in presidential elections, there’s usually a buzz candidate who dominates political discussion for a while just by launching ad hominem, or ‘against the person’ attacks,” senior philosophy and political science major, Danton Moyer, said. “These people have nothing of value to contribute to the political conversation, and they’ll eventually fall by the wayside.”
With the large amount of candidates still in the running for the Republican nomination, many are finding it difficult to predict the nominee. “I have no idea who will be the GOP nominee,” Moyer said. “Not a clue.”
The pool of candidates was slightly decreased on Monday, Sept. 21, when Scott Walker removed himself from the running. Though suffering from lack of funds and support, Walker claims his withdrawal to be a sacrifice for the Republican Party.
The New York Times quoted Walker saying, “I encourage other Republican presidential candidates to consider doing the same so that the voters can focus on a limited number of candidates who can offer a positive, conservative alternative to the current front-runner.”
Moyer does not disagree. He stated that he thinks anyone not in the top-10 candidates for the Republican Party should remove themselves from the race in order to create a unified front against Trump.
“I think everyone is unified in the GOP that they don’t want Trump to be the nominee,” Moyer said.
On the Democratic side of the election, controversy has been surrounding front-runner Clinton based on the use of a personal computer server while in office as Secretary of State. There is question as to whether this will affect Clinton’s campaign in the future.
“If Bernie Sanders had more momentum or if Joe Biden has announced, I think it would be a bigger conversation,” Mr. Thomas Southard, director of the Wolfington Center, said. “But because Hillary is considered a presumptive nominee, I just don’t think it’s hurting that much.”
Opinions throughout campus vary on the issue.
“I think it’s affecting her place in the polls to a meaningful extent,” Fitzgerald said. “It speaks to her honesty problem.”
Pennsylvania’s primary voting is currently set to take place on April 26, 2016, although there is legislation pending to move the date.
“Nothing is decided,” Southard said. “There is a lot of time between now and the primaries and then there is a lot of time between now and the general election.”
