Students Feel the ‘Bern’

By Sierra Akana, Carlie Cass, Fernando Lopez Duran, Ronnie Gonzalez, Harrison Howard, Loren Honea, Christopher Kilkenny, Ericka Lemus, Anthony MulHolland, Agnes Ndaba, Roxi Sepulveda and Tamara Tindugan.

College of Southern Nevada students shared their presidential candidate preferences in a recent poll.

In an informal in-person poll conducted March 30 on Cheyenne campus, 112 students were asked who they would vote for from the leading Democratic and Republican tickets.

Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders showed strong favorability among students winning a landslide 65 percent. Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton received 16 percent.

“I like where he comes from,” said Tiffany Hargrove, student at CSN who favors Sanders. “He understands African-Americans and seems to care about other races. He’s trying to make a change.”

Clinton has experience as secretary of state, said CSN student Vanessa Escoto. “She has more chances of winning.”

Business mogul Donald Trump received 6 percent in the student poll. Texas Senator Ted Cruz received 4 percent and Ohio Governor John Kasich received 0.8 percent.

Although Sanders won among students in this poll, delegates and super-delegates will ultimately determine who will get the nominations at the national conventions to continue the race.

Delegate count is an important metric to consider.

The Democratic candidate who attains 2,383 delegates during primaries should go on to November. As of April 4, 2016, according to Associated Press’ Delegate Tracker, Clinton has a lead in both delegates and super-delegates totaling 1,712; Sanders has 1,011.

On the Republican side, Trump holds a strong lead in delegate count with 737 delegates on the road to the necessary 1,237 delegates to win the nomination. Cruz comes in second place with 475 delegates and Kasich with 143.

Some students are taking this political season seriously. “Because I’m in the military, if I’m voting for the president I’m voting for my boss,” said Raul Ortiz, CSN student.