By Nigel Walton, Social Media Coordinator
The election is right around the corner and many are motivated to vote. For some this is their first time and for others this is just another day in the office.
According to the Guardian Joe Biden is currently leading the national polls for the presidential election. Joe Biden is leading with 52% while Trump has 42% of votes with the other 6% still being undecided.
“I’m voting for Biden because not only does he do more of things that I agree with when it comes to politics but morally Biden is just a better man than Trump is,” said Ashley Mcbee, a senior in public relations.
Some may consider how Donald Trump has handled the coronavirus.
According to the CDC overall, an estimated 299,028 excess (more than predicted) deaths occurred from late January through Oct. 3, with 198,081 (66%) excess deaths attributed to COVID-19.
“I’m voting for Biden…my grandma and mama had caught the virus and my grandma got real sick from that stuff and I don’t like how he tried to downplay it,” said Tyri Gray, a senior advertising major. “My people could have lost their life.”
According to the U.S Elections Project around 43 percent of eligible voters didn’t vote in the 2016 presidential election.
“I am not voting this year,” said Ashlyn Willet, a 2017 Murray State graduate. “I have been back and forth about it for a while but I personally cannot bring myself to vote between the lesser of two evils. I don’t agree with either one so I morally can’t choose one over the other just because one is a little less bad than the other.”
Students cite several issues behind their vote, ranging from abortion to taxes. According to the Centre for Law and Justice Trump has appointed numerous Pro-life federal judges including two Justices of the United States Supreme Court.
According to the Tax Policy Center the Biden tax plan, tax increases would raise between $2 and $3 trillion over a decade.
“Trump is pro-life. Joe (Biden) taxes the upper class and businesses too much,” said Christopher Stahl a senior in bio-med psychology. “I think that the businesses will ultimately just raise the prices of the products, shifting that loss back onto the lower class. I am amazed at how we have such bright and smart people in this country, and we have to choose between these two.”
Biden has touched college students because he has a student forgiveness plan that would cancel $10,000 of your debt for each year you perform eligible service.
“I’m voting for Biden,” said Hannah Edminister a junior in organizational communication. “He wants to create minimum mandatory sentence reform, he supports a voluntary buyback program for assault weapons, he has a student loan forgiveness plan that I support, and he wants to destroy tax loopholes so that larger corporations can’t skip out on taxes.”
Some aren’t voting for a certain candidate just because they dislike them morally. Some students are going for the lesser of the “two evils”.
“I’m voting for Trump because even though I can’t stand him and I don’t agree with a lot of the stuff he says, Biden has shown he would be even worse,” said Marissa Lee, a junior in senior advertising.
“I don’t want Trump for another presidency and even though Biden is not much better, voting for the other candidates makes it a waste of a vote to get him out.” said Murray State spring 2020 graduate Miyah Watford.
Some party members find themselves leaning towards the opposite party just because they don’t like their current party’s views.
“While I am a registered Republican and do hold mostly moderate to conservative views, Trump is NOT a Republican. He is a Tyrant,” said Caryl Lyn Akers a FCS education major. “While Biden may not have been my first choice he is definitely a step in the right direction.”
Election day is November 3. Early voting started October 13 and will finish November 2.