THE
Vo'- CXXIII Issue 16
EPORTER
1
Stetsui i University j DeLand? Fla
THE VOTES ARE IN
Student straw poll
opinions differ
greatly from state
election results
m
Reporter photo/Maeve Coughlin
Sophomores Rachel Saunders and Christina Borg host the straw poll for the 2016 presidential election.
m Showed S**rs, Rubio with strong leads
Democratic Mock Primary
I
Bemie Sanders ■
Republican Mock Primary
Hilary Clinton
M
20
Marco Rubio
Donald Trump
John Kasich
4s,«
SffiSfi
IMife'5
17.1 I
40
Ted Cruz
Mitt Rotnney
U
% ofvotes
60
2,9
10
20
30 4b "J II
50 i
% of votes
Results from Stetson students in March 8 campus Straw Poll reveal strong leads for Democrat Bernie Sanders and Republican and Florida Senator Marco Rubio,
who subsequently dropped out of the race the night of the real Florida primary vote.
Kait Forsythe r" «** -
Kait Forsythe
Style Editor
and
Sarah Dean
Editor-in-Chief
Stetson may be in a political bubble as
opposed to the rest of the state of Florida.
On March 8, Stetson Votes hosted a
campus-wide straw poll. Traditionally,
straw polls are mechanisms tp determine
the frontrunner in a political campaign.
Straw polls allow individuals to submit a
vote on an unofficial ballot, recorded to
gauge public political opinion by an organization.
In this context, Stetson Votes wanted
to see which presidential candidates the
Stetson community favored.
Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders, the
underdog of the Democratic Party, lead
with 58 out of 102 votes, constituting
86.6 percent of the Democratic straw poll
votes, while Florida Senator Marco Rubio
took home 17 Stetson votes, constituting
48.6 percent of the Republican interest.
Unforuntately for Rubio, the sentiment of Stetson Republicans did not reflect those of the state as a whole, and
Rubio dropped out of the presidental race
after a harsh loss to Donald Trump in his
home state.
In the real Florida primary, Trump
took the most delegates with 45.7 percent
of the popular vote, followed by Rubio at
27.7 percent, both being trailed by Texas Senator Ted Cruz and Ohio governen-
or John Kasich with less than 20 percent
each. The Stetson polls didn't exactly
match the state Democractic race either,
with former Secretary of State Hillary
Clinton taking home a large win over Senator Sanders — a whopping 64.4 percent
to his 33.3 percent.
Trump and Clinton win on to win the
popular vote in Illinois, Missouri, and
North Carolina the night of Florida's vote,
March 15.
The data shows that 67 of the students
who participated in the Stetson Votes
straw poll voted for a candidate of the
Democratic party, while 35 students voted
Republican. The straw poll orchestrators
did find a surprise in the ballot box: a single Mitt Romney write in.
Stetson Votes is a non-partisan organization that encourages students to cultivate
political awareness and accountability. For
more information on Stetson Votes, contact
President Christina Borg or Associate Director of Community Engagement, Kevin
Winchell, in the Center for Community Engagement.
The Reporter will continue electoral
coverage, including students' opinions on
the candidates and the issues, throughout
2016. If you have commentary on the elections you would like published in The Reporter, please email Opnion Editor Kaley
Fulton at [email protected].
