For most of us born in the 1990s, we have grown up knowing Hillary Clinton’s name.
We’ve seen Hillary run in 2008, accept the position of Secretary of State in 2009 and even become a grandmother in 2014. It has been almost 8 years since Clinton announced her first presidency…and her time has come again. So far, Clinton is the only female candidate that has announced her intentions to run for president – and one of the most well-known. According to a Gallup survey published last month, 89% of Americans know Clinton well enough to have an opinion of her, 50% of those favorable. While many people are understandably excited about her running for president, they also plan to look past her gender come election time.
“As much as I support feminism, strong women, and female leaders, I need to look more into her policies before I support her as a presidential candidate,” said freshman Madison Rinder. “As someone concerned with the US’s foreign policy, I was a bit ‘iffy’ regarding her decisions and actions as Secretary of State.”
As opposed to speeches (such as those made by Republicans Rand Paul and Ted Cruz), Clinton chose to announce her candidacy via a video, which has only garnered a little over four million views on YouTube. This method didn’t sit well with everyone.
“I wish that [her announcement] would have been in a format of a speech rather than a video,” said freshman Victoria Bianco. “I thought it was kind of cowardly especially because she is trying to stay out of the media with her scandal right now with her emails. So right off the bat, that didn’t instill confidence.”
Other factors may go against Clinton. In the past five attempts that Democrats have tried to claim the White House for a third consecutive term, they only succeeded once.
“I think Clinton would do a great job but the timing is going to be her enemy,” said sophomore Samantha Friedberg. “This country will almost inevitably vote for a Republican president.”
Friedberg still thinks the campaign will be interesting to watch unfold.
“It seems like Hillary has a quasi-monopoly over the younger population, like kids our age, but the vast majority of this country is tired of Democrats in the White House. Eight years is a long time.”
For now, as we wait for the campaign to begin in earnest, we are looking forward to learning about all the candidates and see the results of a potentially history-making race!
Gif courtesy of giphy.com. Follow-up article to “Are We ‘Ready for Hillary’?”