When billionaire businessman Donald Trump announced his Republican candidacy for president in June 2015, the nation suddenly felt curious about whether the famous reality TV star could be taken as a serious candidate.
Recently, New York natives Trump and Hillary Clinton celebrated big after they won the primaries in their home state.
Fullerton College students reacted, and were asked how they felt about the possibility about Trump becoming president in 2016.
Many students focused on the fact that Trump has no political experience and prides himself on saying what’s on his mind during his campaign speeches. This is not traditional for candidates.
“I like him. He’s really honest, what you see is what you get. He doesn’t sugarcoat things so people will vote for him. I would vote for him,” said student Samantha Quick.
Others felt the opposite.
“Trump is a joke, he is an uneducated idiot. He needs to learn when to shut up and I also think that he’s manipulating the media because he’s using his money and fame in order to get what he wants,” said student Rachel Sebillano.
Trump is a business mogul whose net worth is estimated at $4.5 billion, according to Forbes. He constantly promotes the idea of bringing back jobs to America instead of outsourcing and talks about how his business-minded approach can help our economy.
“I am so tired of the Clintons, the showmanship from Obama and all the outsourcing in America. That is a point with Trump that I am really proud of. He is trying to bring the jobs back home,” said student Juanita Gomez.
But others don’t think how he got his money makes him qualified to lead.
“He’s a rich businessman who was raised in a wealthy family, how could he know the struggles of the working class, lower class and middle class? It doesn’t make any sense to me,” said student Christie Espana.
On immigration, Trump has mentioned that he would be strict on border control and would not allow anyone to come in without perfect documentation. He made a statement in which he referred to Mexicans as ‘rapists’ and received an enormous amount of backlash for it.
“I think his immigration policies are unethical. Trump wants to shut the door on immigrants and I think that will hurt us,” said Richard Cho, first year student, “it’s racist and disrespectful the way he talks about them.”
“It’s not about racism. He just wants people to follow the law. If you don’t have papers you shouldn’t be here illegally,” said student Carol Heine.
Trump was also criticized about his demeanor.
“I watch debates and hear the statements he says, how he carries himself, and even the way he looks, it’s not for me. He comes off racist and I think if we elected him we’d be moving backwards,” added Christie Espana.
Words like “ridiculous”, “joke”, “mean”, “obnoxious”, “racist” and “idiot” all came up frequently.
Despite the majority of students answering no when asked if they would vote for him, every student interviewed was asked if they felt Trump had a good chance of winning.
Every student answered yes.
Very few students, 4 out of 30 to be exact, were in favor of him. They do not believe he is a joke and feel he could change a lot of things for America
“At least with Trump we know what he really thinks and he says what he’s going to do. Hilary never tells us anything. We can’t all just run to Canada,” said student Ayesha Moulbi.
In the end, students are encouraged to vote for their favorite and see what happens.
