Volunteers stood outside of the HUB on Monday morning to make registering to vote more convenient in the hope of increasing student participation. As Super Tuesday approached, posters and signs for different candidates could be seen around campus as many students awaited their first election. 

The many Democrats running for the nomination makes it difficult for voters to navigate the many policies and stances each candidate has. According to a new College Reaction Poll, Bernie Sanders is a favorite among college students because of his student debt forgiveness plan. His unrelenting campaigning in 2016 as the independent candidate caught the attention of many and pushed his reputation from an unknown senator from Vermont to a household name.

Esperanza Moreno ’23 supports Sanders because “Bernie’s vision for his presidency is to make sure all Americans and non-Americans are covered in health care and have reasonable, decent, and livable wages in America.” 

According to her campaign website, Senator Elizabeth Warren describes herself as a candidate for the middle class and prides herself on being a down-to-earth politician who cares deeply about her constituents and her country. Along with Sanders, she has plans to cancel student loan debt, which is a popular policy among college students and graduates. 

According to her website, other headline plans she has for her presidency include “tackling the climate crisis head on” and ending Washington corruption. Lucas Economou ’23 however worries that progressive candidates like Sanders or Warren “are a bit too far left, their ideas are probably good in the long run for the country, but don’t think they’re going to actually be able to beat Trump in 2020.” 

With moderate candidates, such as Mayor Pete Buttigieg and Senator Amy Klobuchar dropping out of the race this weekend due to lack of funds, many supporters are left to look towards other moderates such as former Vice President Joe Biden and Mike Bloomberg. A late entry, Bloomberg is also running his campaign on more moderate policies. 

“One candidate who stuck out to me was Pete Buttigieg and he seemed like he was doing well in the polls and he actually performed really well in Iowa” said Libby Cohen ’21, “but then a couple days ago he dropped his bid, which I was a little bit surprised about.”

Though his support-base is smaller than many other candidates, as the former mayor of New York City, many of Bloomberg’s supporters believe his political background has given him the tools needed to fix many economic problems in the country. His campaign strategy is unlike any other candidate in the field, opting to spend the majority of his budget in advertising, especially on social media, rather than hosting traditional campaign events. Biden, well known as Vice President for President Barack Obama, won the most recent state primary in South Carolina. 

On Monday, Biden was officially endorsed by former candidates, Amy Klobuchar, Pete Buttigieg and Beto O’Rourke. Like Warren, he’s focused on supporting and rebuilding the middle class and reinvigorating the United States’ reputation with the rest of the world, according to his website. Many who support Biden find comfort in the familiarity they have from the Obama administration, which is especially important to Democrats who feel alienated by the current administration.

Students also reflected on the primary process in general. “The primaries so far have been a little bit chaotic” said Cohen, “I think that a lot of them could go in different directions.”