Bernie’s student supporters react to Hillary securing the nomination

Tuesday night, Hillary Clinton won in four out of six states, making her the official Democratic nominee for the 2016 election. The two candidates were close in their poll results but Clinton pulled through in the end.

A week before the election, Bernie Sanders promised not to back out of the primary election even though Clinton had secured her nomination.

Bernie was confident that these last few states could turn around his vote. However, he isn’t backing out until the end and there is still a slim chance at Democratic National Convention in July.

Currently, Clinton has 1,812 delegates and 571 super delegates making her a likely candidate for the 2016 election. Bernie has 1,828 delegates and 48 superdelegates so far. Both candidates are eligible for nomination but Clinton is still taking the lead.

Trump holds as the Republican candidate for 2016.

“I knew the California primary would be extremely close and unpredictable primary given its large and diverse populous and because of all the resources and support Bernie had there,” said Abigail Hart, a student who lives in the Washington DC area.

Another student, Kyle Van Fleet, who lives in Virginia, feels the votes would be different if a lot of states weren’t closed primaries.

“I am a little shocked that Bernie Sanders didn’t fare as well as he was supposed to. I thought at least he’d get South Dakota and New Mexico, plus the two he won, but I guess not. I feel part of it has to do with how they declared Hillary the winner the day before,” he said.

Both candidates seemed to get a decent amount of media coverage but there were more stories on Hillary in the beginning of the election; Bernie emerged as a candidate in the eyes of the media after he started to gain recognition.

Anthony Olideti, a Penn State graduate, said he was surprised from the primary’s results but can see why Hillary won because she’s more well-known.

Some students also expressed that they are concerned on who they’re voting for in this upcoming election.

“The media has underrepresented and misrepresented Bernie from the very beginning, while simultaneously granting Hillary Clinton with free airtime and unlimited passes on her political mistakes,” said Laina Stebbins, who studies at Michigan State University.

Anthony said that in past elections he’s been more confident about his choices but feel doesn’t feel the same for this election.

He said he feels as if the campaigning for this election is “more personal” and “not about politics,” based on some of the issues, comments and actions of this election’s candidates.

Other students also were weary of the candidates for the same reasons.

“I think Trump is quite good at using language to manipulate people. No one really knows what he stands for, and I think his appeals to fear and hate are opportunistic and not true to his character,” said Scott Robbins, who lives in upstate New York.

He also mentioned about Hillary’s campaigning methods and how they jeopardized her integrity in office.

Abigail said she is not thrilled about either candidate and isn’t sure if they have the public’s full approval but she’s planning on voting for Hillary.

Kyle said he won’t support either of the candidates who are running for the election. 

Although the race is almost over, there is still the possibility for changes to be made.

Scott said he hopes the Democratic National Convention can help out Bernie.