The 2016 election is one for the history books. With no previous held office or military background, businessman Donald Trump became the 45th President-elect of the United States of America just before 3 AM on November 9th.

Polls leading up to the election were promising for the campaign of Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. Most of them showed solid numbers across the nation and in the key blue states that Trump needed to win in the Rust Belt. Analysts expected that North Carolina (15 electoral delegates) and Florida (29) would be the two nail-biting battleground states. Moreover, most election forecasts gave Hillary Clinton a commanding lead, such as in the New York Times Election Forecast, which predicted an 85% chance of the election being handed to Hillary Clinton.

A path to 270 electoral college votes seemed simple for Clinton. She just needed to hold all the states that tend to lean Democratic, and pick up one battleground state, which was thought to be Nevada due to a recent insurgence in Latino voting.

As voting time came around, Democrats were starting to get worried. They needed the minority voters in order to win this election. As expected, the black voter turn-out was down, so strategists were relying on the rising Latino voting population, but it was not enough.

Donald Trump quickly turned the United States Republican-red, and by the end of the night, he had clear leads in almost every battleground state, including North Carolina and Florida. However, he still needed more votes to clinch the election.

While Trump plans to build a wall to the United States’ southern border, he broke through another, the blue wall in the Rust Belt, an area of the United States that Clinton never thought she would have to fight for, because they have never voted red. With slight victories in Wisconsin (10) and Pennsylvania (20), the Clinton campaign was doomed. The election that was supposedly “rigged” in their favor was over.

“I am disappointed in how ugly the election got. Both candidates are at fault…[the election] ultimately destroyed the moral of America,” shared Central’s permanent substitute teacher, Jeannette Scoggins.

Donald Trump has ran a campaign of vulgar rhetoric, throwing nasty insults at several groups of people, including Latinos, women, the disabled, African Americans, Muslims, war heroes, and his favorite — the media. News outlets have had a big problem with predicting Trump’s actions from the very beginning, which is why many ignored the movement he was creating during the Republican Primaries.

“Most of his beliefs appealed to the population of the United States. He is a businessman and people think he can use his wisdom to make America great again,” shared sophomore Jacob Rogers.

Nevertheless, Hillary Clinton had major flaws too. The ghost of her time as Secretary of State haunted her. The tragic events of Benghazi had many believing she was the direct cause of the death of several Americans, including U.S. Ambassador to Libya, Chris Stevens. Additionally, her failure to have ultimate transparency with the email controversy caused many voters to have doubts in Clinton’s trustworthiness. The F.B.I. director’s vague letters to Congress seems to have played a direct role in Clinton’s failure to win the election.

“I believe America just wasn’t ready for a female President,” said Scoggins.

Falling short of 270 electoral college votes, Hillary Clinton will still go down in history as the first female to run as a major political party candidate in an election that American will never forget.

It is imperative that the United States of America unite around our 45th President, Donald J. Trump. Thousands and thousands of men and women have died for our country, and not accepting the conclusion of election is a disgrace to their sacrifice. Ultimately, America must respect our Constitution, but if you disagree with someone’s opinions, respect them and fight harder for the election of 2020.

The 2016 general election has proved itself to be very different than what the world has ever seen before with two major party candidates with two of the lowest approval ratings in American political history. Hillary Clinton, a former First Lady, democratic senator, and secretary of state, and Donald Trump, a successful, republican businessman, have been brawling for nearly a year and a half against each other and members of their own political parties. Central High School students were given the opportunity to express who they are supporting for president during an anonymous mock general election that took place on October 27th.

“This election is unique because we have the first female nominee of a major political party and the first nominee of a party that is a business man with no political experience.  Both candidates are very well known because the names Clinton and Trump have been in the news for decades, which means many people already have preconceived notions about who the candidates are,” explained Central High United States History teacher, Shawn Seals.

With nearly 70% of the student body participating in the mock election, Hillary Clinton received 331 out of 664 votes which equals out to approximately 49.8% support. Donald Trump only received about 33.0% support, with 219 votes.

“Voting is very important — I cannot stress that enough!  Voting is the ultimate way that we express our opinions in the United States.  There are people in other countries who are fighting wars because they live in countries with dictators that do not allow them to vote.  In our own country, we have troops in foreign countries protecting our freedoms here in America.  We need to make sure we do our duty as citizens and vote for who we believe should lead our country into the future. We should not take our freedom to vote for granted,” expressed Seals. 

The ballot, which was provided by the Tennessee Secretary of State’s Office, consisted of several independent and third-party candidates, who received the other 98 votes. Libertarian candidate Gary Johnson received only approximately 7.0% support with 46 votes. Other independent candidates received the following results: “Rocky” Roque De La Fuente 30 votes (4.5%), Jill Stein 16 votes (2.4%), Alyson Kennedy 14 votes (2.1%), and Mike Smith 8 votes (1.2%).

“Voting for whoever you believe will do the best job in leading the country is the best policy, however, the possibilities of them having a change of winning should be factored into voting as well.  I would have to really believe in someone in order to vote for someone who is polling at one to five percent because that person has almost no chance at all of winning,” shared Seals.

Nevertheless, the support for third-party candidates has decreased in the national media polling as America slowly progresses to November 8, election day. Most polls, such as concluded by CNN’s October Poll of Polls, find that Clinton has a slight edge over Trump nationally and third-party support slipping, despite controversies from both major political party candidate.

“If we do not consider third-party candidates as third-party, it would not be a waste of a vote. We need to consider all of our options,” stated sophomore Matthew Frazier.

Regardless of who one supports, voters need to realize the significance of the 2016 election. Citizens are voting for the future of his or her children and ultimately the future of our great nation.

“This election cycle is also very unique because there are major differences in the two candidates and the directions in which they will lead our country, which is the number one reason everyone needs to vote,” concluded Seals. “Our voices need to be heard.”