Republican

Donald Trump SupporterAs Election Day inches closer, GOP Candidate Donald Trump continues to make promises to “Make America Great Again.”

The slogan that represents Trump is something that active military member Angel Rios truly believes in.

“I’d rather have a President and Commander in Chief that addresses issues, speaks his mind and is honest, rather than Hilary Clinton who is very indirect with her statements,” said Rios.

He supports Trump for various reasons and believes that he will give America a fresh, new start.

“It seems like lately the Presidents and the people in power have been avoiding the problems in our fiscal policy, in regarding to how much we spend,” said Rios. “I think that this is because these established politicians, that have been running our country for so long, don’t want anything to go away from the system that they created.”

According to Time Magazine, Trump’s reporting net worth is approximately $4.5 billion. In addition to that, his presidential campaign as a whole has raised $25 million.

Rios sees Trump as a successful businessman that will be an asset at The White House.

“Trump with his business expertise has built a company that is worthwhile and has also created various landmarks,” said Rios. “I believe he would also give funding to things that are worthwhile, like the military. We are struggling a lot right now, we don’t have funds for training.”

As projection from the fiscal year of 2015, the military spent a total of 598.5 billion dollars, which accounted for 54 percent of all federal discretionary spending. In 2010, the budget for military spending was 764.3 billion dollars.

In result of these budget cuts, we aren’t as protected now, then as we were back then. Rios believes that Trump will address these issues.

Along with what Trump is promising regarding funding, something that is causing a lot of controversy is “the wall” he says is going to be built along the Mexican Border.

Over the course of his campaign, he has proposed to build a wall that is doubled in height to prevent immigration and wants Mexico to pay for it.

Rios supports the idea that it would benefit America, especially because of all the recent terrorist attacks, the outrageous amount of drug trafficking, immigration and crime.

“The border right now is a national security issue for both countries. You have the drug trafficking in Mexico that kills about 30,000 people a year on the frontier. You also have the NARKOS controlling the government there. And for the U.S., we not only have an immigration problem, but also the drugs that are coming into our country and the billions of dollars that are being taken out of it,” said Rios.

The amount of money that goes out of the U.S. into Mexico raises inflation.

Trump wanting to build a wall has caused a lot of backlash towards him, especially from the Mexican community. For Rios, that isn’t the case.

“He really just makes the claim that a lot of people that are coming from Mexico into the U.S., could potentially cause harm, whether it is in crime or sexual assault. But he also states that good people from different countries do come to the United States too,” said Rios.

In despite of that, Trump has had various Mexican employees work for him in the past and present. Rios says that he sees him as an opportunity employer, not a racist.

“If you really listen to what he has to say, he doesn’t exactly imply that all Mexicans that come into our country are criminals,” said Rios. “We have to have secure borders, and if we don’t, we don’t really have a country.”

Being safe and protecting our country is something that is very important to Rios. While he sees Trump as an asset to the United States, he perceives Hillary Clinton as a threat.

“Being in the military, I believe that Hilary Clinton, what she has been doing as far as the Benghazi attack, is not acceptable,” said Rios.

As a member of the Army, his job as a Forward Observer (13F), requires a security clearance, which is why the Benghazi attack hits close to home for him.

“If I were to disclose any of the information needed in order to do my job, I would go to jail. If I were even to talk about my job over email, I would be placed in a military prison. This reason is just one of why I don’t trust her,” said Rios.

For the safety of the United States, he believes that Clinton is not fit to run our country and isn’t even mentally stable to do so.

In June of 2016, Clinton’s former secret service officer Gary Byrne released an Anti-Clinton book to warn the country why it would be dangerous for her to become president.

“She may say she’s healthy, but she’s not,” said Rios. “Her old security guard even came out to say that she’s actually sick. She has her own personal physician by her side at all times to make sure she doesn’t overstress herself.”

Though Hillary Clinton has spent over 25 years in the spotlight, Rios feels that she is corrupt and doesn’t stand for anything.

“She is corrupt in the way she appears to people. She really isn’t this nice, cuddly person, but actually an extremely mean individual. She takes advantage of the system, tells lies, and is just completely untrustworthy,” said Rios.

Another Clinton in the White House is something that Rios feels we should stray away from. He is not a fan of dynasties, especially dynasty presidencies.

Rios has stated his stance against the Clintons.

“Are you going to vote for a woman that is looking to just keep things as they are, sticking to the status quo, where things will continue to remain the same, and promises are not going to be accomplished.”

Democrat

Hillary Clinton Supporter

With the presidential election less than 2 months away, Hillary Clinton is hoping to make history and become the first woman to win a presidential election.

Emerson Morrow, a student at New Mexico State University, is rooting for her and wants college students to get out and vote.

“I want to make sure everyone is registered to vote. This election is too important to sit out,” said Morrow.

Morrow is a member of The College Democrats at NMSU and wants people too not only take this national election seriously, but local ones as well.

“I want to encourage people to vote for local races. We have some candidates that really want to make some progressive changes,” said Morrow.

Members of the College Democrats help staff campaigns, register voters and help do the groundwork on campus for the campaigns that are going on nationally and locally.

While regarding the national election, he firmly believes that Clinton’s experience and detailed plans will put the United States back on the right track.

“She has experience on Capitol Hill, which I think is key. I’ve spent a lot of time there and I know now that those relationships with congress are really important,” said Morrow. “If you look at her work, she has detailed plans for over 75 different policies on her website and with Donald Trump, we just don’t see that.”

Clinton kicked off her campaign talking about promises that she intends to follow through.

She’s promised to create millions of jobs across the country, institute equal pay for woman, raise the national minimum wage, provide more affordable childcare and provide debt free college for most Americans.

“The plan she has made to make college tuition free for most working families in America, is huge. For everything that she says she is going to do, she has detailed plans to back them up,” said Morrow. From just her campaign, we are really seeing detailed oriented public policy goals.”

Statistics show that college tuition has risen over 40 percent within the last 10 years.

Clinton offers an “interactive calculator” on her website for students to see how much they can save under her plan.

Her proposal signifies that by the year 2021, families with income up to 125,000 will pay no tuition at in state four-year public colleges and universities.

“I think that Hillary Clinton is a pragmatic, qualified leader with a lot of experience,” said Morrow. I believe that in the White House she’ll be able to actually make progress towards everything that she’s promising.”

In despite of that, Morrow does not think it is acceptable of Donald Trump to be as vulgar as he is towards her, or towards others.

“Maya Angelou once said, ‘If someone tells you who they are, believe them.’ Donald Trump has told us who he is. He is someone that is constantly breaking people down. He is attacking gold star families, military veterans, and prisoners of war. This is not some off hand comment, this is something that he is doing virtually everyday. I don’t feel he is someone who is politically correct,” said Morrow.

For Morrow, it isn’t an issue whether or not he is being politically correct, but more so an issue of him being kind to others.

“The Clinton campaign has really focused on just being kind, especially to ethnic minorities. We haven’t seen kindness on the other side and I do not like it at all,” said Morrow.

He believes that if Trump were to be elected president, it would be disastrous because of the things he has said and promised.

Trump has recently declared that he wants a religious test taken to get inside the United States, which Morrow does not agree with.

“For me, I know that the people that come to this country are coming here because they want and deserve a new opportunity, because they believe in the American Dream. I don’t think that their faith should be a pre-requisite for entering the U.S.,” said Morrow.

With that being said, he believes Trump is detrimental to our country.

In contrast, he thinks Clinton and her team are very calculated and could assemble the best advisors in the White House because they have been in that position before.

“I believe that if they’re were to ever be a national crisis that presented itself, I would trust her and her judgment to really think things through before taking an action that’s going to effect America,” said Morrow.

Morrow has expressed his passion for Clinton and believes she has the qualities to run our country.

“When I think about the presidency, I think about that 3 a.m. phone call, that no one wants to get after some natural disaster or a terrorist attack on American soil. And I think about whom I would want answering that phone call at 3 in the morning, and for me the answer is Hillary Rodham Clinton, every single time,” said Morrow.

He hopes students get out and use this election to their advantage.

“I think that there will be great regret for those people that don’t make it to the polls because this is going to be one of those elections that is talked about for decades.”