Only a little time is left before voters, including some Ridge seniors, will cast ballots in the US Presidential Election for Hillary Clinton, Donald Trump, or one of the third-party candidates.

The front-runners, former Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton, and businessman, Donald Trump, have been engaged in a fierce battle for the past few months in the race for the presidency. While Clinton has cast Trump’s character as temperamental and violent, unfit to be commander-in-chief, Trump has painted the secretary as weak and dishonest. Third-party candidates, mainly Jill Stein of the Green Party and Gary Johnson of the Libertarian Party, have generally been curbed from the spotlight, excluded even from the first presidential debate.

Currently, polls show that American voters have been polarized by the two major candidates— Trump and Clinton. This could be attributed to the fact that the two candidates take opposing viewpoints on key policies.

Hillary Clinton, noting that the wealthy pay too little and the middle class pay too much, supports raising taxes on America’s richest. As president, Clinton’s foreign policy deals mainly with Asia. She supports increasing cooperation with China in areas of common interest and reinforcing alliances in the Asia-Pacific, including with Japan and South Korea. However, Clinton assures the American public that she will ratchet up the U.S. deterrent against Chinese cyberattacks and take a stronger stance against China’s human rights record. Hillary is a strong supporter of Obamacare and nationwide affordable healthcare, and has also lobbied for stricter gun laws and rigorous background checks. In terms of immigration, Hillary supports the DREAM Act, pioneered by President Obama, and believes immigrants are vital to the economy. She asserts, “I am 100% behind comprehensive immigration reform that includes a path to citizenship.”

Donald Trump mainly focuses on revising the current tax system by implementing his “1-5-10-15” income tax plan, where income less than $30,000 is taxed at 1%, income from $30,000 to $100,000 at 5%, income from $100,000 to $1 million at 10%, and income greater than $1 million at 15%. Trump’s proposes an aggressive foreign policy. He proposes to increase U.S. military presence in and around the South China Sea. Furthermore, he wants to investigate and punish China for unfair trade practices.

One point Trump agrees on with Hillary is to strengthen the U.S. deterrent against Chinese cyberattacks. However, Trump firmly believes Obamacare has largely been a waste of taxpayers’ money and advocates for the removal of the government’s influence in American healthcare. Furthermore, Trump fully supports the Second Amendment right to carry firearms. He does not believe in limits on guns. For immigration, Trump wants to prioritize Americans first by enforcing immigration laws. He intends to build a wall along the southern border.

Ridge students have many different viewpoints on these issues. Kalyani Pradeep ‘19 explains, “I support Hillary because she has more political experience and treats others professionally, while Trump lacks basic manners when running his political campaign.  Also, Trump simply blames other candidates and never specifies his plan to improve the country. He simply says his plan is amazing and Hillary’s is horrible, which sounds like he does not have sufficient knowledge about what’s being talked about.”

Sharing the aforementioned sentiment, Albert Wu ‘18 affirms, “I would support Hillary because she won’t destroy the country. If there’s one thing you never want to do… it’s go Full Trump. Never go Full Trump.”

On the other hand, Bruce Yang ’19 states, “I feel Trump is better because I wouldn’t want a President who faints under stress like Hillary. I want a President like Trump who can be under pressure and still keep going. I wouldn’t want to worry about my future president fainting when we need them the most.”

As the presidential election draws even closer, candidates must court voters of all demographics. In 2016, voters are split between Trump and Clinton. This divide makes states like New Jersey crucial for securing electoral college votes. As the election unfolds, it will be important for Ridge seniors who are first-time voters to identify the best candidate for presidency.