While adults were in the library casting their votes in the presidential primary election yesterday, students were able to express their political opinions by taking part in AP Government teacher Carey Petkoff’s mock primary election. Republican candidate and current President Donald Trump and Democratic candidate Joe Biden were found to be the winners after 145 students voted via a Google form, which required them to choose both a Republican and Democratic candidate.
“The mock election was super helpful because it helped educate students on how voting actually works so they just don’t think that their vote goes into a giant pool and that’s how the president is chosen,” AP Government student and senior Andrea Toth said. “It’s important that students exercise their right to vote because we make up a huge portion of the population and we’re underrepresented and those who do vote don’t represent everyone.”
Yesterday was Super Tuesday, which is the day that the greatest number of states have presidential primary elections, including Texas. Therefore, the mock election allowed for the comparison of the political opinions of older Texans with those of students.
“I think [mock elections] are important especially for people who don’t get to vote in the general election because of how young they are,” AP Government student and senior Julia Campopiano said.
The distribution of votes in the mock Democratic election closely resembles that of the actual primary, with Joe Biden getting the most votes, followed by Bernie Sanders, Mike Bloomberg, Elizabeth Warren and Tulsi Gabbard.
While the younger generation tends to support more progressive candidates, there was greater student support for moderate Biden, likely because Democrats in Flower Mound are often more centrist than leftist.
Additionally, Bloomberg received more votes than Warren in both the mock and presidential Democratic primary elections,. However, Bloomberg dropped out of the presidential race earlier today after the results from the primary were finalized. He is now endorsing Joe Biden.
There is a much greater difference between the mock and Texas Republican primaries. About 33 percent of the student votes were for Bill Weld, while he only secured 0.8 percent of the votes in the actual presidential primary election.
These elections will play a pivotal role in determining the Democratic candidate for President, so Assistant Principal Jason Mullin hopes that students will transfer what they learn in the mock election to the real world and recognize the importance of exercising their right to vote.
“The decisions that are being made now are going to affect students that are of the ages 10 to 20 for the next 10 or 20 years,” Mullin said. “This is a student’s chance to have a direct impact on laws.”
