By Alexa Cheaney
Presidential election season began on Tuesday, Jan. 16, with the Republican caucus in Iowa voting to see who will secure their presidential nomination. Former President Donald Trump won big, with 51% of the vote and 20 delegates.
On the ballot, voters had their choice of four candidates: Trump, Florida Governor Ron Desantis, former United Nations Ambassador Nikki Haley and entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy.
While all of Trump’s rival candidates showed promise on the campaign trail, news of Trump’s landslide victory signals that time may be running out for a new frontrunner to emerge.
Second place went to Gov. Desantis, receiving 21% of the vote and nine delegates. Many strategists believed that a win in Iowa, or at least a close second place polling, would be imperative for Desantis to get the presidential nomination.
Former U.N. Ambassador Haley came in a close third, with 19% of the vote and eight delegates.
Coming in fourth, receiving 7% of the vote and three delegates, was Ramaswamy. Following this loss, Ramaswamy announced that he would be dropping out of the race and endorsed former opponent Trump. Ramaswamy is expected to make an appearance with Trump at his rally in New Hampshire early next week ahead of the state caucus.
Iowa had a turnout of about 15% of eligible voters, which is the lowest the state has seen in over a decade. Here at Grand Rapids Community College, many students seem to be disengaged with the election.
“As for the country’s election, I haven’t been following too closely but everyone is saying it’s like between Trump and Biden again, which you know, I cannot believe,” said 18-year-old Indiana native Arden Gifford. “It’s just like those are two options I am very displeased about and so yeah I’ve been trying not to think too hard about it … I just don’t like my options but I will still vote because it still matters. Just like why is this the first year that I’m voting and these are the options.”
Other students, such as Izayah Porteous, 18, of Holland, and 19-year-old Aidan Lawrence, of Rockford, expressed a similar discontent for both parties’ frontrunners due to age.
“Because an older candidate is definitely going to be more, not as open-minded as a younger candidate,” Porteous said. “And they’re not as up to date with what’s, like, going on with the youth right now and so I just feel like a younger candidate can see eye to eye with the younger people and also the older people, too.”
Lawrence agreed, “I think there should be an age limit. I think you get to a point in your life where you start forgetting things and, you know, it can affect your memory and judgment on certain policies.”
If elected, Biden would be 82 years old on Inauguration Day, beating out the previous record for oldest U.S president, a record that is held by him. Trump would be 78, the same age as Biden was when his first term began.
With all of Trump’s current legal troubles, including 91 pending felonies, 18-year-old Amber Heald raised concerns about legitimacy.
“He’s not fit now, but yeah, anyone who’s convicted of, like, serious felonies, should not… no. It’s one thing to have a pot charge, but the charges he’s looking at are horrendous,” said Heald. While not currently convicted of anything, Trump has a slew of court dates and deadlines remaining as January comes to an end.
With so much at stake this election, there is no better time to get involved than the present.
Rakshan Mohamed, 23, of Grand Rapids, said, “I have not (been following the election.) I’m not really political-savvy, but I would like to get into it, so I plan on doing that.”
For more information about registering to vote and casting your ballot, check out this guide.
Collegiate reporters Aiden Lynam, Vanessa Hewitt, Jeremiah Stewart, Kyree Walker and Logan Goralski contributed to this story.
