Donald Trump’s recent swing through Virginia universities didn’t give him big returns with students in the state.
While Trump successfully stifled his competitor Ted Cruz in Virginia, he earned only a slim, single delegate lead over the younger Marco Rubio, with 34 percent of votes to Rubio’s 31 percent. Support for Rubio came largely from college students in that state, many of whom were passionate about their feelings against Trump.
“I think college students are against [Trump] mainly because all of his ideals on what he wants America to be,” said Shenandoah University junior Sarah Beck, “A wall separating our borders? It’s ludicrous, what he’s asking for.”
“I’m scared that so many people in the prior generation want him as president just because they think he’s a, ‘good business man,’” Beck said.
Nick Meler, a student a Lord Fairfax Community College, expressed a similar sentiment.
“I think millennials don’t want to see our nation backtrack with regards to acceptance and diversity,” he said. “I feel that [Trump] will block the American Dream for many foreigners and that blocks ideas, innovations, and advancements for our nation.”
Shenandoah sophomore Clay Dubberly believes the solution is simple.
“I think the reason that some college students might have for disliking Trump are the same as it would be for any other candidate. They either disagree with his policies, the way he handles things, or offensive things that he has said,” he argued.
If Trump wants the support of younger voters in the rest of the primaries and the general election, he needs to change his tactics and make claims that appeal to college students, like many of his competitors have.
“Bernie Sanders is extremely popular among college students, because he says that if he’s elected he will make college tuition-free and debt-free,” Dubberly said. “While I personally don’t support Mr. Sanders, I can definitely understand why students would.”
Trump released “health care reform to make America great again” this week, after being slammed in the debates for lack of detail on his plan. However, he has yet to develop the college affordability plan he promised, unlike his competitors Rubio, Clinton, and Sanders.
Despite the lack of millennials’ support, Trump’s wins have overpowered his losses. Clinching seven of eleven states on Super Tuesday, and coming in close in the others, Trump has still earned the majority of delegates in primaries thus far; the college student vote is not hurting his chances for the GOP nomination at this point in the race.
