Candidates Trump and Biden had a competitive presidential run in 2020. November 2nd states began to declare who their presidential candidate was. Despite a close race, Biden’s lead increased after days of counting, especially through democratic mail-in votes, causing uncertainty about the election integrity from some. After several days of anxiously waiting for the presidential results, Joe Biden was announced, undoubtedly, as the President Elect.
The community of University Prep Value High School held a Mock Election, identical to the structure of the US voting system. Students voted on propositions, measures and presidential candidates on the ballot for the 2020 General Election. The long awaited results showed that 75.4% out of the 256 UP students that participated in the mock election voted for Joe Biden.
“I do think that someone’s minority background may influence how they vote. It makes sense that we learn our values based on where we grow up. But I think it is just as important that we are all growing up in Pico Union and neighboring communities,because we see the challenges in our neighborhood, and we know the truths that people face who live here. We vote not just with our backgrounds to influence us, but we vote with our communities in mind.” Mr Magdaleno, UPVHS history teacher, shared his thoughts about the results of the mock election.
Despite Joe Biden winning, there is still a percentage of people who would rather favor the opposing side, Mr. Magdaleno shares his opinion as to why this occurs: “ I don’t think that Joe Biden represents everything the community of Pico Union believes in but these people are tired of the democratic party promising things and not complying with them.”
Senior Adam Mejia expressed “ If I had to describe my personal feelings about Biden winning the 2020 election I would say I am relieved. It’s such a relief that Biden won the election because I believe he will do way better as president than Donald Trump. Biden has promised that his campaign will hopefully bring back Medicaid and he will definitely take action towards the whole pandemic.” Mejia also expressed his frustrations during this Pandemic; stating, “ Donald Trump has not taken much action towards the coronavirus problem which has affected thousands of people. Hopefully Biden makes a change in the world in his 4 years of presidency.”
Speaking generally, several people might have felt the same way as Senior Adam Mejia. Everyone was aware of president Trump's stance on things that mattered to several students from the community and that awareness may have contributed to the negative stance towards Trump.
Overall, the connection between UPVH’s mock election and California election were clear. Through both, we were able to see how minorities are most likely to vote in favor of candidates they believe share common ideals. Not to mention, UP’s election reflects the large turnout of young voters in the US election, who turned out like never before and played a large role in the election of Joe Biden as the 46th president of the United States.