President Barack Obama’s second term is almost over and the rush to the polls is in the air. West High’s senior class will be eligible to vote in the 2016 presidential election, however are they prepared to take on this patriotic task? According to Government teacher Jeremy Fallquist, “Some [students] are, but most aren’t.”

From the data collected from West High seniors, most will vote. However 44% of the surveyed seniors are unsure of which party they will vote for, 33% of the students said they will vote Democrat and 23% said they will vote Republican.

This presidential election seems a bit disorganized. Familiar names such as former secretary of State, Hilary Clinton, and former governor of Florida, Jeb Bush, are in the mix. With that, the Republican Party has a wide variety of candidates, from Donald Trump to the female candidate Carly Fiorina and more in between. The Democratic Party consists of Hilary Clinton, former senator of Vermont Bernie Sanders and former governor of Maryland Martin O’Malley.

Topics like homeland security, abortion, immigration and refugees are main concerns for both parties, yet the republican candidate Donald Trump seems to raise some eyebrows. With allegations such as people cheering during the 9/11 attacks, making Muslim citizens wear badges at all times and using Mexican funds to build a wall around America, he increases the discord of this election.

Slogans about making America great again and moving forward with the times have been thrown around the campaign trail, to hook voters to them. Yet, young people are least likely to vote. According to Fallquist, “Some students haven’t paid attention to politics and some don’t care.” The fate of the country does rest in the hands of the youth.