South Carolina College Students Describe 2016 Election as 'Embarrassing,' 'Divided'
College-aged voters in South Carolina did not appear to be very optimistic about the 2016 presidential election in the latest informal poll.
When asked to describe the election in one word, many of students at the College of Charleston used negative adjectives like "embarrassing," "divided" and "long." Some of the participants in CNN and Facebook's #CampaignCamper -- where the network has been polling locals on a national tour ahead of the CNN presidential debates -- were then featured in a 90-second video.
"I'm still new to learning about politics. There's definitely a lot for me to learn," said Morgan Jackson, a Democrat who decided to use the word "worried" to describe the election cycle. "What worries me is that it's just going to be another election of bashing Republicans versus Democrats, as opposed to actually stopping to hear, 'What do you have to say?'"
Because South Carolina is a key early primary state, many of the students have been exposed to campaign ads for months. As a result, one millennial used the word "long" to describe the race.
Other students, like Republican Mary Margaret Artman, said the next president will determine whether the direction of the country will be negative or positive.
"I feel as though this election could go one way or the other way and it's really up in the air right now," she said. "I feel as though it could go in a really great direction or it could go in an even worse direction than it's already been in."
Earlier this month, a Quinnipiac University national survey found that an overwhelming majority of millennial voters between the ages of 18 and 34 would be "embarrassed" if Donald Trump won the White House. Seventy-three percent of those voters said they would be "embarrassed" to have Trump as a leader, while 13 percent said they would be "proud."
Meanwhile, a Harvard University Institute of Politics survey showed that Bernie Sanders has won over the majority of young Democrats.
According to the poll, more millennials between the ages of 18 and 29 favored Sanders over Clinton in the 2016 election. In the poll, which was conducted from Oct. 30 to Nov. 9, 41 percent said they supported Sanders, compared to 35 percent who said they backed the former secretary of state.