After months spent focusing on the presidential primaries during the Election Simulation, the first real votes for the primary were finally cast last night. Election Simulation candidates and their voters shared their thoughts on the real life election.
In the THHS simulation Jeb Bush and Hilary Clinton were both clear victors, but Jeb Bush in particular did not have a great night at last night’s Iowa Caucuses. “It’s what I expected from looking at all of the polls that have been coming out. I’m not happy that Hilary won over Bernie Sanders, nor am I happy that Cruz won over Rubio,” says senior Max Lacoma, who portrayed Jeb Bush in the Townsend Harris Election Simulation.
In Iowa, Jeb Bush won 3% of the vote. Ted Cruz was the overall Republican winner with 27.6% of the votes. Donald Trump was in second places with 24.3% of the votes. The Democratic winner was Hilary Clinton by an extremely thin margin. She and Bernie Sanders received close to 50% of the vote.
Other students shared their thoughts on the result of the election and felt that the simulation made them feel more aware of the election news than they would have been otherwise.
Sophomore Emma Fujita claims she’s not entirely surprised by the big contrast in the results of THHS election simulation with the actual presidential primary, given that the school version isn’t meant to provide an “accurate prediction.”
Freshmen Shirley Zhang said, “I didn’t think Ted Cruz would win. I even thought [Donald] Trump would win.” She contrasted the Simulation with the real election, suggesting that the Simulation isn’t so much about political viewpoints as it is competency: “I think in our school it”s how much effort you put in. I didn’t vote for people just for [their] political viewpoints. I voted based on their involvement with the whole election.” Nonetheless, with many political commentators attributing Cruz’s victory to his effort across the state and suggesting that Trump’s loss was linked t a poor origination for getting out the vote, perhaps the Simulations’s focus on effort isn’t all that off from the real thing.
