Although Joe Biden only received 7% in U-High’s mock primary election in February, U-High students backed the former vice president in this week’s mock general election with a whopping 91%. President Donald Trump received 4% of U-High’s vote, and 5% went to third party or write-in candidates. 

Despite Mr. Biden’s overwhelming support among U-High students, few indicated strong enthusiasm. The mock election also asked students to rate their enthusiasm on a scale of 1 to 5. The average enthusiasm was 3.3 for Mr. Biden and 3.5 for Mr. Trump

Senior Rithik Puri indicated his enthusiasm for the Democratic nominee was a 3. He said it was less about voting for Mr. Biden, and more about voting against Mr. Trump.

“Trump has not been a very good leader in that he has not been a good leader for everyone,” Rithik said. “He has violated my interpretation of the Constitution, and at that point that’s enough for me to not vote for him and vote for the person that I think will be the one to supersede him.”

Similar to Rithik, junior Lucy Nathwani would not be enthusiastic about Mr. Biden outside of the current circumstances. Lucy’s policy priorities didn’t align with Mr. Biden’s during the primary season, but as the campaign moved forward, she found herself impressed with how his platform has changed and expanded, particularly in contrast to Donald Trump’s. 

Lucy was also happy that Mr. Biden nominated a woman of color, Sen. Kamala Harris, for vice president.

Freshman David Ren said he voted for Mr. Trump in support of consistency.

“I don’t think a transition of power is the right decision now with the virus and everything,” David said. “I think we need to keep Trump or else everything will go worse than it already is.”

Sophomore Fermi Boonstra, on the other hand, voted for Mr. Biden for how he is different from Mr. Trump.

“I really like Biden’s policies on climate change and recovering from coronavirus,” Fermi said, “and Trump has nothing we can go off of. I mean, just the fact that Biden can give us information about his campaign, says how much this is a change from what Trump is doing and how much we need him.”

Students also indicated the issues most important to them in the election. While most Trump voters prioritized jobs and the economy, most Biden voters indicated equality and discrimination as their priority. Climate change and clean energy was a close second for supporters of both candidates.

Senior Phillip Lengyel voted for Libertarian candidate Jo Jorgenson because he both believes in her policies and is disappointed by the approaches of the Democratic and Republican parties.

“Really all they’re trying to do is counter Trump, which really isn’t the way forward,” Phillip said. “I think that the best way to move forward is to introduce the third party and have an election system kind of similar to European countries.”

The mock election collected the opinions of 423 out of 634 U-High students, or 67% of the student body — 94 seniors, 111 juniors, 105 sophomores and 113 ninth graders.