The Political Revolution: A look at the 2016 Election Season

by Alex Malm

Almost one year ago today businessman Donald J Trump jumped onto the crazy ride that is the 2016 Primary Season by doing what not many people thought he would do, run for president of the United States.

The 2016 Presidential Primary season has been a roller coaster ride for both major parties. The G.O.P has seen their top dogs get eliminated one by one by a man who never served a day in public office. The likes of former top dog Jeb Bush was eliminated before March, young rising star Marco Rubio lost his home state of Florida and called it quits, Tea Party leader Ted Cruz, a person who fragmented the party shockingly stood as the unifier for the G.O.P establishment before he eventually was eliminated. And of course there was John Kasich who only won in his home state of Ohio.

On the other side stood two candidates for most of the race. Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders, and former first lady and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

Although most people aren’t surprised that Clinton stands going into the convention as the nominee of the Democratic Party, many may be surprised by the fierce competition that emerged.

When Franklin Pierce University and the Boston Herald announced their first poll results on March 31st 2016, 65 percent of people thought Hillary Clinton would be the most likely nominee. In the same poll only 3 percent of people thought that Bernie Sanders would be the nominee.

Despite the low numbers from Bernie Sanders in the original poll, the campaign jumped on the roller coaster geared up to ride it as long as possible. With a Political Revolution in mind Sanders has done things that many people thought would be impossible.

In August Franklin Pierce was the first polling organization to announce that Bernie Sanders was leading in the polls in New Hampshire.

But even though the “Political Revolution” that Bernie Sanders has started may not go through the White House, the two candidates on the ballot may be a revolution in itself. For the first time a female will be on a ballot with a major party support. On the other side will be a person without any public service before. Bernie Sanders may not actually be the commander in chief but he has certainly created a political revolution.