The upcoming 2016 election is tightening every day, with new polls, candidates dropping out, there is a lot to be said, as well as unsaid.

Two big events are over with on the election trail, for both parties. Those two being the Iowa Caucus and the New Hampshire Primary. Candidates had to spend a lot of time, up to a couple of months, campaigning and canvassing these two states.

The Iowa Caucus was the first major event to happen this campaign year. The campaign results for the GOP, Grand Old Party which is the Republican Party, came in with Texas Senator, Ted Cruz, in first, business man Donald Trump in second, and Florida Senator Marco Rubio in third. The Republicans were very tight, especially in delegates.Trump and Rubio got seven delegates, and were only separated by a little over 1%, while Cruz got eight delegates, only one more than Cruz and Rubio, and beat Trump by about 4%. The Democrats were much closer, former Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton, only beat Vermont Senator, and self-proclaimed socialist, Bernie Sanders, by less than 1%.

The New Hampshire Primary was held Feb. 9, 2016. Trump took the GOP win, beating John Kasich by 20%, which surprised a lot of people, because Kasich tended to be a little bit lower in the polls then other candidates. Cruz came in third, Jeb Bush in fourth, and Rubio in fifth. Sanders took the New Hampshire Presidential Primary by storm, he totally decimated Clinton, beating her by 22%. The next presidential primary on the campaign trail for the Republicans is the South Carolina Primary, being held on Feb. 20. While, the Democrats have the Nevada Presidential Caucus to look forward to.

“South Carolina is a predominantly Republican state, so it may be possible for Trump to win, but they may vote for a different candidate. As for Democrats, I think it is fairly possible he [Sanders] could win. He has been a big success so far. So yes, I think they will continue their streak, although we will only truly know when we see the results,” said sophomore Angelina Ellis.

The playing field for the Democrats is both little and big at the same time. With there being only two major Democrats running: former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders. Some Democrats have dropped out of the running, including, Martin O’Malley, Lincoln Chafee, Lawrence Lessig, and Jim Webb. O’Malley stuck around thee longest with Clinton and Sanders, but decided to drop out shortly after the Iowa Caucus, after receiving very little support and votes from the Democrats in Iowa. Clinton has been under the very close eye of many people, due to her being currently investigated by the FBI, for events resulting from the Benghazi attacks in 2012. Many Republicans, especially Rubio, say she should not even be able to run, due to her current situation.

“I think Clinton’s polls will stay the same, because Sanders is still running.” said Ellis.

On the Republican side, there has been a lot of tension, and the nine debates have been quite heated, especially because Trump calls a lot of the candidates out, and none really call him out too drastically. In the seventh Republican debate, Trump decided to not participate in the debate, because he thought the moderator, Megyn Kelly, was a terrible moderator. A lot of people thought this was quite childish of him.  And some people thought it was quite strange, because Kelly had interviewed Trump before, and he called her a superb journalist. As for who will get the nomination of the GOP, that is still unknown, it is projected Trump will indeed get the nomination, even though he has said very controversial things.

“I believe that any decent human who believes that not just white men are important in society would not vote for Trump, also, he is ugly,” said sophomore Erica Schreiber.

After the New Hampshire Primary, Carly Fiorina and Chris Christie suspended their campaigns. It comes as a surprise to many people that Christie would drop out at this time, because at the eighth debate, he chewed out Rubio. Fiorina suspending her campaign does not come as much as a surprise to people because she had been pretty low in polls from the get go. The Republicans who are currently running are Marco Rubio, Donald Trump, Ted Cruz, John Kasich, and Ben Carson. Following the South Carolina Primary Jeb Bush suspended his campaign.

Many people speculate candidates will begin to drop out of the running.

“I think Jim Gilmore will drop out for the Republican Party, but, I don’t think Hillary Clinton or Bernie Sanders will drop out at this point,” said Ellis.

Ellis’ prediction came true. on Feb. 12, Jim Gilmore did indeed suspend his campaign,

On the other side, people are still rooting for current Vice President, Joe Biden to put his money in the pot and run. But this is quite unlikely.

“I think it’s too late for any new people to hop in,” said Schreiber.  

While there is still a lot of time before the election actually happens, the race will begin to speed up with more cacus’, primaries, debates, and even the conventions where the two parties chose who will represent their party, and eventually the United States of America. So, it will be interesting to see the campaigns speed up and become even more interesting than they are right now.

UPDATE: The Nevada GOP caucus occurred on Feb. 23 where Trump won with 45.9% of the votes. The results of the GOP South Carolina Primary are in. Trump came in first, with 32.5% and all 50 delegates, Rubio in second with 22.5% of votes, and Cruz in third with 22.3% of votes. Super Tuesday, which was on March 1, results have had an impact on both the frontrunners of both parties. Trump won seven states, Cruz won three states, and Rubio won one, and his first, state. Carson took zero states and did not attend the GOP debate the following Thursday. Clinton won seven states, and Sanders won four states.