IU South Bend students weigh in on Democratic presidential debate

SOUTH BEND, Ind. – Several IU South Bend college students attending a watch party Wednesday night on campus gave their opinions on the 2020 Democratic presidential debate in Nevada.

Jennine Bradshaw, a freshman at IU South Bend, says the candidate that has her excited is former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg.

"I really like what he's doing,” Bradshaw said. “I like what all the presidents are doing but I actually feel like he's going to make the change, to make America better than what it is. I really hope — because I know that he is funding all his own campaigns and everything, so I kind of really want him to win, but I know at the end of the day that people are going to vote for the populars like Sanders or Buttigieg or maybe even Donald Trump again, so you just never know."

When asked about Pete Buttigieg, however, Bradshaw offered a different answer.

"I kind of was for him for a little bit but then I've been hearing a lot of accusations and I've just backed away from him,” Bradshaw said. "Honestly I don't know if any of them are qualified to run a nation, probably besides Pete Buttigieg but at the same time Donald Trump wasn't capable of running a nation, and look where he is now. You never know."

IU South Bend Sophomore Christian Martinez also offered his two cents on Bloomberg, and his opinion differed significantly from Bradshaw.

"I'm not really sure how I feel about his sexual misconduct allegations,” Martinez said, “and I guess his racially biased policies that he's implemented in the past: stop-and-frisk and his defensive redlining — those are pretty reprehensible. I think Bloomberg is going to have a train wreck and the reasoning is you're go have Warren and Sanders attacking Bloomberg for buying the election. I have a personal opinion that I really don't like the idea that you can buy an election for spending $300 million on advertising.”

Aside from Bloomberg, Martinez says he remains optimistic about the other candidates.

"But among the other democratic candidates, I'm open to hear what they have to say. They are all relatively well qualified to I guess hold the office of presidency. They also seem really well spoken on the issues, and I really like that.”

The American Democracy Project of IU South Bend hosted the watch party along with the Political Science Club.