College campuses have always been centers of political progress and debate. Though the election is not until Tuesday, Nov. 8, 2016, many students and faculty already have candidacy concerns.

Sophomore Corey Curran believes those leading in the polls now will see a downturn in the primary.

“I project we’re going to see the political outsiders [Trump, Carson and Fiorina] struggle in the later stages of the primary, because of their lack of experience in dealing with other nations in the political sphere.”

Such candidates’ neglection of current domestic policy does not give much hope for foreign policy.

Chair of the Political Science Department and Director of Legal Studies Delia Popescu believes there is a lot to say about Trump, and none of it amounting to an endorsement of his abilities.

“In his memoir The Art of the Deal he writes of playing to people’s fantasies and says: ‘I call it truthful hyperbole. It’s an innocent form of exaggeration—and a very effective form of promotion,’” said Popescu. “This is hardly the transparent political persona we would like to see in a leader. I’d like to think that the next President is a person who inspires with a true passion for doing good rather than one looking for empty accolades.”

In Trump’s June 16 candidacy announcement, he advocated for the construction of a large wall to separate the U.S. and Mexico, claiming Mexico is ‘sending people that have lots of problems,’ and ‘they’re bringing drugs. They’re bringing crime. They’re rapists. And some, I assume, are good people.’ According to Popescu, “The first three of these pronouncements are factually false – studies show that the crime rates [for crimes of any kind] among first generation immigrants are lower than that of the general American-born citizen population. This kind of rampant disinformation is not an ‘innocent form of exaggeration,’ it’s hate speech.”

A clear and realistic foreign policy is desired by many college students. Curran continued, stating, “When looking for a candidate you really wanna closely inspect what experience they have in the arena of foreign policy, but experience isn’t everything. You also want to see how this candidate feels our relationship should be with both our allies, and with our enemies . . . Hillary Clinton’s experience as Secretary of State obviously makes her one of the most qualified candidates, but Marco Rubio is also very qualified.“

One important aspect to note is the acknowledgement that this presidential race is not like previous elections. Governors have the comparative advantage in domestic policy, while Senators have the comparative advantage in foreign policy.

Jennifer Duegaw, a senior, agrees with this sentiment felt by many critics, “I think it comes down to experience. No cohesive plan can possibly be formulated without it. Sure, some may argue they have the ‘intuition’ to solve their problems [like George W. Bush], but that does not guarantee success. Millennials are not looking for a contrite apology after the fact, they want a focused plan to make progress sooner than later.”