Politics or Popularity?

     In middle school, we elect representatives for our homeroom to go to student council. In high school, we elect people to be our class president. Once we turn 18, we elect people to be our mayors, governors, senators, and our president of the United States. Before we become a documented adult, our school elections tend to be a popularity contest; the winner being the one with the most impactful speech or has the most friends in the class. What makes our actual elections any different?
     We are currently witnessing candidates fight for their shot at presidency as they debate and campaign everything they have trying leave their mark on the population. The more people they get on their side, the more votes they win in turn helping each candidate achieve their ultimate goal. What I have noticed as the ads fill my television, newspaper, and social media, is that these elections, are a larger version of the high school popularity contests. For example, this year a leading republican candidate, Donald Trump, is a billionaire who has dominated our news sources for several years and now has finally gone through with his "threat" of running for president. Now, most Americans aren't truly aware of the candidates and who they are voting for. So, when a name appears on the ballot they have seen on the T.V., newspapers, and throughout the internet appears on a ballot, and they have no idea who the other candidates are, they choose the only person they know. With one of the democratic candidates, Hillary Clinton who hopes to be America's first female commander in chief, has countless memes, images, and posts both positive and negative drawing more and more attention to her campaign. The more attention drawn to someone running, encourages the amount of votes they will receive later on. Even another democratic candidate, Bernie Sanders is drawing attention because of his thoughts on different types of economies and governments. Regardless of the positive or negative condentation of the media, he is gaining speed as more citizens are drawn to his campaign. The more people that see or hear a candidate's name, the more likely they are to win, even if they don't really understand their political goals and values.
     In school, students were not always aware of the problems at their school, but if a student was popular it was likely they would be voted up to student council. Even in the real world, the process of electing our politicians is similar. The more people that know someone's name, the more likely they are to become president. Attention, negative or positive, is attention and can bring any politician close to the oval office.