With Election Day fast approaching, Townsend Harris High School seniors representing Presidential and City Council candidates are continuing to work on their campaigns and improve their chances at the polls.
Campaign teams have been holding fundraisers, visiting classrooms, going on the weekly radio show, and placing advertisements in the weekly TV show and newspaper in order to promote their campaigns.
Senior Enzo Schulze, representing the Republican Presidential Primary candidate Chris Christie, said, “We plan to continue utilizing ads in the TV show, radio, and newspaper as most people view these in their history classes. We have also planned several more classroom visits and are working on leaving a more lasting impression on the underclassmen through these visits.”
Senior Simran Deonarine, who represents Democratic candidate Nantasha Williams for NYC Council District 27, said, “I plan to reach out to the student body this week and next week by engaging a lot more with them on my social media as well as visiting their classes so that I can really get that in-person connection with them.”
Although all the efforts candidates take to distribute information to underclassmen are useful, according to the mid-season poll filled out by underclassmen the previous week, 36.4% of potential voters learn about their candidates through their respective social media accounts. This outlet was considered the second-best for Election Simulation news, beaten only by the official THHS Election Sim website, where the preference was 39%.
Although the mid-season poll form was provided to all underclassmen, responses were only provided by 187 students. However, candidates have already begun to use the student body’s reflection to their advantage.
“We plan to reach out to the student body by being active on social media, posting banners and posters around the school, and having interactive and engaging posts and stories,” said senior Brodie McDermott, who represents Republican Presidential Primary candidate Nikki Haley.
Senior John Rossi, who represents the Republican City Council candidate for District 24 candidate, Jonathan Rinaldi , said, “Our campaign is going very successfully. We are very glad that Rinaldi is well received by THHS students, especially in terms of our Instagram posts.”
Recent events also helped candidates reach a wider audience. “We hope to improve feedback from the student body by appealing to them with events such as the recent Republican City Council Rallyand bake sales,” John said.
As the election simulation comes to a close, underclassmen are ready to vote at the in-person polls on November 7. “I am excited to vote at the polls on Monday,” said sophomore Sophia Lee.
