Donald Trump can’t be trusted because his inflammatory, racially and ethnically charged rhetoric is divisive.
Hillary Clinton can’t be trusted because she could have compromised national security when she used her private email account for State Department business.
Bernie Sanders can’t be trusted because he embraces socialist ideology.
Students sound off on the race's negativity and lack of character among the candidates. WATCH Thursday on Live on 5 on NewsChannel5.
Those are all claims that some local high school students have heard about the presidential candidates. And those claims have the students wondering if a political process that allows candidates to sling mud at opponents and avoid focusing on their own platform is trustworthy.
“We should be able to depend on a candidate to stay on task, but if they’re a great liar, they will be a great liar. Nobody seems to be asking if what they are saying is true,” said Brittany Wilson, 18, a junior at Akron’s East high school. “Candidates have a decision to make — they need to decide to run a clean campaign. It’s up to them to make a decision to focus on the things they want to do, and it’s their decision to approve or disapprove their ads.”
Brittany is among a group of students at East, Firestone and Manchester high schools who participated in a Newspapers in Education project developed for the Akron Beacon Journal by the Ohio Council for Law Related Education.
Brandon Griffith, an East Student, told newsnet5.com said he too was bothered by the lack of civility in the race.
"What you see out there is all the bad stuff, so it's hard to really pick which one is the best," Griffith said.
Chuck Rusinek, who teaches advanced placement government at the high school, said even though his students aren't old enough to vote yet, they want the same thing out of the candidates that adults yearn for-- truthfulness.
"They want to find somebody that they can follow and they want to find somebody they can believe in," Rusinek said.
