Texas holds its primary for the Nov. 2020 election on March 3. Primaries allow all political parties to choose a candidate they will rally behind for the presidential election, and students over the age of 18 are encouraged to place their votes when the time comes.

“For the first time in a long time we have really different ideologies that are being professed,” Advanced Placement U.S History teacher Lucy Capt said. “Within the Democratic race, you still have very different ideologies, and so the primaries are going to determine how far left those policies are going to be pushed.”

Students said the issues most important to them in deciding who to vote for are the political systems candidates support.

“The biggest issue to me is like kind of the issue between capitalism vs socialism,” senior Jarek Wells said. “I feel like Bernie Sanders is going to win the Democratic nomination, and if it’s between Donald Trump and Bernie Sanders, the vote is either going to be between a socialist government or a capitalist government.”

They also said issues with class and distribution of wealth are also important. 

“I would say (the most important issue is) wealth inequality and also just treatment of domestic issues and international policy,” student Alex Harrison* said.

Harrison said he would vote for Sanders, a somewhat surprising answer due to the Republican majority of the state.

“He’s the only person who one, in the last debate, stated that he believed in true democracy while all the others stated they were okay with superdelegates deciding the primary,” Harrison said. “He was the only one who defended democracy. He’s been consistent for his entire career, and he won’t switch based on the opinion based on the opinion of the focus group.”

Wells also insisted that if he had to vote he’d be voting for Sanders, but for a different reason.

“I don’t think he has a chance to beat Donald Trump, and I’m for Trump,” he said.

The final round of primaries will be on June 7.

“When it comes to the general election, whichever Democratic candidate is going to be running against President Trump, you’re going to see a true difference in ideologies between kind of capitalism and a socialist policy,” Capt said. “The primaries are important on considering how far left the policies are going to be pushed by the Democratic party.”

Name with * is changed for the anonymity of the student interviewed