The P&J’s Westminster correspondent Lindsay Razaq swaps UK politics for the US Presidential election.
University student Jessica Diaz took a strategic approach early on in the US presidential election campaign.
In an attempt to halt Donald Trump’s progress to the White House, she opted to vote in the Republican rather than Democratic primary.
There are “open” contests in Virginia, which do not require voters to be affiliated to the political party, although they cannot vote in more than one ballot.
The 21-year-old said she was not concerned about the outcome of the blue primary, happy to support whoever won the ticket.
So instead she took the chance to vote for Ohio Governor John Kasich in the hope he would win the Republican nomination.
“I would pretty much support any Democratic candidate that was on the ballot,” she said.
“Had Bernie or Hillary won I would have been fine with the policies they were promoting.
“But I didn’t want to see the candidate on the Republican side be Donald Trump because I didn’t think that he would represent our country well.
“He doesn’t have the rhetoric I would want to see in a presidential candidate.”
Her tactic was of course ultimately unsuccessful, but it does not appear to have curbed her enthusiasm.
And in the final days, she – alongside other students at Virginia Commonwealth University – will be giving her all to get young people out to vote.
Ms Diaz, who is a teaching assistant in the political science department and key player in the voter engagement programme, described the prospect of a Trump presidency as “really frightening”.
She added: “It’s one thing to have different ideas on how we should govern but it’s another to have this completely inappropriate rhetoric towards different groups, different religions, people of different genders.
“I have a lot of family who are immigrants. It makes them feel like second class citizens even though they have gone through the process to become citizens.
“Just because of the way they look they have been treated differently.”
Retired naval officer Donna Looney-McGlynn, whose husband is from near Glasgow, is also critical, accusing Mr Trump of being motivated by self interest.
She is backing Mrs Clinton because she’s “ready to do the job”.
The 62-year-old added: “Hillary’s the most qualified, most experienced, she’s the most respected internationally, she’s the most knowledgeable.
“I don’t think that Trump has any place to be where he is now.
“I’m sorry there’s not another great Republican who could have run against her and had a very intellectual and worthwhile discussion, election and competition.
“I appreciate the folks that support him are enticed by the things he says, but he doesn’t have their interests at heart. He has his own interests at heart.”
