Political Interviews With UCF Students: Conservative Edition
When people think of Conservatism within the United States, the Grand Old Party comes to mind. It holds the most power when it comes to state legislatures, and is currently in control of most of the federal government with the exception of the House of Representatives. One student from the University of Central Florida, Micheal, discussed with me his conservative beliefs and why he belongs to the Republican Party.
Micheal
Micheal is a senior from the University of Central Florida who studies Political Science with a pre-law track from Clearwater, Florida. He identifies as a conservative Republican with moderate ounces.
Micheal comes from a poor family. All of his family members are Democrats who are not pleased with Trump, with the exception of his dad, who is more moderate. Religious beliefs do not have an influence on his conservative views.
Growing up, I blamed Democrats the way we were because I had a family member who lived off the government. They did intentionally, and even fraudulently, I’m sure. I don’t want to be like that. What led me to be a conservative Republican, is the idea that people like my family member does exist. They take advantage of these programs. The problem with these social welfare programs — which are usually placed in place by Democrats — is the intent is there, but the control isn’t. There is so much fraud that goes on. I can’t sit by and watch people be dependent on it. I hate to see people complain about how bad life is and sit around and do nothing about it.
He got into political science because of his American Government teacher while he was getting his associate degree.
Learning about the laws, court systems, and US Government was interesting. I don’t necessarily care too much about the political side of things, just more about how the government operates.
Micheal is a Trump supporter because of his economic policies and his economic background.
He’s an interesting character. A lot of people find that his biggest flaws are the silly things he does on Twitter. I personally don’t care about it. What I care about are the policies that he puts forth. We never had a President who has focused on economics. We had presidents who are usually lawyers and senators, but not an economic background. Trump has an economic bachelor’s from UPenn. That’s what this country needs. We need someone who knows how basic economics works to bring our country to a more prosperous direction. We’ve gone too long where we do these cultural changes and policy changes that are good for everyone, but we’re digging ourselves deeper in debt. Nobody has money anymore. Everybody is broke. I’m a college student. I’m broke. We need someone who knows how to handle the economy.
When I asked him about Trump’s influence on the Republican Party, he said each party’s members will vote for whoever is their presidential candidate.
I doubt they [Republican Party] like him all that much. I think they are just sticking with him because he’s part of the party. I don’t have any doubt in my mind that once he’s gone, they probably wouldn’t care.
Micheal believes there are two types of bias when it comes to the media’s portrayal of people with his conservative political beliefs.
There’s bias that you try to hide as fair news, and there’s bias where you know there’s bias, and you don’t really do that much to hide it. You know it. You own it. For instance, if you take CNN or MSNBC, they portray an image that they are trying to be unbiased, but you can tell by the way they acted previously to the 2016 election that they are obviously biased. They just don’t tell you versus Fox News. I’ve watched it for years. Even before Trump was elected, they’ve always been biased. They’ve always been pro-Republican or conservative. That’s never been questioned or a debate. If you watch Fox News, you’re going to get Republican viewpoints.
He goes on and states that media such as CNN or MSNBC stereotypically labels conservatives and Republicans as being racist or hateful.
I’m not a racist. I don’t like racists, and I don’t care for them. The idea of generalizing everyone into one group is a terrible idea. It’s like saying all Democrats are exactly the same, which they’re not. There’re moderate democrats. There’re liberal democrats. There are conservative Democrats. There are Republicans who aren’t racist. There are people who like Trump, who aren’t racist. Or homophobic, xenophobic, or anything similar.
Micheal believes Trump Derangement Syndrome doesn’t exist. However, he believes that people are taking this election more personally than previous elections.
They [Executive branch] don’t do all of that much in terms of change. Change takes years. One President isn’t going to change all that much. Small changes over the course of history is what it comes down to. When it comes to Trump Derangement Syndrome, people are emotionally invested in their beliefs because you have hardcore Trump believers and general Democrats. People need something to get their anger out on. It just comes off as incoherent or bad.
When it comes to Ben Shapiro, Micheal believes he makes good points. He originally didn’t know about the event that was supposed to take place earlier in the year, however.
There’s definitely some controversy surrounding his visits. When those visits come, the two sides definitely clash. I probably wouldn’t have gone myself. I’m not really that political. I don’t need validation from him to know what I believe. Whether these people do or not is up to them.
When I asked him if Ben should be allowed on Campus, he responded that everyone should.
UCF is not private. They receive federal funds. Because of that, everyone should be allowed to speak. The campus itself should have no say. If you want free speech, it’s all or nothing.
For Kaitlin Bennett, he didn’t originally know who she was but saw that people on GroupMe were talking about her.
Obviously, if you’re breaking the law, you shouldn’t be allowed. As long as she’s doing it the right way, she should be allowed to be there.
Micheal feels that the Democratic party is becoming too left.
I hear this all the time from people who don’t have that much experience in politics say ‘Oh the Democrats are the party for the poor. The Republicans are the party for the rich.’ I’m not rich by any means, neither is my family. I think that’s one of the false narratives that have given. I think Democrats have portrayed the image that they are for the poor because of the social welfare programs they do. They’ve gone so far left it’s impossible for me to want to vote Democrat. Obama was fine. I think they are pushing these policies that are nice in theory but super unrealistic. For instance, the Green New Deal sounds nice on paper, but in terms of throwing the country into economic ruin to achieve this, we need to find a better, effective way to do it. When the government does anything, they do a terrible job doing it. If the New Green Deal was put into place, they estimated it would be $30 trillion. It would run over budget and would almost double due to the Government. They need to focus on policy running a little bit better before they take such extreme stances on things.
Micheal already voted for President Trump because he is not fond of Presidential candidate, Joe Biden.
He’s been a senator for many years, but he wasn’t popular until he became President Obama’s VP. Then he exploded in popularity. I believe that’s what he’s running on. I don’t know if he has any actual policy plans.
Micheal is worried that Joe Biden would serve as a figurehead and would not make his own decision with there not being a President in charge, but a party.
He would play no part in policy making and would be left on the Democratic party to push their agenda. He would do whatever they ask him to. I’ve seen Trump disagree with many things with Republicans. I’ve seen him stand against them, and that’s a qualitative thing.
Micheal finds mailing by mail as a tricky thing because there has always been corruptness to it.
Even before Trump or Obama, there always has been some kind of mail or ballot fraud. The Post Office — specifically USPS — is notorious for losing a lot of things. As a lot of carriers do. Do I trust them? Sure, but when you think about it, if they handle 800,000 ballots and lose one percent of it, that’s still a lot of votes that get lost.
He believes that voting in person or dropping off your ballot in person is a better choice, stating:
Because you get the safety and security of bringing it there yourself. You don’t have to depend on the mailman not losing it in his truck or dropping it on the way back to the bin.
One positive thing that he mentioned about the Democratic party was their unity.
You have Republicans who break off from votes and don’t vote the party line. But Democrats almost always do. Every election, they almost always stick together.
Micheal doesn’t care that much when it comes to local and state elections. He doesn’t participate because he doesn’t have time.
Micheal’s most important platform relates to economics.
My view on rich people — specifically large corporations and taxes — is I think Democrats push the idea that rich people and large corporations are bad. I don’t think they are bad. They’re started by people who worked very hard to get where they are at. If we start punishing people for working hard to be where they’re at, we’re going to be left with nobody that’s going to try.
His other important issues include criminal justice reform and universal health care.
Healthcare is a huge topic. Making healthcare more affordable is something that needs to change. I believe universal healthcare should be a thing. But I don’t think it should be run by the government. They are terrible at running anything like the Medicaid and Medicare programs. They cost so much because the government loses money and overspends.
Micheal says there is a difference between protests and riots when it comes to the demonstrations that have been taking place since May due to the death of not only George Floyd but other African Americans.
Protests are an important part of society. It’s in the Constitution. When things like this happen, you demand change. However, when it becomes a riot, it pulls away from the original meaning. When riots happen, it portrays them as being violent and antagonists. I think the intentions are good. Do I think they should be burning down businesses or hurting people? No. I think this is the action of one bad person. The reform of the police needs to be done, but harming other people doesn’t change that. It’s like taking one step forward then two steps back. Real change needs to be made but not through violence.
When it comes to the COVID-19 pandemic, he feels that both the President and Governor Ron DeSantis did a great job, stating:
A lot of people think that he’s not taking any action. That’s a fair point. But I would also like to mention that Trump left it to the states to decide what is best for their state. That’s why the federal government and the state are two separate levels of government. The state knows better what their citizens want than the President who visits once a year to host a rally. The President most likely doesn’t know all that much about the people of Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, or Florida. So, it’s up to the state and their local levels to know what their people need. I think Governor DeSantis did pretty good. We had the phases where we closed everything, and then we’re starting to open up. We’re up to full capacity now.
Micheal says COVID-19 sounds scary and is highly infectious. However, he thinks that the severe cases are the ones that get published.
I think most people do get it at some point, but they don’t even know it. Sitting at home all day sucks, and California is a good example of that. One of my wife’s family members — who is in California can’t do anything. You can’t keep people cooped up like that. If you want to beat something, you can’t be afraid to fight it. People are going to die, and that’s the unfortunate reality. The best thing you can do is limit the number of people who do get hurt from it. It’s been a healthy balance between keeping people safe but allowing us the free will of deciding what we want to do as people.
He believes Donald Trump will be a two-term President. However, he also mentions that it’s a toss-up.
The incumbent in any election always has the advantage. He has the incumbent advantage. The thing with the incumbent is usually people don’t like change. That’s why they usually win. But in this case, a lot of people do not like him. I don’t think the incumbent advantage won’t be there as it usually is. A lot of Democrats because of what is going on and them being emotionally charged. They are going to be more prone to voting because they have a goal to get rid of Trump. I think Trump will win. He’s campaigning more than Joe Biden. A hardcore Democrat isn’t going to switch parties simply because someone isn’t campaigning. They are going to vote for the party no matter what or who. It all comes down to the numbers.
Micheal has a policy against pressuring people to go Republican, stating:
I want people to make their own decisions. I would ask, do you like the way you are living? Do these policies represent you? Those are the kinds of questions I would ask. Is the President or your party doing what you want them to do in your eyes? I think that’s what gets a lot of people to change. They look at what the people who represent their party are doing, and if they aren’t happy with it, they change on their own.
After UCF, Micheal plans on going to law school to get his Juris Doctor.
