The question is: Will the Republicans support the padded resumes of Jeb Bush and Marco Rubio or the outsider messages of Trump and Carson? Will the Democrats align with the experience of Clinton or the dose of freshness surrounding Sanders?
Perhaps the next year will show Harvard students aligning with the former, evidently content with America’s establishment politics. Or perhaps we will see a demographic fed up with the current state of politics and ready for a new approach. Either way, it will be telling about what type of “future leaders” Harvard students will turn out to be.
At the next IOP election watch party, it will be the same scene. American flags and red-white-and-blue balloons will surround a room of students cheering on their respective candidates.
But there will be a lot more at stake—because the end of the night will show not just America’s leaders after 2016, but also something about America’s leaders for years to come.
Aaron J. Miller ’18, a Crimson editorial writer, lives in Currier House.