November this year, Alaska’s Senate elections are heating up due to increasing political pressure to take the seat from the current incumbent (Democrat) Mark Begich. Recently this has been represented by political ads constantly bombarding the public across social media and through other electronic means.

The majority of these ads are either supporting Mark Begich or targeting him. Recently accusations of funding by the billionaire Koch brothers has been thrown back and forth between both sides. The sponsorship of these super PACs greatly contributes to the quantity of campaign ads seen on sites such as YouTube, Facebook and Cable television.

Many students at West High use these social sites and have witnessed these ads, due to their frequency. This reporter set out to see how the students of West felt about the unusual amount of pressure put on this year’s elections, and the ads that have been running.

Karl Hickel, a representative of the Junior class at West, said how he felt about this round of elections. When asked about this years campaign ads he said, “I don’t like how the ads this year are everywhere on social media, and how the public has no choice but to watch these ads on certain sites.”  This was the general feeling that was shown by all the students interviewed.

Also the students were asked what their thoughts were on campaign ads that attack a candidate’s character. Overall my results were split. On one hand there was Tristan Nyman who felt that “Voters need to be able to know a little about their candidate’s personal life to be able to know more about them.”

“Their political life shouldn’t affect their personal life,” said Fletcher Steele. Overall there was mixed feelings about candidate’s personal life affecting the voting process.

The final topic pursued was whether campaign ads should be presented to the public on social media. Most of the students felt that campaign ads had no place on social media. Many students also felt that social media is a place where free ideas should be shared with everyone.

So through in depth interview, it is concluded that the students feel that the campaign ads need to slow down. Also that the ads shouldn’t be on social media. Finally that the ads shown should be funded in state and discretion should be used when attacking a candidate’s character.