When considering who to vote for on Nov. 8, many would say it’s crucial to research and vote based on a well-educated opinion of which candidate most directly aligns with personal beliefs. However, most affiliate themselves with a party, whether that be Republican or Democrat, and neglect to do any research on the actual candidates. Particularly in this election year, Americans find themselves voting one way or another not because they support the candidate but because they’ve always voted for that particular party. People often find themselves disagreeing with Donald Trump or Hillary Clinton when watching debates or interviews, but will still vote for them based on the idea that they will not vote for the party differing from their affiliation.

According to Pew research, 45 percent of registered voters think Clinton would be either a “poor” or “terrible” president, and 55 percent believe Trump will make a “poor” or “terrible” president. However, despite this, the New York Times shows 45.6 percent of registered voters support Clinton and 42.3 percent support Trump. The clear mistrust of these candidates isn’t swaying the voters and it’s clear that the disapproval for a candidate doesn’t change the idea of party loyalty.

A key factor in the 2016 general election is the lack of support from the party for their possible candidates in the primaries in August. Particularly in the Republican party, many big news sources, such as Daily Mail and The New York Times, reported Speaker of the House Paul Ryan denounced Trump and declared he will not endorse him in the general election. However, as election day nears, CNN reported Ryan to show his support because although Trump does not represent the Republican party well in Ryan’s opinion, he is still a Republican, and that factor alone is enough to get an endorsement.

According to TIME Magazine, most democratic governors have been supporting an anti-Clinton stance for the past year and a half. Around 97 percent of the ads created by these democrats are strongly anti-Clinton. However, as seen with the Republicans, as the election nears, these people are supporting the democratic party despite their dislike for Clinton and her policies, do not see their distrust and dislike of Clinton as a more important matter than keeping the White House blue.

These facts prove that party loyalty is too much of an issue in modern day America. In past elections, many of the candidates well represented the party that supports them, however there are often outliers that, by doing research, should sway even loyal members to reevaluate why they are voting for a particular candidate. A voter shouldn’t blindly vote for Trump only because they’ve always gone red, and only vote for Clinton because they’ve always gone blue. The future of this country is more important that what organization voters support. Instead voters should support a candidate that they trust and has a platform that will keep their best interests at heart.