【Nanda van Bergen】

Well,Nanda van Bergen it's here, the GOP convention, the official coronation of Donald Trump as the Republican nominee for president and the country remains as divided as ever as we shift from the primary to the general election.

SEE ALSO: Toy guns banned outside Republican convention. Real guns allowed.

Of particular interest this election cycle is the generational divide, something that's been a topic of conversation already in Democratic circles given the swell of young voters who backed Bernie Sanders bid for his party's nomination. Now, as the GOP opens their week-long party in Cleveland, a pair of surveys backs up previous findings that younger voters are staying left and, thereby, far away from Trump.  

Survey says: Never Trump for young voters

Just a few days ago, GenForward released a survey [PDF] that showed, among other things, that nearly two-thirds of Americans between the ages of 18 and 30 believe the presumptive Republican nominee is racist. It also put Trump's approval rating at a meager 19 percent. Another survey of young voters, the Harvard IOP poll [PDF], showed Trump's approval rating at a similarly low 18 percent. 

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To be fair: both reports also show disgruntlement with Clinton, not surprising given the aforementioned affection among young voters for Sanders. The GenForward poll showed a 39 percent rating for Clinton and the Harvard IOP poll pegged Clinton at 31 percent.

As for older voters, a recent Pew survey shows voters in the 50-64 range giving Clinton a slight edge while Trump takes a slight lead in the 65-and-older demographic, echoing similar surveys from earlier in the GOP primary campaign. 

Making it personal

But these surveys are just numbers. There's something about this particular election -- be it the increasingly alarming rhetoric from Trump or the growing distrust of Clinton -- that makes it feel a bit more personal for us. So, instead of simply ingesting these numbers, we decided to something much less scientific but much closer to our hearts: we talked to our parents. 

And, after all, it's been a long time since a nominee has created quite the stir that Trump has, a divisive character whose boundary lines are clearly drawn. 

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So, we decided to call our parents, not waiting for Thanksgiving Dinner to bring us to the precipice of familial political meltdown, and asked them, with the promise of anonymity, to tell us the first words that come to mind when we said, "Donald Trump." 

"We shall over comb"

For all the words we heard, the majority were, surprisingly, negative. As were the words we heard repeatedly; the most often-used word was "bully." Other words that cropped up multiple times included "ignorant," "arrogant," "egotistic," "idiot," and, yes, "racist."

That's not to say a few didn't respond with positive affirmations: "savior," "determined," and "truthful" all were spoken. 

Original image has been replaced. Credit: Mashable

Sometimes, just a few simple words weren't enough. 

One parent who had a history of voting conservative, said, "I would be ashamed to be an American if he was elected." While another lamented, "I hope he isn't allowed to speak without being instructed again."

And, from the "if you can't say anything nice..." category, one said Trump was just, "a man who loves his family."

All in all, maybe that generation divide isn't as big as we thought, at least for Mashable parents. Or, at least, maybe Thanksgiving dinner won't be as awkward as we all talk about the coming President Trump administration. 

Have something to add to this story? Share it in the comments.

 

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