Natasha Mascarenhas

Boston University

Nearly one in four Millennials would prefer to be struck by a meteor than see Donald Trump or Hillary Clinton become president, according to a recent poll conducted by University of Massachusetts-Lowell and Odyssey.

The poll asked people 18-35 to choose between four options: Clinton for president, Trump for president, a lottery that chooses a random U.S. citizen to serve as president or a meteor strike that ends human life.

And after polling 1,247 people, analysts came to a conclusion: Clinton and Trump were the worst-case scenario.

Almost one out of four Millennials chose a meteor strike. About 40% of Millennials preferred a President Obama life term and about 30% chose the random lottery system.

“We do not take our respondents at their word that they are earnestly interested in seeing the world end, but we do take their willingness to rank two constitutional crises and a giant meteor ahead of these two candidates with startling frequency as a sign of displeasure and disaffection with the candidates and the 2016 election,” Joshua Dyck, co-director of UMass-Lowell’s Center for Public Opinion, said according to a press release.

So, before you get too excited that there's a new thing to blame Millennials for, we don’t want mass world destruction -- we just want stronger candidates.

Voices: I'm a college woman of color, and #GirlIGuessImWithHer

Snipes, Hope and other students said the disaffection many students feel reflects Bernie Sanders’ success with Millennials and disappointment among his supporters when he dropped out of the race.

The UMass-Lowell poll looked to quantify this disappointment, asking Millennials to indicate their preference in a hypothetical match-up between Sanders and Trump. Almost 70% of Millennials chose the Vermont senator, with 23% for Trump and 10% undecided.

The fact that a quarter of respondents said they prefer a meteor strike to the two main candidates we do have also suggests that Millennials have grown increasingly tense about the 2016 election, a feeling Pew Research Center described as “strong interest, widespread dissatisfaction.”

“Every generation has faced its struggles,” said Hope. “(But) I believe they had a greater certainty the government was going to work for them by putting aside party ideologies and resulting biases to ‘reach across the aisle’ for the betterment of the American people.”

Ultimately, the poll isn’t about Millennials wanting a meteor strike to end life on Earth, but about wanting a better election.

“I sure hope a meteor doesn't destroy the world,” said Hope. “Because aside from this political nightmare, we still have some great things ahead of us. Now we just need a leader who can help us facilitate those great things."