Upper School Election Opinions
Almost 50 percent of upper schoolers would vote for Hillary Clinton, while 30 percent would vote for Donald Trump, followed by 13 percent undecided, and finally 7 percent would vote for Gary Johnson
By Patrick Plott
As almost everyone knows by now, the current presidential election has been one of the most eventful times in the past 8 years. Radical political views have sparked outrage against opposing candidates. We've seen and heard how different adults feel about each candidate, but how does the Providence Day School Upper School community feel about the current election? Most Upper Schoolers are not of age to vote during the upcoming 2016 election. However, that certainly doesn't restrict them from being widely exposed to politics.
For those unaware, the two front-runners in the election are Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton, and Republican candidate Donald Trump. They are followed by Libertarian candidate Gary Johnson and Green Party candidate Jill Stein. Most Trump supporters are radically against Clinton. Likewise, most Clinton supporters are radically against Trump. Both of these candidates have been involved in countless scandals that have made the public question their integrity and morals. The election has been a war of digging up negative stories about the other side in effort to further expose their faults. According to most large news networks and polling organizations, Clinton is a good bit ahead of Trump; however, this is just the opinion of the adults able to vote.
We surveyed 291 willing, anonymous Upper School students at Providence Day School about their opinions on different aspects of the current presidential election. When asked who the students would vote for if they could, 49.1 percent of students chose Democratic nominee and Secretary Of State, Hillary Clinton. In second place, 30.9 percent of students chose Republican nominee and Business Mogul, Donald Trump. Receiving the third most votes, 13.1 percent of students said they were undecided. With the fewest votes, Libertarian candidate and former New Mexico governor Gary Johnson received 6.9 percent of the votes.
As most would expect for teenagers ages 14-18, the most common influences on their political opinions come from televised media and parents or other family members. As teenagers, watching television and seeing the debates and news stories is a common theme. Most surveyed students are also not of age to vote; therefore, a lot of their information comes directly from their parents who likely already have a bias towards or against one candidate. The third most prominent source is online or digital media such as online newspapers or magazines. These are popular with teens, as they are very easily accessed and usually completely free. By far the least used source is print media such as printed newspapers and magazines. Using print media for current information is an almost nonexistent occurrence with most teens. The rest of the surveyed group said their political beliefs were most influenced by something not given in the choices.
Most people, regardless of age, find the trustworthiness of a candidate to be a very important factor in choosing the next president. Especially in the current election, many people have strong beliefs about which candidates they can and cannot trust. Considering the countless scandals associated with Trump and Clinton, the results of which candidate Upper School students find most trustworthy were quite surprising. Neither candidate stood out as being viewed "most trustworthy." Instead, all three candidates received between 32 percent and 34.4 percent of the votes. Clinton edged out Johnson by less than 1 percent and beat Trump by just over 2 percent.
When asked what characteristic is most important in a potential president, the majority of students surveyed chose integrity. This is not surprising, as most high school students are more exposed to the personality and current news of the candidates as opposed to their policies. Relevant experience was not far behind in second place. Many people believe that the political experience of a candidate is a very important factor in deciding if they are fit to run a country. The importance of political typology, whether or not a candidate is conservative, liberal, or moderate, is bit behind relevant experience. Some teens are very concerned with this issue; however, some do not think it changes much at all. By far the least important characteristic in the opinion of students is likeability, which received less than 3 percent of the votes. This is likely due to the fact that most teenagers think that likeability doesn’t have much to do with fitness to serve in office.
We also asked the students which issue is most important for the candidate to have good policies on, and the results were not surprising. Students said that economic policy was the most important issue which received almost 38 percent of the votes. Receiving 33 percent of the votes in second place was social policy. Many teenagers believe that the current social injustices and policies currently in place need immediate change. Receiving the least number of votes, although not by much, was the issue of foreign policy which got just over 29 percent of the votes. Some teens believe that the relationships and policies concerning the Islamic State, Russia, and Mexican immigration are the most important for a candidate to have.
All students used for this survey are Upper School students at Providence Day School. They all chose to take this survey and did so anonymously. 54 percent of the participants were male and the other 46 percent were female. Of the 291 students who took the survey 29.9 percent are current 9th graders, 20.6 percent are 10th graders, 27.1 percent are 11th graders, and 22.3 percent are currently in 12th grade.
It is obvious that even Upper School students have plenty of political views and opinions on the upcoming election. Some of these results were very similar to those of adult surveys however some were very different showing the differing mindsets of teens and adults.
Hillary Clinton
Donald Trump
Undecided
Gary Johnson
televised media
parents/family
digital media
none of the above
print media
Hillary Clinton
Gary Johnson
Donald Trump
integrity
relevant experience
political typology
likeability
economic policy
social policy
foreign policy
FEATURE
The Charger, November 2016
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