Upper Schoolers Weigh in on Upcoming Election
Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., right, speaks to Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., left, as former Vice President Joe Biden listens, Jan. 14, 2020, during a Democratic presidential primary debate hosted by CNN and the Des Moines Register in Des Moines, Iowa. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky)
The Grytte newspaper staff surveyed students from Form I to VI about their opinions in the upcoming 2020 election in order to further understand the political views and trends of the student body and found 44 percent of responding students favor Donald Trump in the 2020 election.
“Trump’s policies help the economy,” Form II student Ander Pineda ’24 said. “The stock market is at its highest ever, and unemployment is at its lowest.”
Upper School students answered the question, “Out of the top four polling candidates according to the New York Times, who is your favorite presidential candidate?”
The Grytte’s poll asked respondents to disclose their favorite and least favorite out of the four highest polling candidates according to The New York Times. Respondents also identified their predictions for the Democratic nominee, as well as the winner of the presidency. They also shared the political issues they cared about the most and whether their opinions differed from those of their families.
Ahead of the primaries, The Grytte sought to investigate the views of the students and understand the political environment of the School. The results of the survey identify trends and analyze differences and shifts in the student body.
Although not all students participated in the survey, it offers a snapshot of student views. The Google form was sent on November 7 to the 180 students in Forms I through VI, but, only 25 students participated. Over half of the responses were from Form II students, with the rest of the data split between the other grades, except for Form III, which submitted no responses.
Though Trump was the favorite candidate, the Democrats combined won 56 percent of student support. Bernie Sanders was ranked as the least favorite candidate, followed by Trump. Joe Biden was no respondent’s least favorite candidate and came in as the second favorite to Trump, garnering the support of 40 percent of respondents. Eight percent of respondents ranked Sanders as their favorite candidate, and another eight percent ranked Elizabeth Warren.
In Form II, Trump received much less support than in the other Forms, favored by just 35 percent of the class. No Form II respondents favored Warren, and 50 percent supported Biden, while 14 percent supported Sanders as their first choice.
Trump’s 44 percent student approval rating is a significant improvement over his 36 percent approval rating in New York State, according to data-driven news site FiveThirtyEight, but similar to his 45 percent national approval according to The New York Times.
Other students have shared alternative opinions.
“Biden is a likable candidate, and his moderate views are what we need today, in our time of division,” Sebby Brown ’24 said.
Brown thinks that Biden will win the upcoming elections because of his “un-hateable” character. Brown’s views were supported by the survey, which indicated that no respondent considered Biden their least favorite candidate.
The similarity to the national data suggests intellectual diversity among Browning students that is similar to the entire country. Even though the collected data is limited, it unearths interesting trends within the student body that deserve to be explored further.