Dwight Lin ‘28
The 2024 presidential election already feels like it was ages ago, but it was held just earlier this month. The election featured Kamala Harris representing the Democratic Party and Donald Trump representing the GOP. Both candidates had previously held executive office, with Harris being the vice president from 2021-2024 and with Trump being president from 2017-2021. Trump was voted in as a huge upset in 2016, cracking the Democratic “blue wall” by winning the states of Pennsylvania, Michigan, and Wisconsin, as well as losing the overall popular vote by around 3 million votes.
In 2020, the Democratic party retook the White House, as their candidate Joe Biden regained Pennsylvania, Michigan, and Wisconsin, as well as the states of Arizona and Georgia. Joe Biden initially ran for reelection against Donald Trump but was forced to drop out of the race due to concerns about his age after the first presidential debate, with Vice President Harris taking over the campaign. The two were neck and neck in the polls until Election Day when Trump swept all seven swing states, won the popular vote for the first time, and took back the White House. He became the first president since Grover Cleveland to win two non-consecutive presidential terms.
St. Mark’s in particular had several strong opinions about the presidential election, as a student poll found that around 2/3 of the student body preferred Harris to Trump, with just over a quarter of the students preferring Trump. The most important issue for around 64.4% of students was abortion, a topic on which Democrats were highly rated compared to Republicans, particularly following the controversial repeal of Roe v. Wade in 2022. The second highest issue was the economy, with 56.4% of the student body considering it an important issue. In regards to the economy, Republicans polled significantly higher than Democrats nationally due to high levels of inflation under Joe Biden. Foreign policy, immigration, and gun rights all polled right around 44% each. Notably, 56.4% of respondents were women, who voted for Harris with a margin of around 8 points. Finally, around 63.4% of respondents identified as White. Trump won that vote by around 17 points, in stark contrast to the opinions of the school.
In conclusion, the school body favored Harris over Trump, which was supported by gender and their value on the importance of issues, while going against the general trend of white people favoring Trump over Harris.