-Katie Park ‘21
On Friday, January 31st, the Advanced U.S Government class at St. Mark’s held a mock election. The purpose of this mock election was to compare the results with the national polls and results from the Primaries. They thought it would be a way to encourage more people to pay attention to politics and to spark interest in politics. For the Government class, this mock election was interesting because since they are mostly seniors, they will not be here for the general election, which takes place in November.
The Class chose the poll questions after having a discussion. Students went into groups and found something that can be compared to the national averages such as gun control, abortion, and constitutional issues. During the mock election, a lot of students participated, but the class hoped for a little more faculty and staff participation. Blake Gattuso ‘20 shared that although the lack of participation from the faculty members was unexpected, the whole purpose of the election was to encourage people to participate instead of forcing them.
Overall, the mock election was a success, and the Government class was able to gain data and compare it to the national results. However, students reflected that there were still things that they could have done better. Blake Gattuso ‘20 stated, “We would like to redo the handgun question because what we wanted to know was whether people support gun control. We believe that overall, the school population is in favor of gun control, but since handgun can be seen as a form of personal defense, the question was a bit misleading.”
Andrew Yang came in second, which is an expected result considering the Asian population at our school, and reflected identity voting, which is when people tend to vote for someone of their same race or background. There was also a portion of the poll in which no data was collected because some people misunderstood the instructions. So, hopefully, in the future, the instructions are more clear so that every data can be obtained.
Andrew Yang, Former Democratic Presidential Candidate