2024 mock election

By audrey parman | Nov. 5, 2024

Students at Stanton College Preparatory School are exploring their own political opinions, even if the majority are unable to vote in the 2024 presidential election. As it has since 2000, the quadrennial Stanton Mock Election serves to include young people in politics. According to this year’s Mock Election results, the most common opinion amongst students and faculty is that Vice President Kamala Harris should be the 47th president of the United States.

Out of the 1,271 students enrolled, 732 participated. Of these participants, 61.5% voted for Democratic Vice President Harris while 30.1% voted for Republican former President Donald Trump. Jill Stein of the Green Party received 4.0% of the votes and Cornel West, who ran independently, had 4.2%. The junior class had the highest participation with 195 voters. A total 56 of 95 faculty members also participated, 85.7% voting for Harris, 8.9% for Trump, 1.7% for Stein and 3.6% for West. Of the teacher departments, History had the highest participation.

To collect these votes, students and faculty completed a ballot via a Microsoft Form posted to the Student Activities Office Microsoft Teams page on Sept. 24. In addition to choosing their candidate, students selected their grade, ethnicity, sex and whether they were enrolled as an International Baccalaureate or Advanced Placement/Honors student. The faculty chose their ethnicity, sex, role, department, and whether they would vote in the upcoming election.

Using Forms to submit votes is a newer method, only having begun in 2020. The Mock Election had previously been conducted in person, with paper slips and ballot boxes for each class. With Forms, the votes were counted much faster. Despite changes to this process, Stanton’s mock elections have always reflected the winner of the national election’s popular vote, and this trend could continue if Harris wins the popular vote.

Another trend shows the number of voters in the Mock Election has increased since 2012. In each election year, it is inevitable that some students do not vote, while others are excited for the opportunity. A common reason for students' lack of participation was not being added to the Teams channel with the Form. Factors in their control, however, included their own opinions on voting, such as the perceived responsibility to get who they view as the best candidate elected.

“If you have the choice to vote [but] do not, and are upset with the outcome, it is your fault for not voting,” said freshman Jude Ochoa.

Another motivation for their participation is often passion regarding political topics. Despite the fact that most Mock Election student participants cannot vote, these political topics are areas of concern for those who want a president with similar beliefs. Many voters noted an
issue in particular that they were concerned with.

"As a female, I feel better protected under Harris but there are policies each [candidate has] that make sense,” said sophomore Ashlynne Deason.

According to their respective campaign websites, Harris strongly supports women’s reproductive rights, whereas Trump opposes late-term abortion. Harris’ stance appeals to most Mock Election voters, and several were interested in reproductive rights. However, other concerns took precedent for some.

“When Trump was president, there was a lot more economic stability,” said sophomore David Broydo.

According to Broydo, his primary concern was the economy. Although many, like him, cast their vote to support a particular candidate, others were driven by distaste. While each candidate has their dissenters, some were passionate enough to vote out of spite.

“I voted for Harris,” said freshman Saanvi Arutla. “Trump is a felon, and he was also accused of sexual assault.”

As Artula stated, Trump faced six trials for various criminal charges beginning in April 2024, according to C-SPAN. He was indicted on 88 charges and found guilty of 34 felonies. However, his policies are still appealing to many, especially those concerning the economy, as Broydo mentioned. In contrast, some find Harris’ economic policies less attractive.

“[Harris] sent billions of dollars to foreign countries to help them in their battles while we should be focusing on America first,” said junior Fortune Emmanuel.

Per the Associated Press, the Biden Administration, under which Harris was vice president, approved of spending $95 billion in foreign aid in April 2024. Trump openly expressed disapproval of this foreign aid package, like Harris’ dissenters.

These opinions, however, only cover a portion of the motivations for voters to support a certain candidate. The goal of the Mock Election is and has been to display some of the diverse political views of Stanton: a microcosm of the U.S. Until the country’s votes are counted, the Mock Election’s accuracy in relation to this year’s presidential election remains unknown.

RESULTS BY SEX

Faculty results

56 faculty members participated in the mock election. Out of these 56, 5 voted for Trump, 48 voted for Harris, 2 voted for West, and 1 for Stein. The graphics below provide deeper insight and analysis into different categories, like departments or teacher versus administration.