What Hall High School Thinks About the Debates

A poll of Hall’s students regarding the election and an analysis of their responses.

What Hall High School Thinks About the Debates

On Wednesday October 19th, Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump squared off for the last time on the debate stage at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. The debate was moderated by Chris Wallace, a Fox News Sunday anchor. The format for the third debate was identical to the first presidential debate, where it was divided into six, 15 minute segments about major topics selected by Wallace. Debt and entitlements, immigration, the economy, the Supreme Court, foreign hot spots, and the candidate’s presidential fitness were the topics discussed. Wallace pressed the candidates for answers. Many journalists felt he was the optimal moderator for these candidates.  

The overall consensus at Hall High School was that Clinton won the debates. According to David Gergen, an American political commentator and former presidential advisor, “CNN’s poll found that viewers thought she won [the third debate]: 52% to 39%. A YouGov poll found a 10 point spread in her favor.” While these polls just asked people about the third debate, a similar trend exists at Hall for the percentage of students who thought Hillary won all the debates. At Hall, 51% of students thought Clinton won all the debates, 8% thought Trump was victorious, while 28% didn’t watch the debates and 11% thought it was a draw.

The Election at Hall

“We are talking about the debate and issues. The exact issues vary by teacher. We identify the candidates, and so since this election is pretty ugly, we have tried to have students think about the core behind it. At the end of the day, we are trying to discuss habits of rational discourse. It [this election] is like a reality TV and exactly what the founders were trying to avoid when they created this country,” said Dr. Chad Ellis, Hall history department supervisor. In an email to students, Ellis said he will be collecting data about the election, for use in the statistics and government classes.

Question 1: If you were going to vote for in this election who would you vote for?

 

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The Hall record asked students who they would vote for, and the overwhelming majority supported Clinton. The next most popular choice was undecided, then other, and finally Trump and Johnson were tied for last. The current New York Times national polling average has Clinton at 45.8% and Trump at 41.3%, with a Clinton 90% chance to win. Even though national polls have a smaller margin between the candidates, the data’s skew can be expected from Hall for two main reasons: First, Connecticut is a very liberal state, and West Hartford is a liberal town. Second, younger people tend to vote liberal, and Hall’s population is mostly under 18. [Ed. Note four people did not answer this question.]

Question 2: Who won the debates?

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The response to the above question was closer to the national average than the previous question. Clinton received the most votes for who won the debates, while Trump received the least votes. Many commentators agree with the assessment that Clinton won and that she is the only viable candidate. One person who agrees with this sentiment is Roxanne Jones, a founding editor of ESPN Magazine, former vice president at ESPN, and frequent CNN contributor.

Question 3: Are you registered to vote?

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Only two people surveyed in this poll are registered to vote. This percentage is a big difference from the United States. About two-thirds of people eligible to vote are registered. However, this disparity between Hall and the rest of the US is not surprising because the majority of Hall students are under eighteen; therefore, they aren’t eligible to vote.

This poll was conducted as close as possible to the Huffington Post pollster qualifications. The sample size was 35. The questions, in order, were Question 1 – If you were going to vote for in this election who would you vote for? Question 2 – Who won the debates? And Question 3 – Are you registered to vote? The students were surveyed on October 20th and 21st. The population sampled consisted of students currently enrolled at Hall High School in grades 9-12.