Shalhevet students support Trump by an overwhelming majority while staff favors Harris, poll finds

Majority of respondents said they voted the same as their parents, and ranked Israel as their number one issue

ISSUES: A Boiling Point online poll surveyed students on presidential candidates and important issues in advance of Election Day on Nov. 5. As in the U.S. election, Mr. Trump won by a large margin.

By Sophie Katz, Editor-in-Chief • November 15, 2024

Shalhevet students support President-elect Donald Trump over Vice President Kamala Harris by an overwhelming majority, a Boiling Point poll found in the day before and on Nov. 5, Election Day.

The poll was sent to all 240 students and 58 faculty members over Google Forms, and 140 students and 29 faculty members responded.

Of students who responded to the poll, 67.9% voted for Mr. Trump, while Ms. Harris won 37.9% (86 students to 38), and 15% (16 students) selected “would not vote” or an unspecified third-party choice with a write-in option.

Among faculty, most support Ms. Harris with 51.72% of their vote, and 31.03% for Mr. Trump (9 faculty to 15). Five faculty members, representing 17.24% of the total staff vote, chose the third unspecified option.

Overall, Mr. Trump won 52.6% of the vote, with a 42-vote lead over Ms. Harris, who won 31.4% (95 votes to 53, excluding 21 choosing the third choice).

Most Shalhevet students with the exception of a few seniors, are under 18 and therefore were not eligible to vote in this year’s presidential election

Dr. Keith Harris, Junior Class Dean and History Department Chair and teacher, said the results of the poll did not surprise him because he had noticed a general sentiment of support for President-elect Trump at school.

“I think it’s been off-putting for a lot of people with the direction of the Democratic Party,” Dr. Harris said, “especially with more extreme leftist policies,” such as identity and special-interest politics.

This year’s poll is the fourth conducted by Boiling Point for presidential elections. In the 2020 poll, Mr. Trump won by a slim margin over President Joe Biden.

More than half of students (51%) voted for then-President Trump in 2020, while 43% voted for Mr. Biden (71 to 60). Among faculty, support for President Biden was overwhelming, with 77% supporting him and 15% supporting Mr. Trump (10 to 2).

In 2016, 29% of students supported Hillary Clinton, while 26% supported Mr. Trump. The other 42% selected either undecided, a third party, or would not vote.

The 2012 poll favored Republican Mitt Romney over then-incumbent President Barack Obama. Mr. Romney had the support of 44 students to Mr. Obama’s 27.

Neither the 2016 nor the 2012 poll included faculty votes.

Since presidential elections take place four years apart, a completely different student body participated in each poll.

The Boiling Point also asked participants to rank their top six issues during the election season. The issues on the table were Israel, immigration, abortion, the economy, homelessness and school shootings.

The matter of Israel was the most important issue to students and faculty by a large margin: 101 participants selected it as their number-one choice. In a distant second, 23 participants selected the economy as their number one choice and 22 selected abortion.

Out of the 101 who selected Israel as their first choice, 90 were students, eight were Judaic Studies faculty and three were General Studies faculty. Eleven Judaic Studies faculty participated in the poll, compared to 29 General Studies.

“I did Israel first because America is a very important ally for Israel,” sophomore Orly Berenson said, “and as a Jew I think it should be the most important. For any Jew, I think it should be the most important issue.”

Freshman Ella Etehad also chose Israel as her primary issue because “If God forbid anything bad happens to America we’ll always have Israel.”

The Boiling Point poll also asked participants if their selections were the same as their parents’ voting plans: 66.3% said yes, 18.3% said no and 15.4% declined to answer.

“Someone with parents with very strong political views is likely to take on some of those views,” Ella said, who voted for the same candidate as her parents. “But I personally make sure to research a lot of things.”

In addition to Mr. Trump winning the overall student vote, the Boiling Point election poll found that in each grade the President-elect had also won by a significant majority.

The ninth grade supported Mr. Trump 27-9 with nine students choosing the third unspecified option.

The 10th grade supported Mr. Trump 26-7 with one student choosing the third option.

The 11th grade supported Mr. Trump 23-15 with five students choosing the third option.

The 12th grade supported Mr. Trump 10-7 with one student choosing the third option.

The Shalhevet vote mirrored the results of the 2024 Presidential Election, with President-elect Trump winning a decisive victory.

About the Contributor

Sophie Katz, Editor-in-Chief and Outside News Editor

Sophie Katz, 11th grade, joined the Boiling Point staff as a staff writer her freshman year. She served as Outside News Editor sophomore year, and is now the Editor-in-Chief, only the fourth junior in Boiling Point history to hold the top post. She enjoys writing in-depth feature pieces and localizing national and international news. She has won awards from organizations including the Columbia Scholastic Press Association, the National Scholastic Press Association, the American Jewish Press Association and the New York Times Learning Network. Outside of Shalhevet, Sophie co-leads Teen Minyan at her shul and plays guitar. In her free time, she likes listening to music and hanging out with friends.