“Unbounded thinking” is the pride of Webb, but many students still do not feel comfortable discussing their political opinions.  

Politics is particularly important now in the thick of the 2024 US election, which some see as the most important in American history and a referendum on democracy itself. Living in a hyperpolarized and often hyperreal world, Americans are increasingly viewing each other as threats and enemies, shown by the recent slew of assassination attempts and increasingly harsh rhetoric. 

Since our poll last year, much has changed in the presidential race.  

Trump became the first candidate in history to be a convicted felon, and there were at least two assassination attempts on Trump. Just weeks after the first attempt, President Joe Biden dropped his bid for re-election due to a poor debate performance and was replaced by his Vice President, Kamala Harris. Additionally, foreign policy has seen large developments with increasing tensions in the Taiwan strait, Russian advances in Ukraine, and an expansion of the Israeli-Palestinian war. 

As such, the WCC conducted a new poll of Webb students, examining their opinions on everything from political discussion at Webb to the 2024 election to specific policy issues, comparing them by gender, race, and boarding/day student status. We will also compare some results with the previous poll to see if there were any significant changes. 

If you would like to access the raw data, click here. 

Note that the margins of error are around 7% at a 90% confidence interval, so there is a 90% chance that the actual opinion of the entire student body is within 7% of the given results.   

Without further ado, let’s take a look at the results! 

As in the previous poll, Webb students are heavily divided on the political environment at Webb. Notably, students that identify as more conservative tend to have a more negative opinion on the freedom to speak at Webb, especially inside classrooms. Both moderates and liberals rate classrooms as offering more opportunities than non-classroom environments. This clearly suggests a liberal bias and a perceived suppression of conservative opinions.  

Conservatives also tend to rate diversity of thought more poorly at Webb.

In actuality, Webb has a majority liberal student body, but a significant minority of conservatives and moderates. These views have not significantly changed since our last poll, but unlike last time, there was almost no difference between male and female respondents’ political identification.  

Only 5% of respondents plan to vote with 91% unable to vote due to nationality or age and 5% deciding not to. 

However, many students do have strong opinions about the 2024 election candidates. Compared to March, Webbies view Donald Trump slightly more favorably with the percentage of those who view him unfavorably declining from 73% to 66%. There are significant differences in gender as female respondents view Trump more than 20 points more unfavorably.  

Kamala Harris is relatively popular compared to Donald Trump, however, many more respondents are neutral on her at 44%. White respondents were more likely to view her unfavorably than respondents of other races, though this is within the margin of error.  

Joe Biden, the current president, is no longer running for president, however, opinions on him have barely improved since March. Although just 10% of respondents have a favorable opinion of him, there were many more who have a neutral opinion on him than in March.  

When asked about which candidate they prefer, student choose Kamala Harris by a large margin with 69% supporting Harris to 16% supporting Trump. In a one-on-one race with Trump, Harris has much higher support at 80%. This is significantly higher than Biden’s support in the March poll at 68%.

About 14% of students are dissatisfied with both candidates. Around 8% of respondents supported no candidate, including one who expressed a desire to “let the American people decide their own downfall.” There are also a few who showed their support for other candidates. These include former First Lady Michelle Obama, political prankster Vermine Love Supreme, Libertarian Nominee Chase Oliver, and rapper turned accused sex trafficker P.Diddy.  

There are significant differences in gender, however, as male respondents had around 15% higher support for Donald Trump compared to female respondents. Additionally, male respondents tend to support non-mainstream or joke candidates whereas female respondents preferred to express distaste for both mainstream candidates.  

At a diverse and international school like Webb, foreign policy issues have a very real effect on the community. As such, the poll has also looked at Webb’s views on American support of Ukraine and Israel. 

Since the last poll, a large aid bill was passed to support Ukraine, the Russian army has regained the momentum with offensives in multiple areas of the front, and Ukraine has launched an incursion into Russia’s Kursk Oblast. Yet, Webb students’ support for aid to Ukraine remains high. 

Webb students’ support for aid to Israel is low, with a plurality (41%) supporting a complete stop to aid, which is much higher than during the previous poll and just 35% supporting maintaining or increasing aid.  

Since our last poll, the death toll of Palestinians has continued to grow, and Israel has launched an invasion of southern Lebanon to eliminate Hezbollah militants in the area despite American pressure. Additionally, Iranian missile strikes and rocket attacks on Israeli cities and military bases have increased, as the Israeli hostages in the Gaza strip are yet to be released. Additionally, large-scale protests engulfed college campuses in Spring 2024 and legislation has been introduced aimed at countering antisemitism and criticism of Israel.  

The Taiwan Strait is among the tensest regions of the entire world. As the Chinese government increases flybys and Taiwanese airspace violations, cross-strait tensions continue to rise. There has been a significant decrease in support for American aid to Taiwan, with the percentage of those who want aid to increase or stay the same declining from 85% to 63% since March.