2024 Election: Worcester Academy Responds

November 5th: Election Day. As many Americans rushed to the polls and cast their ballots, further exercising their right to vote and resulting in a 65% voter turnout, the nation awaited the results of the 2024 Election, with either Republican candidate Donald Trump or Democrat candidate Kamala Harris exiting as the victor of the presidential election.

The following morning, Donald Trump was announced as the winner and presidential-elect of the 2024 election, holding 301 electoral votes over Harris’ 226 as well as garnering the popular vote with 75,120,938 votes to Kamala’s 71,824,174. 

As the country grapples with the election’s outcomes, The Vigornia has the official results of our school-wide Election Poll. We asked the Worcester Academy community to share their opinions in light of the 2024 Election, which is historic within American history and has a lasting impact on American politics. 

Out of our 500+ school population at Worcester Academy, with the poll targeted towards the Upper School as well as faculty members, we received a total of 79 responses. While these results may be a small fraction of our school community, the participation of various WA students and faculty was influential in developing an understanding of important and impactful issues within our country. 

In our poll, we required responses to the first seven questions, with a mixture of broad political topics relevant to the current election, as well as state-related ballot measures. The last two consisted of demographic information in order to better understand the responses of poll participants.

For our first question, 34.2% of participants chose abortion rights as the most important issue at stake in the Presidential Election. 22.8% agreed that the economy was a focal point of the election, while immigration and climate change were tied at 16.5% of respondents. Gun reform was reported as the least important issue in the election, finishing with 10.1% of total participants.

Heading into the ballot measures, 63.3% agreed that the state should audit the legislature, which aligns with the official results of the state election, as 71.6% of Massachusetts voters agreed that the state auditor should audit, or inspect, the legislature.

Question 2 revealed that 60.8% of participants voted for the elimination of the MCAS (Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System) in order for MA students to graduate. The election affirmed our school’s results, as 59% of voters decided to remove the influence of MCAS in graduation requirements. 

Our poll also showed that 70.9% of respondents agreed that transportation workers should be unionized, while 29.1% voted against the measure. Election results ultimately revealed that 53.9% of the state voted for the unionization of transportation workers, which also coincides with the outcomes of our survey. 

Question 4 asked voters to determine the legalization of psychedelic substances, to which 59.5% of pollers voted against ratifying the measure. In conjunction with our results, 57.9% of MA voters also voted “no” on passing the law. 

The final question, which describes whether the minimum wage for tipped workers should be raised, showed that 58.2% of respondents voted for a wage increase, while 41.8% disagreed with the law’s desired wage change. However, 64.4% of Massachusetts voters decided against passing the bill, which shows a stark difference between our poll and official election results. 

An important piece of our poll saw that 65.8% of participants were not eligible to vote in the United States, and while not every respondent answered the optional gender and race/ethnicity questions, the majority of the 73 participants identified as female, while 42.5% identified as male.

In addition, of the 75 participants who responded, the racial/ethnic demographics showed that 69.3% identify as White, followed by 20% who identify as Asian, 5.3% who identify as White, 2.7% as Hispanic and/or Latino, and 1.3% as Middle Eastern and of mixed race. 

We’d like to extend a thank you to all who participated, and stress that using your voice, whether that be in the form of exercising your right to vote or respectfully stating your opinions and affiliations, is important and necessary in engaging with the world around us.