Preparing for election season at CHS

By: Elijah Hill, Contributing Writer

The 2024 November presidential election will be Centralia High School Seniors first major election in which they can vote. I investigated the political climate of the senior student body at CHS and the results I found were surprising. Of the 88 CHS seniors, 23 students responded to the poll, and to protect the peace of the student body, all of the comments have been kept anonymous. ​

When asked, “Which party do you plan on voting for in the 2024 election?” The majority of the seniors surveyed answered, “Undecided” with a total of 40.9% of the replies. Some student responses consisted of, “I don't really agree with either party,” “I feel like I’m in the middle because everyone has great ideas but at times someones ideas are better in the moment,” and “I will have to see who the candidates are and look into them before I vote for them.”

Surprisingly, Third Party seems to represent 22.7% of the students. The students who selected Third Party also gave some very interesting responses, “I know my Third Party won't win, and ultimately my vote won't count, but I'll feel bad if I vote for a Democrat or Republican because they don't represent my values” “I would vote the Third Party because I do not feel that I agree or believe the representatives for either party will represent themselves well or the United States,” and “I do not like Trump or Biden and I'm tired of choosing between two evils.'' 

The Republican Party seems to represent another 22.7% of the students. Some students who selected Republican stated, “I don’t really know if I’m ready to vote yet so I’m going to most likely follow the majority,” and “Because I believe that Trump is the best fit for president.” 

Lastly, the Democratic Party represented 13.6% of the seniors. When asked why, some students answered, “Most of my values align with the liberal democratic side of politics. My family is mostly Republican, but I don't really feel the same,” and “While I disagree with both sides, I am unfortunately presented with two evils. So I am going to choose the lesser of them.”

With the changing ideas and beliefs of each generation, I wanted to survey the senior class to determine how their beliefs reflect the town of Centralia. I am sure most people's preconceived notion was the student body would overwhelmingly vote Republican. To my surprise, it tied with Third Party for second, while the majority were undecided. It will be interesting to see how these opinions evolve as the election approaches and as students continue to engage with political discourse.

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