Dean College is a small liberal arts school in Franklin, Massachusetts with a student body of just over 1,000 students. Despite its small student body, Dean is a very diverse community with students from across the country and even the world. This diversity naturally leads to a difference of opinion as well.
The Dean Daily recently conducted a survey to learn about the political leanings of the Dean community, which includes, faculty, staff, and students. In less than a year, the U.S. Presidential Election will take place, and it appears that many in the Dean community are already thinking about next year's election. This twelve-question survey revealed several interesting results about where the Dean community stands on the issues and the candidates running for President.
The first question asked was, “Do you believe the United States is headed in the right direction as a country?” Out of all responders, 69.4% said no, 6.1% said yes, while 24.5% were unsure. It is not a surprise that more than two-thirds of those surveyed answered that they do not believe America is headed in the right direction. The same can be said for American voters as a whole, with a survey from the Hill showing similar findings.
The Dean College Community does not have a positive opinion of America’s direction and the same can be said for its leader, President Joe Biden. The next question asked was, “Do you approve of Joe Biden's performance as President?” Out of all responders, only 12.2% actually approved of his performance, while 59.2% disapprove, and 28.6% remain unsure. The approval varies wildly from Quinnipiac University’s Presidential approval poll, while the disapproval remains the same.
Staying on the subject of President Biden, the next question asked was, “Do you believe Joe Biden should be held accountable for his role in his son Hunter’s business dealings?”. A 40.8% plurality of those surveyed answered yes, 30.6% were unsure, and 28.6% answered no.
Moving on to President Biden’s likely challenger, former President Trump, Dean College does not have a very favorable view of the former President either. The question was, “What were your thoughts on the Trump presidency?” Only 20.4% of those surveyed said that they had a positive opinion of the former president, compared to 59.2% who did not. Trump’s approval is slightly higher than Biden’s, but the disapproval remained the same. Another 20.4% remained unsure.
Donald Trump, like Joe Biden, has also found himself in trouble with the law and has already been indicted four times in 2023. The next question asked was “Do you believe Donald Trump should have been indicted?”, and once again, the Dean community went against Trump. Out of all responders, 42.9% answered for some things yes and for some things no, 32.7% said yes, 16.3% were unsure, and 8.2% said no.
Trump has other challengers to become President as well and the Dean Community was asked “Out of all the Republicans running for President, who would be the best President?” A plurality said that former U.N. ambassador Nikki Haley would make the best President out of all the Republicans running, with 34.7%. In second place was entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy with 24.5%, followed by former President Trump with 22.4%, and lastly Florida Governor Ron DeSantis with 18.4%.
The next question was for the Democrats which asked, “Out of all the Democrats running for President, who would make the best President?”. National polls reveal that most Democrats will still support Biden, but at Dean, the results were different. A plurality of 46.9% of those surveyed said Dean Phillips, 28.6% said Marianne Williamson, while just 24.5% answered for Joe Biden. Like in the previous question about the Republican nomination, it was not surprising to see that the Dean community wants change.
To get an accurate representation of the political mindset of the community, those surveyed were asked “Which political party do you believe comes the closest to your views?” Surprisingly, 36.7% said no parties aligned with their views or they were unsure. 24.5% said they aligned with a third party, 20.4% said they aligned with the Democrats, and 18.4% said they aligned with the Republicans.
The next question asked was “Who did you vote for in 2020?”. President Biden performed exceptionally well with young voters in the 2020 Election against former President Trump. This survey does show that Biden did better with Trump with young voters at Dean, but 46.9% did not or could not vote in 2020. Biden earned a plurality win over Trump, with 28.6% of those surveyed saying they voted for Biden, while only 12.2% said they voted for Trump. This question also revealed only 6.2% of responders voted for a third-party candidate, while 6.1% of responders did not want to reveal who they voted for.
When asked “What political issue do you feel is the most important going into 2024?”, the community made their voice heard, as a large plurality, 46.9% said the economy was their biggest concern. The Dean community seems to be just as worried about the economy as the rest of the country, but 14.3% said it was foreign policy, 6.1% said infrastructure and 32.7% said it was something else.
As previously mentioned, Dean is a small but diverse community, and that was revealed in this survey. A majority of those surveyed live in Massachusetts at 53.1%, while 46.9% of responders live elsewhere. Of those who stated they lived elsewhere, the states with the most participants were Connecticut, New York, and Rhode Island.
The Dean community is similar to the nation as a whole in some ways, but different in others. Time will only tell to see how the Dean community, and how the American people will vote in 2024.
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