Populism or Progressivism? Politics of the Student Body

In 2026, it is virtually impossible to escape the discussion of politics. Whether it be on social media, in school, or even at the Thanksgiving dinner table, constant debate over how our national government is and should be run seems as omnipresent as ever. While it doesn’t take an article to state the obvious, a question remains about the positions those in the Gilman community take on the key issues shaping the social and political landscape of our state. While The News has conducted mock elections in the past, these have failed to capture some of the nuance students hold towards specific policies.

To answer this question, The News conducted an anonymous online survey of 51 students, asking them to rate their opinions on how certain aspects of the government should function on a scale from one to ten. As an example, for the question “How much foreign aid should the government provide?,” the surveyors were given a scale from one to ten, with one being “None” and ten being a “Significant portion of Federal Spending.” The surveyor would then choose the number between these two extremes that best reflected their belief. To keep things simple, one generally would reflect a conservative belief, while ten reflected a liberal belief. It is important to note that this could have led to bias in the responses, as people tend to associate 1 on a 1-10 scale with the worst, while 10 is associated with the best. There were ten questions in total, ranging from more currently controversial topics (i.e, immigration) to more abstract political questions (i.e., how much power should each branch have). We also allowed students the option to describe their views in more detail at the end of the survey.

The results portray Gilman as a surprisingly centrist community in an otherwise deep blue state. Surprisingly, on issues of immigration, tariffs, and government economic intervention, the mean position was never outside the 4-6 range. However, on certain issues, the Gilman community tended to lean further towards one side. When asked whether the government should pursue an “America First” foreign policy, 72% of respondents answered yes. Many took this position because of the presence of domestic issues in the nation, with one responder saying, “We need to take care of the people inside the nation first and foremost and then shift to promoting American/Democratic ideals abroad.” From these results, it was no surprise that Gilman students leaned most “conservative” on the issue of foreign aid, with an average rating of 4.3. Conversely, the issue on which the Gilman community leaned farthest left was the size of the Federal Welfare State, with a mean rating of 5.5. Generally, on current political issues, the Gilman community stands firmly in the moderate camp.

On more abstract questions, such as the power of the states and the influence of the various branches of government, Gilman students tended to support a limited, balanced federal government. On average, responders rated the amount of power states should have at a 5.3 out of 10 (1 is no state power, and 10 is the ability to nullify laws). Among the three branches of government, respondents wanted, on average, to weaken the executive, strengthen the judicial, and keep the legislative the same. When asked how large a role the government should play in enforcing morality in society, students responded with an average of 5.2.

By examining the standard deviation—a number that essentially tells us how spread out the responses are—the results indicate more positive news: polarization in the school is relatively low. For almost every topic, two-thirds of respondents were within two points of the mean, with notable categories being state power having the least spread and the state's role in enforcing morality having the greatest spread. 

Another revealing section of the survey was the free-response portion, in which students could freely describe their ideological views. Surprisingly, almost a quarter of responses raised concerns about potential influence of outside interests, with one students commenting, “It is important to also be wary of oligarchical influence and the interference of lobbies in effective government, such as Elon Musk, Peter Thiel, and Miriam Adelson buying the Trump administration or AIPAC, big pharma, and mega-transnational corporations having an excessive influence, by instituting significant reform to election funding.” Other major concerns raised by students were affordability, executive overreach, and immigration. 

While politics are often terribly divisive and a source of constant friction within society, there are a few things we can all agree on. And as one student best put it, the best path forward for our country is to “Make Josh Kim the POTUS!”