Week 1: Analysis on the Issues (Poll)
- Sarinah
- Dec 6, 2016
- 3 min read
In 7th period, the students took a poll on where they stand on the four main issues: Tax reforms, Affordable Healthcare Act, Education, EPA regulations and Foreign Policy. These results are essential to the election as they will help compare with future data and seeing who the voters will likely to support.
7th period is unanimous on who should pay the operating cost of the government a.k.a taxes: they all agreed it should be paid by the upper class. Students contend that the upper class has more wealth, and the more income they have, the more they should pay in taxes.
Students were in agreement that because the upper class are wealthier, they have an obligation to pay more taxes. Students also said that because they are wealthier, the impact of taxes on their individual well being will not be as great, whereas heavy taxes on the lower class risks putting people on the edge of poverty. Keeping the person’s identity anonymous, one student said that “It would be too great a burden to place on lower class Americans.”
56 percent of the 7th period decided that the Healthcare Act should be changed in some way. Some has said that it is too expensive and should be easier to access. Others have said that it was a good idea but it needs to be more inclusive and there are flaws that have to be fixed.
Meanwhile, the 40 percent of the class that said the Act should stay the same, agreed that despite the program’s flaws, it still gave essential opportunities and health care access to the lower class.
Lastly, the repeal side; only one student said they would repeal the Affordable Healthcare Act. Keeping their identity anonymous, the person who said they would want to see the Act repealed believed that the act “has been a failure of a health care program, and it will be much easier to create a completely new program from scratch.”
The greater number of students lean towards publicly funnel money as well as having a balance between privatization and public funds. When it comes to the issues of education, all students agree that people should have the opportunity for higher education, but it is the question of how the kids will get the education; whether the parents should pay the tuition individually, or whether the government be involved, leading to lowering the costs of schools--which could especially benefit the lower class. The majority of student lean toward the later; believing that the government has a responsibility to provide us education. However, the students do also see the advantages of private schools and the benefit of both types of institutions for flexibility.
The predominant part of the 7th period are 4’s and 5’s, meaning they favor more EPA regulations. Many students cited the fact that they are more worried about the climate change and contend that the planet should be the number one priority. However, the minority that leans towards less EPA regulations believes that the regulations are negatively affecting the economy and its stimulation and put American businesses at a disadvantage in the global market. The regulations diminishes competition between businesses and “impede business growth” , which some students cite as the reason that US companies are lagging behind others countries, such as China.
The 7th period electorate is leaning more towards the U.S. focusing on world aid, though it is clear that most are in favor of foreign policy striking a balance between world aid and isolationism. Those that leaned towards isolationism believed that we need to focus on America first and its domestic issues within, such as taxes and health care.
Some argue that it depends on the conflict; if the conflict overseas could potentially bring harm to the U.S. (such as terrorism), then the U.S. should be involved. If not, then the U.S. should stay out of it. People overall, however, are focused on issues within the Middle East; specifically, the Syrian Refugee crisis and ISIS.
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