Mock election results show some disparities among votes

By Emily Dubinsky

Social Media Editor

The results of Mira Costa’s Nov. 3 mock election reveal a divide between the Costa student body, the United States electorate and the national electoral college in the Nov. 8 election.

In the mock presidential election, 55.47% of the Costa student body voted for Democratic Party nominee Hillary Clinton, and 29% voted for Republican Party nominee Donald Trump; similarly, the national popular vote of the American electorate favored Clinton, who received 47.9% of votes in comparison to the 47.1% vote for Trump. However, the U.S. electoral college ultimately called the election for Trump, who received 290 votes out of the total 538, with a 58-vote lead over Clinton’s 232 votes, according to the Associated Press.

“I was really shocked by the results of the general election considering that our mock election went to Hillary,” junior Sam Frias said. “This really goes to show how different our community at Costa is from that of the rest of the country.”

In the mock election, students voted for a number of state-wide measures, two of which included possible improvements on the state’s current use of the death penalty in both Propositions 66 and 62.

The mock election revealed that a majority of students favored the continuation of the death penalty with reduced costs in Prop 66 as opposed to its complete termination in Prop 62. Similar to Costa’s results, 51% of California voters voted yes on Prop 66, therefore passing the measure.

“I expected that the mock election and the actual election would have similar results in something as serious and controversial as the death penalty,” junior Liam Cook said.

Approximately 33% of student participants voted that the current state of the U.S. economy/jobs was the most important problem facing the country, matching up with the results of an April 2016 Gallup poll, a national polling agency, that states that 40% of Americans believe that national economic-based problems are currently the most pressing issue.

Despite similarities between Costa and the American public in the importance of the nation’s current economic state, 27.04% of Costa students voted that gun violence was the second most important problem facing the country whereas only 1% of the American public ranked that as a top nationwide issue, according to Gallup.

“In Manhattan Beach, I know people who do not support gun use,” Cook said. “It was no surprise that students in the mock election viewed gun ownership as a problem that causes violence rather than an important right.”

Five days before Election Day, Costa conducted its mock election, collecting students’ votes online throughout the day on a range of elections including the elections of president, senate and state assembly.

“It was a good idea for the administration to organize a mock election,” Cook said. “It was a way for students to give their voice on a  variety of important topics.”

Upon tallying the student votes, the school released the outcome of the elections on the Costa website. Of Costa’s 2,528 students, a total of 1,515 voted, or approximately 60% of the student body.

“I believe that a mock election is useful in order to gauge how the student body feels about policy and politics,” senior and Young Republicans Club Co-President Kelly Sidney said. “The mock election provides an umbrella view of Mira Costa’s political geography. It’s interesting to see how our school’s views compare to those of the nation or even  to my views.”