In order to grasp an understanding of the political orientation of Elk Grove students, The Guardian sent out a virtual poll asking which issues teens were most concerned with regarding the upcoming 2016 presidential election. The selections they could choose from included: foreign policy, budget and economy, immigration, health care, gun control, and an other option.

The results, calculated on March 4, reveal that out of 156 students, 27.6% are worried about immigration, making it the most voted for selection. This directly aligns with what is most commonly found in the media and could simply be the result of exposure. The current influx of Syrian refugees has sparked up controversy as to whether or not The United States should be receiving such a large amount of immigrants. As of March 6, the number of refugees from Syria has totaled 4,815,360. The Democratic candidates of the election, Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders both support Barack Obama’s current acceptance of refugees while Donald Trump has been outspoken in the fact that he wishes to ban Muslims from entering the country.

On the issue of border control between Mexico and the United States, Trump has publically declared that he wishes to build a border wall. His main opposition, Clinton, has stated that employing further border control is a smarter and more cost-effective move. Some believe building a border wall isn’t even a feasible notion in today’s economic climate, which brings us to the second most voted for selection.

Budget and economy easily pulled in second in the poll, with 25.6% of students voting for it. One could infer that budget and economy polled so highly with students because it likely affects them the most. According to the OECD (Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development), the national debt has exceeded $19 trillion recently.

Each of the presidential candidates has laid out goals and steps to deflate the national budget crisis. The plan of attack for each candidate varies, but the ultimate goal is to get the country out of debt and balance the budget. One candidate, Marco Rubio, wants to restrain government spending, while Trump simply wants to regain jobs from China and diversify the American economy. Clinton believes the country needs bankruptcy reform.

While most students voted for either immigration or budget and economy, the poll results reveal that 14.1% of students are most concerned with gun control. The increased amount of school shootings and the proximity to Chicago’s gang violence make gun control an often talked about and sometimes touchy subject for EG students. The total number of shooting victims in the Chicagoland area last year was 2,987 people. This year, the number has already hit 519 people as of March 8. The issue of gun control between Democratic and Republican candidates is a bit more clear cut than some of the other issues, in that Sanders and Clinton both intend to fight for reform and increase background checks, while the Republican candidates intend to focus more on maintaining concealed carry laws in states where it is already legal.

At 12.8%, the number of responses in the other category took 4th place. The percentage would likely have been lower if joke answers like “dank memes” and “the illuminati taking over the world” were removed, but the students who submitted realistic responses offered some thought-provoking and insightful answers; the one we received the most was education. Republican candidates Ted Cruz and John Kasich both find that increased control at the local level is the best way to shape the future of American education, while Trump and Rubio believe that curriculum reform is a must for the country. Trump has been quoted as saying “common core is an absolute disaster.” On the Democratic side, Clinton and Sanders are focusing on the affordability of education at the college level and below.

Another intriguing response derived from the other category is that of American imperialism, or the economic and cultural effect of one country on another. Sophomore Ben Jaeger had thoughts to share on the topic.

“We’ve been toppling governments over the last three decades with no real exit strategy, allowing groups such as ISIS and Al-Qaeda to take command of the power vacuums left in Iraq and Libya,” Jaeger said. “The general public believes it is time to focus more on economic issues at home instead of killing dictators.”

With 10.9% only, healthcare was the issue students voted for next. It seems that in light of the other options provided for student voters, healthcare just isn’t at the top of the list of priorities. In the minds of Trump, Cruz and Rubio, Obamacare needs to go. The three share similar ideals in which repealing Obamacare and enacting reform is the best course of action for the country. Kasich, however, stating that he does not support Obamacare, does recognize that it has made improvements in people’s lives and thus expanded Medicaid. Clinton and Sanders are both fighting for affordable healthcare in America. As a socialist, Sanders has stated that “healthcare is a right, not a privilege” and intends to make sure that the 29 million uninsured Americans receive affordable healthcare. This has sparked debate between candidates as to whether or not universal healthcare is feasible and whether or not socialism will work in America at all.

The final, and least voted for selection of the poll is foreign policy with only 9%. Some, like freshman Thomas Brautigam, are intrigued by the extremely low polling for foreign policy. “That’s very concerning,” Brautigam said, shocked by the number. As an outsider looking in at the poll, English teacher Matt Snow remarked on the low polling.

“It’s tricky,” Snow said. “It worries me that kids don’t pay more attention to what’s going on in the world. I think we’ve become pretty sheltered, but I don’t know if I thought about foreign policy when I was 15 either.”

While the Democratic candidates have a top priority of strengthening alliances and solving international problems with diplomacy, Trump has been quoted as saying “I will quickly and decisively bomb the hell out of ISIS, will rebuild our military and make it so strong no one, and I mean no one, will mess with us.”

Needless to say, politics and differing opinions can be an extremely difficult topic for anyone, let alone high school students. The goal of our poll was to get students to come out of their shell and take a stand on the issues. The EG nation is the future of our nation and may very well be acting in the future based on the issues of today.