Donald Trump leaves Air Force One at Joint Base Andrews on September 26, 2019. (Reuters Pictures / Jonathan Ernst)
Two-thirds of Northwood School support the impeachment of President Donald Trump according to a recent poll of Northwood students, faculty, and staff, which was conducted this week by Mr. Jeff Miller’s statistics class. No matter how the community is sliced — faculty/students, male/female, domestic/international — a clear majority of all subgroups is in favor of impeachment.
The 67% of the Northwood community in favor of impeachment is significantly higher than support for impeachment in national surveys, which currently hovers at just 50.2%.
On Wednesday, December 30, 2019, President Donald Trump was impeached by the House of Representatives which passed two articles of impeachment — abuse of power and obstruction of Congress — on a mostly party-line vote that illustrated just how divided Congress and the nation are today. Trump’s impeachment came after a formal House inquiry found that he had solicited foreign interference in the 2020 U.S. presidential election to help his re-election bid and then obstructed the inquiry by instructing administration officials to ignore subpoenas for documents and testimony. The inquiry concluded that Trump withheld military aid and an invitation to the White House to Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky in order to pressure Ukraine to announce an investigation of Trump’s political opponent, Joe Biden, and to promote a discredited conspiracy theory that Ukraine, not Russia, was behind interference in the 2016 presidential election. The president is accused of withholding military aid to pressure Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky to start a corruption investigation into Biden, and his son Hunter.
Being impeached by the House does not remove the President from office, but rather refers to the US Senate the decision about whether or not the President should be removed from office. Most political experts believe the Republican-controlled U.S. Senate will vote to acquit President Trump as soon as this Wednesday, one day after his scheduled third State of the Union Address.
Northwood’s statistics class surveyed members of the school community about their opinion of President Trump’s impeachment, and the results of the survey show clear majorities of the Northwood community — when examined by age, gender or country of origin — are in favor of Trump’s impeachment.
Female members of the community favor impeachment significantly more than males, and males are more likely to have no opinion on the matter:
A larger majority of faculty/staff favor impeachment than students, and students are more likely to not have an opinion on Trump’s impeachment:
More than a third of international students have no opinion of the impeachment, but just 4% oppose it:
At tables in the dining room, in class discussions, and on the couches in the living room, Northwood is talking about the impeachment of President Trump.
Zach Sedlacek ‘22 is opposed to the impeachment. “I think the whole thing is due to the fact that they lost the 2016 election and how they [Democrats] can’t get over it they are stuck in the past when they should be working with Trump and the Republican congressmen to further American development,” said Sedlacek. “He should not have been impeached because he was just trying to make sure that an American wasn’t using his father’s power in Washington to gain financial benefit,” he said. “Honestly, the impeachment doesn’t even matter because he not gonna get convicted because the Republicans have control of the Senate,” added Sedlacek.
Mr. Jeff Nemec ’05, the chair of the social science department and senior class dean was in favor of impeachment, “because I think a person in that position should be held accountable and if the representatives or government feels that it is an impeachable offense we need to go through the process to hear it out,” he said. “I don’t think he will be removed from office because of the Senate structure,” added Nemec.
“I think Trump is a good president and does a lot for our country,” said Anneliese Munter ‘22. “I don’t think he should have been impeached,” she added. Munter acknowledges the President’s imperfections but doesn’t think they rise to the level of impeachment. “Despite lying, I think he has done a lot for our country and I think he has been blamed for a lot of things,” she said. Munter pointed to high-profile summits and meetings with world leaders that Trump has had. “I think that was very important in his presidency, the steps he took to make our country better,” Munter said.
“I agree that Trump should have been impeached because he’s been abusing his power and him being the president doesn’t seem to be benefiting America, even though he says ‘Make America Great Again”, said Miranda Bookman ‘20. “However, I don’t think he will be removed from office but the right thing for America, in my opinion, is that Trump should no longer be our president,” Bookman added.
Students in Mr. Miller’s statistics class conducted the poll as a class project to apply the statistical concepts they are studying to real-world problems. The poll was an internet survey open only to students and staff with Northwood School email accounts. Responses were limited to one per account and were collected between study hall on January 29 and the afternoon of January 30. The survey was sent to all 68 faculty/staff with email addresses and all 189 students. 107 people (42% of the population) responded.
The poll did not ask for respondents’ opinions on Trump’s removal from office, so it’s unclear whether this poll predicts sentiment on that issue.
