Kelsey O’Leary

US Government- POLS 1100

Paper #2
3/26/18
The Salt Lake Community College student body of our Political Science 1100 class,

consist of students who have a fair amount of political awareness underneath their belt. The class

is made up of fifty-eight percent of males, and forty-two percent of females that average an age

of about 21 years old. In the first week of our Political Science course, we had to take a survey in

the first week that addressed our political awareness and individual opinion on current issues.

Everyone knew who the President of the United States is currently; sixty-four percent of the

class knew who the Vice President was. Though the knowledge of whom served in the executive

branch was vast, our political awareness wore thin when addressing who represented our

legislative and judicial branches. The students were not aware who runs our local government. A

mere forty-five percent knew the name of our Utah Governor.

In the survey our class was asked what we individually consider ourselves. Liberal, or

conservative. Thirty percent of our class considered themselves liberal, the other thirty percent

conservative. We had ten questions to answer in the survey after six questions that asked us

about our political awareness. All ten questions were yes or no questions about current issues.

When asked if the United States should implement a more restrictive immigration policy,

thirty percent answered yes, seventy percent answered no. When asked if the first amendment’s

right should be relaxed to combat terrorism nineteen percent answered yes, seventy-six percent

answered no. When asked if law abiding citizens should have the right to keep and bear arms

ninety percent answered yes, nine percent answered no. When asked if the U.S. Supreme Court

made the correct decision legalizing gay marriage eighty-two percent answered yes, eighteen
 Kelsey O’Leary
US Government- POLS 1100
Paper #2
3/26/18
percent answered no. When asked if physician-assisted suicide should be allowed to terminally

ill patients if they so desire seventy-six percent answered yes, twenty-four percent answered no.

When asked if the United States should implement a universal healthcare system for all its

citizens seventy percent answered yes, twenty-seven answered no. When asked if the United

States should take a stronger military stance towards Russia, Iran, North Korea, and terrorists

thirty percent answered yes, seventy percent answered no.

When asked if the United States should be conducting surveillance on its citizens through

the NSA fifteen percent answered yes, eighty-five percent answered no. When asked if the

United States Government should promote additional tax cuts to stimulate the economy, the class

was evenly divided, forty-nine percent answered yes, forty-nine answered no. The final question

asked if the United States should implement stricter rules dealing with emissions to reduce global

warming, and eighty-five percent answered yes, fifteen percent answered no. In many ways, I

agreed with the majority of my class. Except on the decision to take a stronger military stance. I

voted yes, where it seemed the majority if the class was against this idea.

Though in the survey it asked us what we considered ourselves to be as an individual, I

believe based on the survey’s analytics our class is made up of liberals based on their political

views on today’s current issues. Liberals are comfortable with some government, so long as they

don’t overstep and infringe on a citizen’s rights; To liberals government can intervene in society

and economy if it promotes equality. With these averages liberals came off as most fitting for our

class.
 Kelsey O’Leary
US Government- POLS 1100
Paper #2
3/26/18

When I compared some of the class views to America’s general public I found out they

were very similar to that of the public’s view. For example, more than fifty percent of Americans

believe that immigrants should not be further restricted by the immigration policy, and that

immigrants actually make a great contribution to the country. Second, the majority of americans

believe in the right to keep and bear arms, seventy-one percent voted yes, while twenty-nine

percent voted no. The majority of Americans also supported gay marriage.

For my final comparison, Americans voted in a survey about conducting surveillance on

citizens. The results were fairly divided. Though the opinions of the Americans differed by one

or two figures, the majority still voted against the surveillance of themselves and others alike.

In conclusion, it was interesting to find out how the class views were mostly shared by

the general public today. It was also interesting to see the averages on our political awareness. In

my opinion, my class, is more so less aware of who is representing us than I would’ve hoped for.

But I can’t exclude myself from that average. I know so little about politics; However that

doesn’t mean I’m not wanting to change that, and further educate myself to develop an opinion

of my very own.