By Karim Farahat
To gauge City College’s opinion of President Trump, The Guardsman conducted an anonymous poll, asking 55 students to rate their approval of his presidency thus far. Throughout his first hundred days, the United States and the world have witnessed tremendous political change and tension. There has been a lot of controversy surrounding the administration’s policies as well as Trump’s methods to bring his vision for the country into reality.
Of the 53 students and two faculty who were asked to rate President Trump, seven chose not to answer because they either did not have enough information on the matter, or purposefully ignored the news to avoid incurred stress from entertaining politics.
“I have been ignoring the news because I do not want to engage in something that is on the other side of the country.”
“I hear so much now, it’s just like static electricity now. It’s like how people fall asleep at the white noise of a television … If I get too involved in it, then it starts to affect my ability to keep my head above water.”
Of the 48 people who gave a rating, there was a clear sentiment that Trump was disliked and that the nation would be better off with a new President.
“With him, this country is run off of stupidity, ignorance and hatred.”
Some of the most common points made by students when they justified their low ratings included mentions of Trump’s disregard for others and the law, his questionable motives and his destructive nature.
“[He is] endangering people who are already most vulnerable.”
“He’s dangerous for democracy.”
“He’s just a terrible person.”
“He is vile, cutting off all these funds from the public so that he can give the money to his rich friends.”
While Trump’s character flaws and dishonesty in his motives were the driving forces behind most students’ disdain towards our president, others point to some of his policies and the impacts it has on the livelihoods of the people. Of all the qualms that were brought up, there was a particular emphasis on his immigration policies, how he has been detrimental to the economy so far and the impact it has had on people’s lives.
“I do a lot of online shopping and I don’t like the tariffs.”
“The instability that he has created in the immigrant community. I’m Latina. I am very scared for me and my family.”
“The tariffs. If I buy something from China, it’s really expensive right now, so it has really impaired our lives.”
“I am a son of immigrant parents, so that would be a big reason for giving a rating two of five.”
Of the 48 people who gave an answer to the poll, two students had mixed feelings about the President, saying there is some good and some bad.
There were three dissenters who gave very strong praise of the President, with one student even going so far as to say, “I would give him my salary. I would take a bullet for him. I would kill for him if he asked me to. He’s a man of the people. Look at all his policies. They only benefit society and the world. That’s all that matters shit needs to get done. I don’t care about feelings. We are running a country here.”
“I would give it a five out of five. I don’t like the radical stuff he says, but I’m curious to see whether his economics will work.”
“I would rate it a four out of five right now. I feel like he has a plan and something cooking under his sleeve where he will get us back on track.”