Jake Wieseneck ’14, Staff Writer

Newark Academy is located in one of the most liberal states in the Union. The state of New Jersey is composed of 700,000 more registered Democrats than Republicans as of November 2010.  While New Jersey has been known to vote Republican on the local level at times, such as in the recent Governor’s election, the state generally votes for the Democratic Party.

Some might assume that the views of the Newark Academy community would mirror those of New Jersey voters. Have the general views of our parents influenced our views?  Is NA a liberal-leaning community?

A survey recently conducted by the Feature Section posed a number of questions to help us answer this question.  Based on the survey results, it is safe to say that the NA community is, in fact, very liberal politically-speaking.

Less than 10% of the student body and faculty chose to participate in the survey.  In fact, only 3 of the 46 individuals that responded were faculty members so we can view this survey as predominantly a review of student perspectives. For that matter, the vast majority of students represented were in the Upper School as we only had two students from the Middle School respond.   Based on survey responses we also know that the majority of those who identified themselves as supporting a specific political party are generally interested in politics and read the paper daily.  At a minimum, the survey provides us with insight as to the views of the more politically-minded members of our community.

When asked if the Newark Academy atmosphere was generally liberal, 75% agreed or strongly agreed.  Similarly when asked whether they were generally liberal as individuals, 57% agreed or strongly agreed.  This compares to only 9% agreeing or strongly agreeing that the school is generally conservative and 22% responding that they themselves are conservative.  With as resounding a response as can be expected from the limited number of survey responders, the survey demonstrates that NA is a fairly liberal community.

To determine if our views on issues are consistent with the labels we have chosen, the survey also asked current events and issue-related questions.  The responses to these questions indicate strong liberal tendencies on many issues.  For example, when asked whether or not the government should regulate pollution, 91% of the population agreed or strongly agreed.  Similarly on the question of whether or not health care access should be a right, 71% of the community agreed or strongly agreed.  86% of responders believed that marriage should be offered to all.  Finally, on the highly controversial issue of abortion rights, 71% either disagreed or strongly disagreed that abortions should be restricted.

After reviewing the full survey results, it is apparent, from the limited data, that Newark Academy just may reflect the views of the general population of the state of New Jersey.  We are liberal on social issues and duly consider ourselves to be a liberal community.