Here at the Claremont Independent, we want to promote dialogue between people who disagree. We believe in engagement over forming our own bubbles. Over the past few years, we’ve built one of the most viewpoint diverse clubs on campus; we want our staff members to be diverse in their perspective and engage with each other. Our opinion section speaks for itself; it contains everything from arguments for police abolition to an impassioned defense of Israel. Many members vehemently disagree with each other’s writing, but that’s a good thing. Whether they write regularly or contribute to the discussion during our (sometimes heated) staff meetings, our members contribute to an open, non-judgemental dialogue where we can learn and formulate new perspectives to an issue. Last year, a survey of our staff confirmed our viewpoint diversity. This year, with its heated political landscapes, we sent out a similar survey, and received promising results.
These results show that there is great potential for people with wildly different views to learn from each other. A quarter of our staff identifies as independent, while equal portions identify as Republican and Democrat.
When it comes to this year’s Presidential election, 75% would vote for Biden while 25% would vote for Trump.
Another issue that has grabbed the country’s attention is the Black Lives Matter movement and the reemergence of reparations discussion. The majority of our staff (62.5%) believe that there should be reparations — albeit not in the form of direct monetary compensation — while a minority do not believe reparations are necessary.
On climate change — another headline-grabbing issue — three-quarters of staff believed in market-based solutions to combat climate change, while a quarter wanted direct legislation.
On welfare, the majority of staff believed that taxes should be increased for social benefits and are open to the idea of universal basic income, but a sizable portion of the staff believes that UBI disincentivizes work.
Finally, with many Arab countries normalizing relations with Israel, the Middle Eastern country has now again come into focus. In the Israel-Palestine conflict, the majority, but not all, of staff members lean towards the pro-Israel side.
For other issues, please see the graphs below: