Parent perspective

Parents can be a major influence when teens are forming political opinions. About 32 percent of students said that their political beliefs are similar to those of their parents, while about 28 percent said they are somewhat similar.

AP Government teacher Carey Petkoff said this is to be expected, as parents who are vocal about their political beliefs on either side will likely influence their kids.

“The most influence in your life is by your parents because you see politics from their point of view first,” Petkoff said. “They’re never wrong, of course, when you’re little.”

Senior Tristan Fredrick, who identifies as a Conservative, believes that his views align with those of his parents, although he has formed some of his own opinions since 2016.

“My parents are a lot of the reasons why I got into politics, but there are definitely some things that we disagree on,” Fredrick said. “Some things that I’m maybe a little more traditional on, which is kind of ironic, and then some things that maybe they’re a little more traditional on, but it’s fairly similar.”

Many students seem to follow the same path as Fredrick, forming their own opinions as they get older. About 33 percent of freshmen said that their political beliefs are the exact same as their parents, which is notably larger than the 12 percent of seniors who said the same. Senior Emma Adair, who identifies as a leftist, wasn’t surprised by the results.

“I think a lot of it has to do with maturity and the ability to kind of be on your own because I don’t think anybody really thinks the exact same things they thought when they were 14,” Adair said. “They’ve kind of grown up a little bit.”

Adair experienced this personally, as she said that she didn’t care about politics in 2016 before she began doing her own research. Her political beliefs are now different from her parents, who typically vote Conservative.

“You have to be on it yourself to try and be more informed and form your own opinion from that, because really, nobody’s going to help you,” Adair said. “If you don’t, then you’re just going to end up going along with whatever it is they said anyway.”