Student Council conducted a mock election with the New Trier High School student body on Wednesday before next week’s presidential election. Results were announced Friday afternoon. With voter turnout at 18.4%, students overwhelmingly voted for Vice President Kamala Harris. 

In the mock election, Harris won with 67.41% of the votes (455 students). Former President Donald Trump came in second, receiving 26.81% of the votes (181 students), and independent candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr.— who withdrew from the race on Aug. 23, but remains on the Illinois ballot—in third with 5.78% (39 students). These candidates were the three options in the mock election, mirroring the Illinois ballot. 

In 2016 and 2020, Student Council also ran mock presidential elections. In both elections, students sided with the Democratic nominee, and the same was true for Illinois voters. Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton won 57.09% of the student vote in 2016 and then-former Vice President Joe Biden received 74.01% of the student vote in 2020. 

The last time a Republican presidential candidate won Illinois was in 1988 when then-Vice President George H.W. Bush beat then-Massachusets Gov. Michael Dukakis. This year, Harris is expected to beat Trump in Illinois. 

In next week’s highly-watched election, the seven swing states expected to decide the election are Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin. The New York Times on Oct. 30 said Trump was leading in the polls in Arizona, Georgia, and North Carolina by a point or more, with both candidates in Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin, and Nevada having less than a 1% polling lead. 

The past two mock presidential elections saw higher voter turnout than this year’s mock election. In 2016, 57.3% (2,305 students) participated. Four years later, turnout decreased to 50.7% (2,024 students). Now that number has slipped by more than 30%. Illinois in the 2024 presidential primary also had a historically low turnout at 19.07%, the lowest turnout in at least the past 50 years. In the 2020 general election, though, around 72.9% of Illinois voters headed to the polls.  

For more information on the presidential candidates, New Trier librarians put together an election guide. Please refer to the New Trier News ballot explainer for information on state and local races.