It should come as no surprise that Donald Trump is coming up in our interviews with international students, even with us being careful to not put students on the spot about their personal political views. We decided to broadly poll our WeChat followers in China about Donald Trump becoming the U.S. president. We had over 300 students vote anonymously.
Here’s what we asked:
1. From your perspective as a soon-to-be international student, how do you think having Donald Trump as the U.S. president will impact you?
A. I think that it won’t have much impact on me: 21.4%
B. I am concerned that it will have a negative impact on me: 51.8%
C. I think it will have a positive impact on me: 26.8%
2. How do you think having Donald Trump as the U.S. president will influence the decisions of future international students?
A. I do not think that it will have much impact. Students will make their decisions based on other factors: 51.3%
B. I think it will have a negative impact upon the desire of international students to study in the U.S.: 40.9%
C. I think it will have positive impact upon the desire of students to study in the U.S.: 7.7%
One interesting question: Why would 26.8% think that a Trump presidency would have a beneficial impact upon them while only 7.7% think that it would have a positive impact upon the desire of future students from China to study in the U.S.?
If you would like to see the original survey in Chinese, just let us know (mailto:contact@initialview.com) and we will email it to you.
