Most High Schoolers don’t know who represents them, as shown by a recent poll conducted by the Telegraph. The poll included questions about who represented them in the United States Senate, the U.S. House, as well as questions about who is the Governor, who Mike Pence is, who Dale Renlund is, and who is Hugh Jackman.

Mike Pence

Vice President

When asked about who Mike Pence is, only 52% of Herriman High Students could recall that he is the Vice President. Mike Pence is the most well known politician to Herriman High students, though really, only 52% of people know that he’s the Vice President? I mean, I know it’s not that important, but he’s still a pretty big deal.

Orrin Hatch

United States Senator

14% of students know that one of their senators is Orrin Hatch, although it is worth mentioning that when asked about representative in the U.S. House, many people guess Hatch or “the Hatch guy.” I don’t really blame people for not knowing who he is, High Schoolers can’t be expected to know every old white guy that serves in the Senate.

Orrin Hatch is one of the longest serving senators in history; he won his first term in 1976, campaigning, ironically enough, on term limits.

Mike Lee

United States Senator

Mike Lee is also a senator, he was elected in 2010, and only 9% of Herriman High Students are able to scrounge up his name when asked about their senators. Mike Lee is commonly considered one of the most conservative members of the Senate, along with Rand Paul from Kentucky, Ben Sasse from Nebraska, and 2016 Presidential Hopeful Ted Cruz.

Other politicians included in the survey were Governor Gary Herbert, who was known by 35%, and Representative Mia Love, known by 14% of the Herriman High population. When asked about the results of the survey, HHS student Taylor Burgess said “all it proves is that people don’t really pay attention to who’s in charge.”

To see if religious leaders or actors were more known, we also included an LDS apostle and an actor in the survey to see if there was a substantial difference between them.

Dale (G.) Renlund

Apostle of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints

When asked who “Dale Renlund” was, 30% of respondents were able to say an apostle, some emphatically crying out “An Apostle of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints!” and another asking quietly, “is his middle initial G?” Elder Renlund has been serving as an apostle for just over a year, having been called at the October 2015 General Conference.

Hugh Jackman

Australian Actor

This beautiful man is known by about 65% of respondents, although it makes me feel kind of unpatriotic to know that more students know an Australian Actor (whose main production is French Les Misérables) than know the Vice President of the United States of America.

In summary, Herriman High, you have to get your patriotism together.

This survey was conducted in the Cafeteria and Library during both lunches. The survey had a sample size of 89 students and has a margin of error of plus or minus 10%.