In 2017, West Liberty-Salem High School in Salem, Ohio, joined the list of schools that have experienced a shooting. The only visible scars are bullet holes in a bathroom wall, but the psychological trauma still lingers.

“Later on, they got the good news that nobody died, but their brain had already experienced that traumatic experience,” said principal Greg Johnson.

In that bathroom, Johnson and fellow principal Andy McGill rushed to help a student who had been shot twice, with the shooter just feet away. McGill was able to talk the shooter, another student, into putting the gun down.

Following the shooting, the pair led the drive to implement new security measures, including bulletproof glass, better window exits and a school resource officer — but they chose not to arm any staff or teachers.

Across the U.S., 15 states allow school personnel to carry guns on campus, according to nonprofit Everytown for Gun Safety. Over the last year, the number of school districts in Ohio that allow staff to be armed quadrupled, with 14% of the state’s districts now participating, according to the Ohio School Safety Center.

About 50 miles south of Salem, just outside Dayton, the Mad River Local School District has given guns to about 20 of its teachers. Their identities are confidential as part of the district’s policy.

Chad Wyen is the superintendent at Mad River, and the only armed member of the staff whose identity is public. His firearm is in a locked cabinet that’s unlocked by a code. It was Wyen’s idea to have guns near teachers in a safe, rather than on them — a strategy to prevent unauthorized access.

“So typically, there’s a live round in the chamber. We have to be prepared,” Wyen said.

He says guns in classrooms serve as a measure of assistance for the single resource officer for eight schools across the district.

“There’s no way our police can get there in time to stop it, and that’s why we chose to go down that path,” Wyen said.

Luckily, he says, they’ve never had a student bring a gun to their campuses, and most parents are grateful for the added layer of protection.

One teacher, whose identity is being kept concealed by CBS News to comply with the district’s safety measures, said she recognizes the possibility of a shooter being a student that she knows.

“At that point in time, that student’s not my student. They are now a murderer, and I am stopping a threat. And that’s to save other lives,” the teacher said.

When asked about opposition to arming school staff, she said, “I understand why they have that belief and I understand their concerns with guns. I had similar concerns before I was comfortable with guns. It’s just a tool to protect yourself or to protect other people.”

And if it came down to it, she said she would be “willing to die for a student to protect them.”

Participants were asked to choose between paired policy options, revealing clear inclinations. An overwhelming 70% prioritized free healthcare and education for the poor over public infrastructure. Two-thirds favoured tax relief for the middle class over cash transfers. Similarly, over 70% preferred developing villages to building cities, and a similar share leaned towards income-based reservations in private jobs over caste-based ones.

The July survey was the 12th in a series that Mint runs biannually with YouGov India and Delhi-based think tank Centre for Policy Research. It had 10,314 respondents from over 200 towns and cities and was held online. About 45% of the respondents were post-millennials (Gen Z, born after 1996), and 39% were millennials (born between 1981 and 1996).

Also read | How social media fed politics and strained relations during 2024 polls

More respondents preferred increasing tax for big companies (63%) over having an inheritance tax (37%), and creating more government jobs for the youth (57%) over enabling private businesses to create more jobs (43%). Around 53% said the government should focus on narrowing the rich-poor gap (53%) over high economic growth (47%). The nearly 50-50 split shows the view wasn’t as one-sided as with most other questions. There was also a halfway split on keeping fuel prices low (51%) versus promoting public transport (49%).

Class gap

Opinions varied significantly based on respondents’ self-perceived financial status. Among those who considered themselves wealthy, preferences were nearly split across most questions. However, for those identifying as middle-class or poor, choices were more decisive, leaning heavily toward specific options.

Also read | India’s middle-class riddle: How much do you need to be called rich?

We asked similar questions two years ago, and the responses largely align—with one notable shift. Support for free healthcare and education for the poor has surged, rising from 59% to 70% when compared with public infrastructure. Meanwhile, the preference for cash transfers over lower income tax relief has dropped from 47% to 33%.

Despite a growing trend of political parties promising subsidies, India’s digital natives in urban areas appear less convinced by such offerings.

Budget challenge

The survey invited respondents to allocate a hypothetical government budget of ₹100 across five welfare policies. “Improving conditions of hospitals and schools” topped the list, receiving an average allocation of ₹24. This was followed closely by “creating conditions for more government jobs” ( ₹23), “investment in public infrastructure” ( ₹21), “stimulus for growth of big businesses” ( ₹17), and “direct cash transfers to the poor” ( ₹16).

The emphasis on hospitals and schools aligns with another finding from part 4 of this series, where a significant share of respondents favoured free or heavily subsidized education and healthcare. Once again, the survey indicates limited support for direct cash transfers to the poor.

Also read | India’s freebie paradox: Voters dislike it but want some things for free

Vote impact

Do personal economic anxieties shape views on the government’s performance? The analysis reveals a clear connection between how respondents rated the last two terms of the Bharatiya Janata Party government and their perceived difficulty in job hunting.

Also read | In charts: 2024 polls changed the electoral pitch — but only a little

Currently, 47% of urban Indians say finding a job is “difficult,” up sharply from 34% in December 2022, when the survey last asked the same question. The perception of difficulty has grown most among post-millennials, rising from 35% to 51%, and among women, from 36% to 51%, compared to a rise from 32% to 44% among men. Jobs were reportedly hardest to find in mid-sized cities, followed by tier-III cities.

Among respondents who found job-hunting difficult, 27% rated both terms of the government “equally good,” while another 27% preferred the first term. About 22% thought both terms were equally poor—the highest dissatisfaction rate among groups based on job-hunting ease. Respondents facing job difficulties were five times more likely to rate the government’s 10-year record negatively (22%) than those finding jobs easy (4%).

The survey suggests a noticeable preference for public goods, more jobs, and tax reforms. The low inclination towards the private sector could be because finding jobs has got tougher across demographics and regions. However, as the government settles into its third term, it would worry about the link between voting choices and personal economic anxieties.

(The authors are associated with CPR, New Delhi.)

This is the seventh and concluding part of a series about the findings of the 12th round of the survey. The previous parts covered political attitudes, middle-class aspirations, social media use, views on welfare policies, and healthy food habits. These surveys are skewed towards urban, well-to-do netizens, with 90% of respondents falling under the NCCS-A socio-economic category.

Part 1 (14 October): 2024 polls changed the electoral pitch — but only a little

Part 2 (15 October): Making sense of urban India’s political faultlines

Part 3 (21 October): India’s middle-class riddle: How much do you need to be called rich?

Part 4 (22 October): India’s freebie paradox: Voters dislike it but want some things for free

Part 5 (28 October): How social media fed politics and strained relations during 2024 polls
Part 6 (29 October): The great Indian diet challenge: do we really know what’s healthy?