Wabash has always been known as being politically active and this year is no different. A recent survey conducted by Professor Hadley and his Political Science 111 course provides some striking insights into Wabash student and faculty political perspectives.
Most interesting, perhaps, are the differences between faculty and students and the variance between students in different divisions. According to the survey, slightly more than 50% of the student body is “VERYMUCH” interested in political campaigns. However, nearly 80% of faculty would count themselves “VERY MUCH” interested. One would wonder what could account for this difference. Signs point towards the National Center for Education Statistics, a US Government organization, which states that the more education one has received, the more likely one is to vote. Wabash exemplifies this trend: over 97% of faculty sampled, were registered to vote, versus 92% of the student body sampled. Further, nearly 97% of those 97% who registered said they were “certain” to vote, whereas only 70% of student body felt the same way. Admittedly, an additional 17% of students said they were likely or very likely to vote, but the numbers still pale in comparison to those of the faculty. These same national surveys also point out a shift in political preference as one becomes more educated.
Many have heard of the idea of the trend to “move left” as education increases. Although The Phoenix states otherwise, Wabash is no different from the rest of America: the faculty here lean left. Faculty were surveyed and asked to rate themselves on a scale of one to seven – one being extremely liberal and seven being extremely conservative. Slightly more than 2/3rds of Wabash’s faculty (67.9%) sampled, categorized themselves somewhere between moderately liberal and extremely liberal, with the faculty average at 2.99, or “Moderately Liberal.” An overwhelming majority (84.6%) would also vote for Obama.
For comparison’s sake, 40.9% of the student body fell in the liberal category but 43.4% considered themselves conservatives to some degree. The average here was 4.1 – moderate, with a conservative lean. The conservative preference shows: the student body as a whole was just under half as likely to vote for Obama (48.1%). It is clear the faculty and students are at odds politically; not to an extreme degree, but a substantial difference exists. It should be noted that a student body which considers itself moderate gives Obama a 10.4% lead in the election (48.1% for Obama vs. 37.7% for McCain.) Looking back, this seems to have played out nationally with Obama’s victory.
Other interesting facts were revealed, as well. For instance, the differences among students by major found that 31.8% of students majoring in a Division 1 subject, the physical sciences, were “very interested” in campaigns. On the other hand, 55.1% of students in a Division 2 major, the fine arts, took this same position. Division 3 students, behavioral sciences, took the number up to 63.8%. These numbers paint a clear picture as to the differences between divisions: physical science students far and away took the least interest in the actual campaigns, fine arts students took some interest, but the social science students were clearly the most likely to stay tuned in to the election. One would wonder if a trend would continue to actual voting and this not true.
Students in Division 1 majors were actually the most likely to vote, with 90.9% saying with some degree of confidence that they will vote. 87.7% of Division 2 students agreed, but, oddly, only 86.7% of Division 3 students planned on voting. Division 1 students counter- intuitively seem to be the most likely to vote: odd, given they are the least likely to follow the election closely.
Division 1 averaged a 3.84 on the one to seven scale: moderate leaning left. Division 2 and 3 both go the opposite way with average ratings of 4.14 and 4.25, respectively. This means that both are moderate leaning conservative. However, all three groups selected Obama by a large margin, ranging from 8.7% for Division 3 students to 13.6% for Division 1.
Information on the link between education and voting likelihood can be found at http://nces.ed.gov/fastFacts/display.asp?id=88