College faculty choose Harris over Trump by huge margin, poll finds

Kamala Harris leads Donald Trump 78% to 8% among college faculty, according to a new study Within Higher Ed/Hanover Research survey about the upcoming presidential elections.

The poll, conducted by email between September 16 and October 4, was completed by 1,133 faculty members from 739 public and 376 private nonprofit colleges and universities. It had a margin of error of +/- 2.9%.

The sample skewed heavily toward Democrats, with 60% of respondents identifying as Democrats, 22% as Independents, and only 7% as Republicans. The remaining respondents were categorized as ‘other’ and ‘prefer not to respond’.

The survey found that there was a strong partisan difference in enthusiasm for the presidential candidates. While 98% of Democratic educators said they support Kamala Harris and running mate Tim Walz, only two-thirds of Republicans expressed support for Donald Trump and JDVance.

Additionally, two-thirds of Democrats said they plan to donate to a candidate, party or group, while only 16% of Republicans said they would do so. Among Democrats, 29% said they planned to campaign or organize for a party or candidate, compared to just 8% of Republicans.

About 80% of respondents said they planned to encourage students to vote, with 85% of Democratic faculty planning to express such encouragement, but only half of Republican faculty saying they would do so.

Most teachers indicated that they would shy away from discussing the elections with students; only 30% said they planned to discuss it in class, and 20% said they would talk about it one-on-one with students. Only 2% reported that they would encourage students to vote for a specific candidate or political party.

Not surprisingly, faculty in social science disciplines such as education and other fields related to politics were more likely to discuss the election with students. Forty-three percent said they planned to talk about it in class, and 29% said they planned to talk about it one-on-one with their students.

According to Within higher educationfaculty members “are aware that their politics fall to the left of the students.” A third of respondents said their politics were about the same as the dominant politics among students on their own campus, but 37% admitted they are “a little further left,” and another 14% said “they are much further left.” than the students. ” Only 15% said they were “slightly further right than students,” while 2% said they were “much further right.”

Many teachers believe that their personal political orientation also differs from the prevailing politics of the state in which their institutions are located. A quarter said their politics were “in line with the dominant politics in their state,” while a third said they were “slightly further left and another third said they were much further left.” Only about a tenth believed their political views were “somewhat or more right.”

This difference was widest in the South, with half of respondents in that region saying they were much further to the left of their state, and another third saying they were slightly further to the left. Among Midwestern teachers, 71% said they were to the left of their state.

Despite their own personal politics, most teachers said their beliefs do not influence their teaching or research. Less than 10% said their personal politics were “very or extremely influential on their education,” and 14% said they were “moderately influential.” In terms of research, 18% said their politics were “very or extremely influential on what they study and publish,” and 15% said they were “moderately influential.”