Release date: Oct. 7, 2004

Survey Finds Increase in Political Engagement Among Emory Students

Contact:
Elaine Justice: 404-727-0643, elaine.justice@emory.edu
Deb Hammacher: 404-727-0644, deb.hammacher@emory.edu

Mirroring national trends among college-age youth, a survey conducted this semester by Emory University political science professor Alan Abramowitz indicates that Emory students are much more politically engaged this year than they were two years ago.

The survey, which was conducted in early October in Abramowitz's introductory American politics class and his upper division American elections class, found that 66 percent of Emory students described themselves as very interested in politics or as "political junkies" this year compared with only 52 percent in 2002. Even more striking was the fact that 95 percent of the students claimed to be registered to vote this year compared with only 68 percent two years ago, just before the 2002 midterm election. Most of the students not registered to vote this year were international students who are not U.S. citizens.

"Some of the increase in interest and registration is due to the fact that 2004 is a presidential election year," Abramowitz says, "but the level of interest this year appears to be beyond anything that I've seen even in previous presidential election years. Emory students, like their counterparts across the country, are showing a heightened level of interest and involvement in this year's campaign."

Part of the increase in student interest and involvement this year appears to be motivated by strong opposition to the policies of the Bush administration. According to the survey, 72 percent of Emory students disapprove of the president's job performance. In the 2004 presidential race, Emory students favor John Kerry over George Bush by an overwhelming margin of 70 percent to 22 percent, with one percent supporting independent candidate Ralph Nader. Only seven percent of the students are undecided or indicate that they will not vote in the presidential election.

Abramowitz found that Emory students are much more liberal than the overall American electorate. Fifty-two percent of the students described themselves as liberal compared with 24 percent of respondents in a recent CBS/New York Times national survey. In contrast, only 13 percent of Emory students described themselves as conservative compared with 35 percent of respondents in the CBS/New York Times survey.

The liberal attitudes of Emory students do not appear to result from any sort of indoctrination by the faculty, says Abramowitz. According to the survey, freshman, who only arrived on campus a few weeks ago, are just as liberal as upperclassmen. Instead, the political views of Emory students seem to reflect the views of their parents. Fifty-three percent of students indicated that their parents are Democrats, 27 percent indicated that their parents are Republicans, and 20 percent indicated that they come from politically “mixed marriages.”

Abramowitz found that 72 percent of Emory students support the same party as their parents and that students from “mixed marriages” tend to be independents. “Contrary to what some conservatives seem to believe,” says Abramowitz, “parents appear to have much more influence than professors on students’ political views and voting behavior.”

A total of 111 students completed this year's survey. While this is a small sample from only two classes, Abramowitz notes that the large majority of respondents in the survey were from his introductory American politics class and that a broad cross-section of students take this class because it satisfies Emory's social science distribution requirement. In past years, according to Abramowitz, the results of the class survey have closely mirrored the results of surveys taken of the entire student body.

For more political news, visit the election news page.

Back