McCain Wins Harding Campus Poll
Dr. Breezeel’s Parties and Elections class performed an extensive poll of the Harding University campus over the past few weeks. They surveyed 1,900 students, almost half of the undergraduate student body. They primarily targeted students who live in the dorms because they are easier to reach. The results for the presidential race showed that McCain is winning the Harding vote:
- 75.6% McCain
- 17.4% Obama
- 5.3% Undecided/Other
Although it is not shocking that McCain beats Obama at this conservative evangelical campus, it may be shocking to some that Obama had the support of that many students.
Some breakdowns from the results have been released. McCain had significant leads in every college at the university, but there are some interesting differences. Obama’s strongest support on campus comes from the colleges of Communication, Liberal Arts, and Bible. McCain dominates in “Other/NA” (undeclared?), Business, and Science.
Another interesting discovery was that only about 200 students coming from out of state are registered to vote here in Searcy. Most of those who are registered here are already from Searcy. This casts some doubt on the fear that Harding rigs local elections by busing thousands conservative students from all over the country to the White County polls.
Dr. Breezeel decided not to release the actual data collected from the surveys because of how small some of the subgroups are. He wants to protect the anonymity of the respodnents, and that is understandable. He also said that he wants to avoid any impression that he is helping the Man to compile a McCarthy list of undesirable liberals from among the students and faculty (my description, not his).
[From: Blake Matthews, "Class Study Surveys Candidate Preference Within Harding," The Bison, 31 October, 2008; and Dr. Breezeel]
Interesting results, but I would have gone the other way and guessed Obama would have polled higher among students at Harding.
ha
That graphic looks like an evil Republican pac man devouring the souls of its enemies.
Really, Jim? I’m curious how much support you would have expected Obama to get here?
Also, anecdotal evidence from people who were here in 2004 makes it sound like there would have almost literally been no support for Kerry just four years ago. It would be interesting to see an HU poll from then… I’d guess Kerry wouldn’t even make it out of the single-digits.
Re: Pac man – yes, yes it does.
David — I was just basing it on my own anecdotal evidence. I guess I would have thought he would have been 30 to 40 percent. That would have just been based on students in my classes, looking at postings on blogs, the way he polls among younger people in general, etc. Nothing scientific. Obviously, my guess wasn’t very good.
I do think it’s true that Obama has significantly more support among the politically involved and informed crowd at Harding. The HU blogosphere and the HU political circles are much more liberal than the school overall.
That is probably because the vast majority of students are relatively uninformed and uncritical. They are likely to vote for McCain (or at least say they support him) by default, but they are not likely to talk about it or put up signs about it.
“I do think it’s true that Obama has significantly more support among the politically involved and informed crowd at Harding.”
Uh hmmm. Nice sucker-punch there. ;-)
That would be an interesting study actually. It would be easy to set up.
Haha, I didn’t mean it as a sucker punch, but more as an obvious observation. It takes more information and more conviction to go against the (77%+) grain than it does to go with the flow. It just makes sense that those who do go against it would be more vocal about it.
Nobody ever asks a Republican at Harding “how can you be a Christian and vote for McCain?”
“It takes more information and more conviction to go against the (77%+) grain than it does to go with the flow.”
This is certainly true. It doesn’t make them right, but the statement is true enough.
I heard Joe Beam once talk about how there should have been absolutely no way politically that Matthew the tax collector and Simon the Zealot could have teamed up as apostles for Christ, but they did. One collected taxes for the Roman Empire and the other was a member of a party that advocated its violent overthrow. I suspect their political differences were every bit as great, and more, than those of Republicans and Democrats in the United States. Yet they were both disciples of Jesus.
Thanks for posting this, David. I can’t remember anyone ever conducting a formal poll on campus but I suspect that this is the most support any Democrat has received during my time at Harding.
I’m posting a link at my blog.
One collected taxes for the Roman Empire and the other was a member of a party that advocated its violent overthrow.
It’s not as big of a problem as it appears. Matthew also belonged to a group that advocated the violent overthrow of Rome, namely, the apostles of Jesus.
I dont live on campus. Add my vote. Obama.
Fascinating! I think David’s right–I’d say the average level of political interest and information is much higher for the average Obama supporter at Harding than for the average McCain supporter. There are probably more politically interested and informed McCain supporters at Harding in terms of actual numbers, but there are also a lot of uninformed/apathetic ones, and I can’t remember meeting many Obama supporters at Harding who weren’t more politically motivated than the norm. I think the same thing would apply at some other schools–those who voice a minority position (whether they be conservatives or libertarians) likely tend to be more informed than the general school electorate.
Also, this would help explain why McCain gets particularly strong support (above 75% I’m guessing–does anyone have the numbers?) from the undeclared majors. Undeclareds are disproportionately freshmen, who have had the least time to be liberalized by evil professors, the liberal propaganda spewed by The Bison, and the teachings of Jesus.
Likewise, I think a poll of the Harding student body that included off campus (ie, older) students would probably show a higher percentage of Obama supporters too.
“Undeclareds are disproportionately freshmen, who have had the least time to be liberalized by evil professors, the liberal propaganda spewed by The Bison, and the teachings of Jesus.”
Classic.
This is off-topic, but somewhat related…
Today in Chapel, Dr. Burks announced that he was canceling chapel tomorrow so people could vote or recover from last week (club week). There was thunderous applause and cheering.
It was like one of those awkward moments in the State of the Union address when the opposition applauds at the first half of a sentence or something (GWB: “This Congress has still not renewed parts of the PATRIOT Act–” Dems applaud).
i would be curious to see a poll of recent alumni. i know i began to think more critically about politics after leaving the bubble. in college, there’s still a lot of opinions founded in mom and dad’s opinions rather than one’s own. e.g., my vote in 2000 – it still makes me cringe.
The College of Communications has more Obama support than any other HU College.
We should put that on our coffee mugs.
I absolutely resent the accusation made by many of you (including a blurb in the recent edition of the Bison) that I’m voting for McCain because I’m white, Christian, and ignorant.
Uh oh, you guys pissed off D. Swindle! How will you ever placate his wrath?
I look forward to more expressions of his (or her) wrath. Wrath makes the blogosphere go ’round.
ps–I voted this morning, and at 6:45 am there were over 100 people in line.
I think that was a joke, right?
I was somewhat wondering if Burkes dismissing chapel was sort-of a last ditch effort on his part to get the Republicans to go and vote. The fact that it was a prayer chapel, and a rather subdued, resigned one at that, made it seem like the administration was giving it one last shot to stop what seems to be an inevitable Obama win.
Did any of you get the feeling?
When that guy prayed for God to protect us from a “totalitarian tyrannical regime” I was so torn between laughing out loud and just getting up and leaving.
Luckily, I was able to keep myself from doing either.
I laughed.
i voted in PA this morning too, Ian. i got to the polling station at 8:15 and stood in line for 2 hours! the huge voter turnout in PA looks real good for obama!
Looks like HU wasn’t a bellweather this time…