Liberal Trends

Below is an excerpt from a Chronicle of Higher Education article on the increasingly liberal views of college freshmen. Here's the link to the article, though you have to have a subscription to view it. The increase in percent of students who support same sex marriage and higher taxes for the wealthy makes me excited about this generation of college students and what they will do for this country as they grow older and take on leadership roles. Not that I'm on a crusade to make all college students liberal (calm down, David Horowitz), but I am excited to see the shift in thinking on what I consider vital social issues! Now if we could get that percent who support decreased military spending back up again...

The data comes from the Higher Education Research Institute at UCLA, an entity I very much respect and would like to work for someday.

This year, 31 percent of freshmen identified themselves as liberal, the highest level since 1973, while 23 percent called themselves conservatives. The percentage who described their political views as middle-of-the-road hit an all-time low of 43 percent.

The survey also revealed students’ views of several hot-button issues. For instance, 66 percent of freshmen said they supported marriage rights for same-sex couples, while 60.4 percent said they believed wealthy Americans should pay more taxes than they do now. An increasing proportion (41.3 percent) said they support the legalization of marijuana, while a decreasing proportion (28 percent) favored increases in military spending, down from a high of 45 percent in 2002.