CALIFORNIA YANKEE

That College Poll

Polipundit has little regard the Harvard Institute of Politics’ poll I posted about here. In “That College Poll,” Polipundit explains why that poll doesn’t mean much:

Polipundit isn’t impressed by the results suggesting that liberals and conservatives seem almost evenly divided on campuses at 36-32 percent.

In the general population, the number of people self-identifying as conservative is consistently twice as much as the number self-identifying as liberal. College students are still far more liberal than the general population.

Polipundit is likewise unimpressed by the results suggesting that President Bush leads an unnamed Democrat 34-32 among college students.

When was the last time a poll of the general population showed such a large number of undecideds? Most of those undecideds will plump for Democrats or Green Party candidates simply because of peer pressure. There goes the Bush margin.

Risking another cold shower from Polipundit, I note that CNN reports a CNN/USA Today/Gallup Poll finds younger voters view some things differently than the over 30 crowd. According to the CNN poll:

Younger Americans don't follow politics as closely as older Americans;

More younger Americans than the older folks approve of the way President Bush is handling his job;

Fewer of the younger Americans surveyed said they had a favorable opinion of President Bush than did older Americans;

More younger Americans polled said they believe the economy is improving than did the elder group;

Significantly more younger Americans than the older group support same-sex marriages that are recognized with equal rights under the law.

Most troubling to me is the different views concerning “diversity.”

When asked whether racial and ethnic minorities should be encouraged to maintain their own culture or blend into the larger American society, fifty-four percent of younger Americans said they believe minorities should keep their own culture. Thirty-seven percent of older Americans said they back that idea.

Years of indoctrinating students in multiculturalism have resulted in draining the melting pot. When I went to school, I was taught that the melting pot was central to America’s ability to assimilate immigrants. To me, the melting pot means that this country can transform people of every color and background into “one America,” with a single national identity. Today younger Americans think the melting pot is a fondue restaurant.

College Students Support President Bush

A new nationwide poll of 1,202 undergraduates surprisingly finds that college students are Independent, but more Republican than Democratic. The poll, conducted by Harvard’s Institute of Politics, finds college students are significantly more supportive of President Bush than the general public.

The Christian Science Monitor summarized the poll's results concerning the political views of college students:

"College students are highly independent ... but they slightly lean Republican: 31 percent Republican, 27 percent Democrat, 38 percent independent."

On student support for President Bush: "Defying conventional political wisdom, college students support President Bush. His approval rating is about 10 points higher among college students than the general population."

On measuring students' political activity: "College students are not political slackers, as a lot of folks may think. These numbers indicate that people do care. They do involve themselves in public service activities. And they do plan to participate in the 2004 election."

On why only 28 percent of students consider Iraq as a concern to them: "Without any personal vulnerability ... they have disconnected a lot of what is happening with the war from what they think about politics, because it has not affected them."

In another surprise, The Harvard Crimson’s story on the survey reveals a preference for Senator Lieberman.

Democratic college students slightly favored Senator Joseph I. Lieberman, D-Conn., over former Vermont Governor Howard Dean, 17 percent to 16 percent, among 2004 democratic presidential hopefuls.

Retired General Wesley K. Clark trailed with 9 percent, and the Reverend Al Sharpton, who is scheduled to visit Harvard on Monday, followed with 8 percent.

In a commentary about this survey, Real Clear Politics writes:

it is interesting to see a group which has traditionally been perceived to be quite liberal (or at the very least extremely sympathetic to liberal ideals) now so completely disjointed from the base of the Democratic party and even further to the right on issues of terrorism and national security than the country as a whole.