The College Fix

Meanwhile, 78 percent of respondents plan to vote for Kamala Harris and Tim Walz

Professors will overwhelmingly vote for Vice President Kamala Harris in the coming weeks, according to a new survey.

Inside Higher Ed surveyed more than 1,000 professors, mostly “tenured or tenure track,” and found significant support for the Democratic presidential ticket.

“Seventy-eight percent support Kamala Harris and running mate Tim Walz, while only 8 percent of the respondents back Donald Trump and JD Vance, according to the survey, which has a 2.9 percent margin of error,” the publication reported.

“But while their personal support for Democrats was overwhelming, almost no respondents said they plan to tell students which party or candidate to vote for,” Inside Higher Ed reported.

Most respondents said they keep their personal political beliefs out of the classroom. Only four percent said they would tell students who to vote for, but 30 percent plan to “discuss the election” in class.

The poll reported other findings about the role of political beliefs in research.

Inside Higher Ed reported:

Fewer than one in 10 said their personal politics are very or extremely influential on their teaching, and only 14 percent said they were moderately influential. When it came to research, 18 percent said their politics were very or extremely influential on what they study and publish, and 15 percent said they were moderately influential.

Some surveys have found college students are reluctant to discuss political topics in the classroom, such as an April survey from Heterodox Academy. A 2023 survey found 74 percent of college students would report their professor for saying something offensive.

The heavy tilt of Democratic professors can also be seen in recent articles from The College Fix of the political affiliations of academics.

For example, Democratic professors outnumber Republicans about 88 percent to 12 percent at the University of Florida, according to a review of the school’s humanities departments.

A similar study of North Carolina State University found Democrats outnumber Republicans about 20 to 1. Put another way, about four percent of identified professors at NC State are Republicans, compared to 96 percent who are Democrats.

MORE: Lecturer who said ‘shoot’ men who not voting for female leaves U. Kansas

IMAGE: Donald Trump/X

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