A new study investigating the political affiliations of college professors has found that Democratic-leaning professors vastly outnumber Republicans.
According to research conducted by the conservative-leaning National Association of Scholars, Democratic professors outnumber their Republican colleagues by a ratio of 8.5 to 1 on top college campuses. Additionally, researchers found that the disparities in political affiliation vary greatly by gender, tenure status, and academic discipline.
It used a sample of the top “two US News highest-ranked private and two US News highest-ranked public institutions among the national universities, regional universities, and liberal arts colleges in each state.” So, the findings don’t necessarily apply to all colleges, but they do give us a good idea of what the ideological balance looks like across different kinds of schools in the upper tier of our higher education system.
Women were significantly more likely to identify as Democrats when compared to their male colleagues, with female Democratic-leaning professors outnumbering Republicans by a ratio of 16.4 to 1 and male Democratic-leaning leaning professors outnumbering Republicans by a ratio of 6.4 to 1.
Another interesting finding in the study was that the partisan affiliation ratio among professors varied by professorial rank.
According to their findings, the Democrat to Republican ratio was highest among nontenured assistant professors, at 10.5 to 1, followed by associate professors, at 8.7 to 1, and full professors 8.2 to 1. While Democrats outnumber Republicans at each stage, the significant decrease in the ratio at each career stage poses a question as to whether many assistant professors feel the need to promote Democratic ideas and viewpoints in order to advance their careers.
When comparing the ratio by academic discipline, it is worth noting that despite having stark differences in political affiliation among different subjects taught, Democratic-leaning professors outweigh their Republican counterparts across each academic discipline.
That being said, the most drastic differences in the ratio were reported among professors of English, at 26.8 to 1, sociology at 27 to 1, and anthropology 42.2 to 1. When it comes to the more academically rigorous and well-respected disciplines of mathematics, at 5.5 to 1, chemistry, at 4.6 to 1, and economics at 3 to 1, a much smaller ratio was observed.
Students considering a major in anthropology, English, or sociology should be prepared to study in an academic department with almost no ideological diversity, while aspiring academics preparing to apply for assistant professor positions should be prepared for the likelihood of working with colleagues who are significantly more likely to identify as Democratic, as opposed to Republican. This study certainly affirms conservative suspicions that college campuses are far from intellectually diverse.
John Patrick (@john_pat_rick) is a graduate of Canisius College and Georgia Southern University. He interned for Red Alert Politics during the summer of 2012 and has continued to contribute to the Washington Examiner regularly.
