Survey: College kids edge to center
Forty-seven percent of college students identify their political beliefs as “middle of the road,” an increase of four percentage points from 2008, according the UCLA’s Higher Education Research Institute survey of incoming college freshmen released Thursday.
While there was no change in the 23 percent of students who consider themselves conservatives, the number of students identifying themselves as liberal decreased to 30 percent from 34 percent in 2008.
The survey also found a seven percentage point drop in students supporting a national healthcare plan but backing was still overwhelming: in 2008, 70 percent supported it; now it’s dipped to 63 percent.









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Keep up that laser focus on jobs, there, Barry!
NoLeftTurn on January 24, 2013 at 2:02 PM
4 percent shifted from “liberal” to “middle of the road.”
Meanwhile, the definition of “middle of the road” shifted 4 miles to the left.
steebo77 on January 24, 2013 at 2:04 PM
Colleges are communist indoctrination camps. College To World Translation
Liberal = Communist
Middle of the Road = Socialist
Conservative = Liberal
sauldalinsky on January 24, 2013 at 2:08 PM
Totally meaningless. What does “middle of the road” even mean? By definition it would mean vastly different things to different people. Plus there’s the emotional aspect. They may be 100% liberal but want to sound “reasonable” so they say they are “in the middle.”
Garbage poll.
Warner Todd Huston on January 24, 2013 at 2:11 PM
Perhaps more people are taking math classes these days.
Mr. D on January 24, 2013 at 2:16 PM
Any survey with self-identification is useless. Obama considers himself a “moderate”.
ButterflyDragon on January 24, 2013 at 2:17 PM
Any person who is not retired and has not paid taxes in two years shall not be able to vote… This way we can remove from the electorate 80% of the college students and 100% of the parasites… Imagine if we have such a law…
mnjg on January 24, 2013 at 2:43 PM
It should be easy to convince any college kid who wants to be better off 5-10 years from now to support freedom, individualism, and the free market. It should be easy to convince any college kid who doesn’t want to work his entire life carrying the enormous burden of paying into a Medicare and SS system that he will not benefit from that personal and free market solutions are the answer. But the Republicans cannot or will not do it. Is it gross incompetence or malfeasance? Because it’s one of the two.
besser tot als rot on January 24, 2013 at 3:14 PM
Are you sure he doesn’t consider himself a conservative?
besser tot als rot on January 24, 2013 at 3:14 PM
Generation shiny isn’t shifting to the center, this is just their way of claiming the center has shifted leftward towards them.
Daemonocracy on January 24, 2013 at 3:22 PM
They are soooo precious and special.
trs on January 24, 2013 at 3:27 PM