This is how fast the kids are changing, and by “kids,” I mean “new voters replacing old bigots at the polls”:
First-year college students are more socially liberal than their predecessors on issues such as same- sex marriage and public education for undocumented students, according to an annual survey released today.
More than 71 percent of respondents who were freshmen in 2011 indicated same-sex couples should be able to marry, up from 64.9 percent two years earlier, according to the survey by the Higher Education Research Institute at the University of California, Los Angeles.
The survey, which began measuring student opinions and concerns in 1966, also found more students supporting abortion rights, with almost 61 percent saying abortion should be legal. Forty-three percent opposed denying undocumented students access to public higher education, down from 47.2 percent two years earlier.
Good news on all fronts, right there.
Tags: abortion, college, equality, marriage equality, young voters18 Comments »
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What about those in that demographic who are not college-bound (the majority). Where do they stand? Because that’s where the rubber hits the road.
Comment by Michael — January 26, 2012 @ 5:09 pm
Uh oh The Ruth Institute’s jennifer Roback Morse is gonna shit a brick.
Comment by emma — January 26, 2012 @ 6:02 pm
Interesting survey but the analysis doesn’t factor in the element that students and have always moved to the right as they age and enter adulthood. So the liberal attitude may unfortunately be a product of their age and circumstance
Comment by Pelumi — January 26, 2012 @ 6:30 pm
People getting more conservative as they age is a myth Pelumi.
Comment by RainbowPhoenix — January 26, 2012 @ 6:31 pm
@Rainbow: yep.
Especially on social issues. What Pelumi said is something that Reaganite baby boomers tell themselves b/c it makes them feel better about what societal outliers they really are.
Comment by Evan Hurst — January 26, 2012 @ 6:42 pm
This is unfortunate. I had initially assumed that this was only among UCLA students, as it did not state so explicitly, but I was incorrect after looking at the data sets they provided through their site.
Specifically this one:
http://heri.ucla.edu/researchers/parthist/TFS.Participation.History.pdf
I wish they had national data maps available, at least pinpointing the colleges surveyed for each year. I don’t believe they do. The link provided shows the 200 some odd colleges that took the survey (or didn’t) since 1966. I know they probably had a particular rationale (Amount of Northern colleges included versus Southern colleges) in order to make it fair.
I also found it interesting that the number of people who found it important to develop a meaningful philosophy for life has decreased roughly 40% since 1966 while support for gay marriage has grown. (slide 34 of the summary info)
There was a great G.K. Chesterton quote that went along the line, “When people stop believing in God, they don’t believe in nothing — they believe in anything.” I guess people are believing in anything these days.
That survery (summary slides) can be downloaded here, click cancel on the password, you don’t actually need one:
http://heri.ucla.edu/pr-display.php?prQry=1
Anyway, I wish the data was a little bit more collected and concise, but there’s still a lot of it.
I’m done having my math nerd moment. I looked through those slides waaay too long.
Comment by Richard — January 26, 2012 @ 6:45 pm
Why is this unfortunate Richard?
Comment by RainbowPhoenix — January 26, 2012 @ 6:54 pm
@RainbowPhoenix,
1.)There are many reasons this is unfortunate, and I’m sure you’ve read about them. Therefore, this explanation would be a subsequently long one, and I’m not in any way prepared to do full blown apologetics on the subject via internet comment.
And humorously
2.)I found a brand new time waster in trying to read through and regroup the numbers into different data sets, which would be interesting and a lot of fun for someone who knows very little about statistical analysis. But seriously, I’ll return to that site.
Comment by Richard — January 26, 2012 @ 11:17 pm
The only reasons I’ve ever heard is whining from bigots about not being able to hurt people whenever they want anymore.
Comment by RainbowPhoenix — January 26, 2012 @ 11:19 pm
That’s nice,
My idea on the subject, at least pertaining to this demographic, is as I cited before:
-The importance of life-meaning having decreased by 40% over the last 50 years, From roughly 85% of respondents valuing meaning in 1966 down to roughly 45% of respondents by the 2000s.
-In addition, 25% identified as atheists (only 17% of their parents actually were)and there was at least 52% reporting a Chrisitian denomination. At least denominations that I am relatively sure oppose gay marriage. That percentage may have a little wiggle room.
click TFS at the top in red. More data.
(http://www.heri.ucla.edu/dsdownloads_reports.php)
I very clearly oppose gay marriage, but I am also appalled at the lack of purpose and the participant’s lack of willingness to actually stand up for their claimed principles. If anything, the sense of collective apathy scares me more than anything else. I mean, people I know are more concerned about the whole SOPA/PIPA bs than they are about the massive assault against religious freedom.
And if you have anything other than the “shaming game” or recycled soundbites about this vaguely defined bigotry, I would sincerely like to hear your thoughts.
Comment by Richard — January 27, 2012 @ 12:26 am
Oh, and sorry. For anyone interested, the slide number is 84 for the religion slide. I accidentally left it out. Like I said, I’m not sure whether the 52% I figured is spot on.
Comment by Richard — January 27, 2012 @ 12:30 am
So in other words I was spot on. There’s nothing “ill-defined” about the bigotry of trying to legalize discrimination against a group of people and whining because they won’t let their lives be dictated by a religion they don’t even belong to. If you feel you’re being shamed, it’s only because you know your bigotry is shameful. Now unless, you’re willing think about the harm your ideology has caused, save your whining about people not letting you bully them for your fellow child-murdering bigots.
Comment by RainbowPhoenix — January 27, 2012 @ 12:32 am
What could be possibly bad about a giant increase in the number of students identifying as atheist?
What? Are we envisioning with terror a world where people don’t incinerate each other in the name of god belief?
Oh, quelle horreur, indeed.
Comment by evan hurst — January 27, 2012 @ 3:17 am
@Richard, did you see that new funny, peer-reviewed, but still funny study which shows that social conservatism is DIRECTLY linked to innate stupidity?
It’s not the first study of its kind to find a similar result, but it’s still funny!
Comment by evan hurst — January 27, 2012 @ 3:19 am
“I mean, people I know are more concerned about the whole SOPA/PIPA bs than they are about the massive assault against religious freedom.”
Maybe that’s because the impact of SOPA/PIPA has definite, concrete ramifications while the whole ‘assault against religious freedom’ has been proven to be a LIE over and over again and people are waking up to it?
Spare us your sophistry Richard.
Comment by Ozymandias71 — January 27, 2012 @ 9:15 am
Pelumi said “Interesting survey but the analysis doesn’t factor in the element that students and have always moved to the right as they age and enter adulthood.”.
I’ve heard that theory several times but have never seen any study or evidence that supports it.
Comment by Priya Lynn — January 27, 2012 @ 11:22 am
Assault on religious freedom– horrid.
Also a myth.
Assault on everyone’s freedom in the name of religion?– demonstrable.
Comment by Ben in Oakland — January 27, 2012 @ 12:00 pm
‘…study which shows that social conservatism is DIRECTLY linked to innate stupidity?’ — something which has been obvious to me since I was in college. (the 70s).
Comment by Gary (NJ) — January 28, 2012 @ 11:11 am