Over 750 UCLA staff, students and faculty were questioned upon
leaving their voting locations in a Daily Bruin exit poll taken
systematically during Tuesday’s election.
The results, with a 3 percent margin of error, showed
overwhelming support for presidential candidate Sen. John Kerry
from those affiliated with the campus, with about 82 percent of
those polled voting for the Democratic nominee.
A mere 16 percent of people polled reported casting their ballot
for President Bush.
This strongly Democrat affiliation is to be expected in a
liberal university in a large city in California, said Percy
Hintzen, associate professor of political sociology at the
University of California, Berkeley.
“What happens at UCLA … is an exaggerated result of the
rest of California,” which is a very liberal state, Hintzen
said.
Similar exit polls taken at UC Berkeley and UC San Diego
reported students voting 85 and 75 percent for Kerry,
respectively.
Nine percent of Berkeley students voted for Bush, as did 25
percent of students at UCSD.
While Kerry did carry California, the percentage of votes he
collected at UCLA is a much higher number than that given by the
rest of the state.
Kerry garnered a little over 50 percent of the overall vote in
California with 49 percent of the precincts reporting, according to
the Los Angeles.
The voting tendencies of those affiliated with UCLA are
“probably a little more liberal and progressive than the
population at large,” Hintzen said.
He attributed the extreme numbers of votes for Kerry to UCLA
being a “(liberal institution) in a liberal environment with
a liberal faculty, and as a result of that the tendency is to
become more liberal rather than move in a conservative
direction.”
The voting trends seen at UCLA are “overly so a
reflection” of the rest of California, Hintzen said.
Other experts brought up different reasons for the overwhelming
liberal vote shown by UCLA.
“The academic community is very liberal … giving your
life to studying society opens you to a pretty complicated world
view,” said Joyce Appleby, history professor emeritus.
In such an academic community, regardless of the political
leanings of students, being adequately informed to vote proved to
be an important aspect of the political process for students.
Eighty percent of all UCLA students who voted reported feeling
sufficiently informed to do so, and about 70 percent of those
polled said they knew who they were voting for before the
presidential debates even began in the beginning of October.
About 3.5 percent of students polled voted outside of their
party identification.
The poll was conducted outside of six different voting locations
around campus throughout the day.
Every fifth voter to exit each polling location was asked five
questions on their affiliation to UCLA, their political party
identification, which candidate they chose for president, how
recently they finalized their choice for president, and whether or
not they felt sufficiently informed to vote.
Poll takers also noted the sex of the respondent.
Only people who were UCLA students, faculty or staff were
polled, and absentee voters dropping off their ballots were not
counted.
The number of students lined up to vote early Tuesday morning
was unprecedented, said Richard Patracelli, field representative
for the Los Angeles Department of the Registrar-Recorder/County
Clerk.
“I’ve never seen anything like this, and I’ve
been doing this for 18 years,” Patracelli said.
The large student turnout can be attributed to the mobilization
of the popular entertainment industry, which has made it “hip
to vote”, Hintzen said.
“This is my first time voting,” said Jordan Parker,
a second-year philosophy student.
“Even though we’re not a decisive state, it’s
still good to come out and vote.”