Political interest among college freshmen has hit a 40-year high in 2008, according to a nationwide survey administered annually by the Higher Education Research Institute at UCLA.
UCLA students may recall completing the survey during their freshmen orientation, said Linda DeAngelo, co-author of the report and assistant director for research for the Cooperative Institutional Research Program, the branch responsible for collecting and assembling survey data.
The survey is administered to incoming students at four-year colleges across the country and covers a wide range of political issues, she added.
A higher number of incoming freshmen were interested in politics in 2008 than in recent election years, DeAngelo said.
The survey also found that students are shifting left in their political beliefs.
The percentage of students identifying themselves as liberal in 2008 was the highest in 35 years, according to the survey.
An increased number of students were also in support of liberal causes such as gay-marriage rights and increased taxes for the wealthy in 2008, DeAngelo said.
Lynn Vavreck, a professor of political science at UCLA, said she found the results of the survey to be highly reflective of the nation’s current political state.
Increased political interest and a shift toward more liberal views are probably occurring across age groups in 2008, she said.
This could be due to the country’s declining economic situation, Vavreck said.
“The economy is a huge part of why people think we need change,” she said.
Vavreck also cited an “exciting election” as one of the reasons for these developments, particularly among young people. “Obama is young. He might appeal to people in a way that older candidates don’t,” she said.
DeAngelo said that the events of 9/11 could be another reason for increased political interest among young people, as this event changed the way many of them think about politics.
According to survey results, the number of students interested in keeping up-to-date on political affairs has been increasing since the 2001 attacks, after reaching a record low in 2000.
“It was a defining moment in this generation of students,” DeAngelo said.
Political interest among freshmen was even higher in 2008 than in 1968, despite the common view of the 1960s as the pinnacle of student involvement in politics, DeAngelo added.
Political involvement on college campuses was “more visible” during the 1960s than it is today, but this does not mean that students today are less involved, DeAngelo said.
“Just because the campus is quiet doesn’t mean students are not engaged,” she added.
DeAngelo said that this is part of the reason the freshmen survey is so important to universities like UCLA.
By analyzing the information provided by the survey, institutions can understand what areas of politics students are interested in and how to provide them with outlets for this interest, she said.
“The better you understand your students, the more you can provide them with what they need,” she said.