Voting Behavior Among College Students

College student voting behavior, as seen in the 2008 national election, is the topic of the latest HERI Brief Report . Although well-known that four-year college students vote at a higher rate than youth in general in the United States, using data from the Your First College Year Survey and the College Senior Survey we were able to uncover some interesting patterns among first-year students and seniors in the 2008-2009 academic year.

Seniors were slightly more likely to vote than first-year students, a difference of about six percentage points (75.3% versus 81.4%). In addition, students from more selective schools were more likely to vote. Liberal students were more likely to vote than conservative students, and both were more likely to vote than students who described their political orientation as middle-of-the-road.

There were high voting rates by students of all racial/ethnic backgrounds. Not surprisingly, given that the 2008 Presidential Election featured the first black candidate to fill a major party slot for President, Black students voted at a very high level, at 85.6%. Asian students were least likely to vote, possibly due to the fact that there was a higher proportion of middle-of-the-road students who identified as Asian.

Students who voted also were more likely to score highly on social agency, a measure on the CIRP surveys that portrays the extent to which students value political and social involvement as a personal goal, and on civic awareness.

As we head into what will likely be a lower turnout in the national election of 2010 HERI will monitor how any of these patterns change with a keen eye towards how colleges and universities act to support and encourage participation in the democratic process.