POLL: 37% of Democrats in college refuse to be friends with a GOP voter
A new poll shows that college Democrats are far more likely than Republican to refuse to date, work for, or even be friends with someone across the aisle.
37 percent of Democrats said they would not be friends with someone who votes the other way, compared to 5 percent of Republicans.
New polling from Axios and Generation Lab shows that Democrat college students are far more likely than their Republican classmates to refuse to date, work for, or even be friends with someone who voted for the other party’s presidential candidate.
71 percent of Democrats in college said they would not go on a date with someone who voted for the GOP presidential candidate. 41 percent would not shop at a business owned by the same. 37 percent would not be friends with someone who voted for that candidate, and 30 percent would not work for that person.
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Republicans in college were far more tolerant of those with differing views. Though 31 percent said they would not go on a date with someone who voted for the opposing presidential candidate, only 7 percent said they would not work for or support a business owned by the same. 5 percent of Republicans in college said they would not be friends with someone who voted for the Democratic presidential ticket.
The survey shows that, when it comes to dating, Independents are slightly more open-minded than Republicans. 71 percent of Independents said they would “definitely” or “probably” date across the aisle, compared to 69 percent of Republicans. Only 29 percent of Democrats said the same.
Women are less willing to date across the aisle than men. 67 percent of men say they would “definitely” or “probably” go on a date with someone who voted for the opposing presidential candidate, compared to only 41 percent of women.
The biases extend to employer relationships and friendships as well. Democrats surveyed were more than 7 times as likely as their Republican peers to refuse to be friends with someone who voted for the other party’s presidential candidate. Additionally, were more than three times as likely that Republicans to say they would refuse to work for an opposing voter.
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Older generations of Democrats have expressed concern about the intolerance of the party’s young adults. In October, Politico noted that “the highly-educated young liberals who serve as the standard-bearers of the party’s platform are leading Democrats down a path toward political obscurity.”
The existing “quad-to-campaign pipelines” could present “a real political risk for Democrats” because colleges are creating a new generation of Democratic staffers who are significantly more liberal than the average voter.
The College Democrats of America, a national organization that oversees College Democrats chapters on campuses, has also been plagued by infighting.
Politico reports that accusations of anti-Semitism and Islamophobia among its ranks led the Democratic National Committee to consider possibly disassociating from the collegiate group altogether.
Follow the author of this article on Twitter: @AngelaLMorabito
