If Harvard's graduating class was the Senate, it'd have a filibuster-proof progressive majority: poll
The class of 2022 ended its time at Harvard with 68.6% of its cohort identifying as either 'progressive' or 'very progressive.'
During college, the number of conservatives in the class of 2022 declined by 33%.
According to a Harvard Crimson poll of the Ivy League university’s class of 2022, only 6.4% identify as conservative.
When this year’s graduating class entered Harvard, 9.5% of that cohort identified as “conservative” and “very conservative.” That means that during college, the number of conservatives in the class of 2022 declined by 33%.
During that same four-year time period, the number of students who identified as “very progressive” increased from 20.9% to 27.9% of the graduating class. That is a rise of 33%.
The class of 2022 ended its time at Harvard with 68.6% of its cohort identifying as either “progressive” or “very progressive.”
If that cohort was the United States Senate, it would have a filibuster-proof progressive majority.
Only three-fifths of senators, or 60 out of 100, are required to block a filibuster.
Harvard student Ava Swanson told Campus Reform that conservative students on a liberal campus either become more firm in their beliefs or “buck under the pressure.”
”I’ve had friends tell me that no one is conservative that they could be friends with,” she said.
According to the study, most students stated that over half of the students reported they share their political views with their friends.
Harvard is not alone in this trend.
Young America’s Foundation recently released a poll determining the political leanings of the top 100 American universities’ commencement speakers. Only three were conservative.
Swanson explained to Campus Reform how she manages on a largely liberal campus.
“I definitely think that coming on campus you can find a conservative community if you know where to look,” she said. “[I]t’s a small kind of tighter-knit community because people will treat you differently to an extent.”
Campus Reform’s Campus Profile of Harvard found that 67% of its political student organizations were liberal and that 98.73% of employee donations went to federal Democratic candidates during the 2020 cycle.
Campus Reform reached out to Harvard University for comment. This story will be updated accordingly.
Follow @kliseanderson on Twitter.
