Majority of University community states support for Obama, according to poll

a poll recently conducted by Nassau Research

The poll, which invited 1,000 randomly selected undergraduates to complete an online survey, was conducted from Oct. 20 to Oct. 27 with 446 respondents. It has a 4.9 percent margin of error with 95 percent statistical confidence, according to Nassau Research analysis.

Nassau Research conducts polls with approval from the Institutional Review Board and Dean of the College Nancy Malkiel.

According to the poll, 79.3 percent of those polled supported Obama, while only 15.6 percent supported McCain.

Of those polled, 87.2 percent were registered to vote, and 3.4 percent were eligible to vote but not registered. Another 9.2 percent were not registered to vote because they are not U.S. citizens.

Moreover, 58.6 percent affiliated themselves with the Democratic Party, 14.9 percent affiliated themselves with the Republican Party, and 22.9 percent identified as independents.

Of the self-identified independent voters, 77.6 percent preferred Obama, and 10.6 percent favored McCain.

While only 0.5 percent of self-identified Democrats responded that they preferred McCain, 12.5 percent of self-identified Republicans said they favored Obama.

“The proportion of students who plan to vote for the Democratic candidate is quite high. Like at most universities, there is a liberal bent,” Christine Emba ’10, Nassau Research president, said. Emba is also a member of The Daily Princetonian editorial board.

“Senator Obama has repeatedly displayed judgment and character over the course of this election, qualities that even those who traditionally align with Republican political values can respect and respond to,” College Democrats president Rob Weiss ’09 said in an e-mail.

Though the majority of students polled showed support for Obama, the College Republicans saw an increase in membership this fall, College Republicans president Andrew Malcolm ’09 said in an e-mail. “I have had many students who did not consider themselves Republicans approach me to express their support for McCain,” he said.

Different priorities

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Nassau Research also found that the two candidates draw support from students who emphasized different key issues.

“One of the more interesting things was that, depending on whom students were voting for, they differed in the issues they identified as most important,” Emba said. “McCain and Obama supporters didn’t just prefer different candidates, they cared about widely different issues.”

While supporters of both candidates identified “The Economy and Jobs” as their most important concern, the similarities end there.

Only 2 percent of Obama supporters identified taxes as the most important issue, while 20 percent of McCain supporters did. “Taxes” was the second most popular choice for most important issue to McCain voters polled.

There were also disparities found in the respondents’ prioritization of issues such as “Abortion,” “The Environment and Global Warming” and “Improving America’s Standing in the World.”

“I’m disappointed that more students don’t view taxes as an important issue,” Malcolm said. “Senator Obama’s economic plan consists of raising taxes and erecting trade barriers. Obama’s plan to raise taxes will cripple many businesses and reduce the number of jobs in this country.”

He added that students should be concerned. “This will not only have a detrimental effect on the country, but also on Princeton students entering the job market,” he said.

Weiss said that though “McCain has made the [idea] that ‘Democrats raise taxes, [Republicans] lower them’ the center of his campaign,” such a claim is “fiction.”

“Taxes [were] the only coherent element left to the Republican platform,” he said. “It’s always been the go-to issue when they’re losing an election — call the other guy a tax-raising redistributionist.”

A new organization

In this survey about the election, Nassau Research worked with the University’s Survey Research Center to design the survey and received help from politics professor Martin Gilens, who specializes in public opinion and survey methods, and Aaron Strauss, a politics graduate student.

“It seemed like a worthwhile contribution to the University, and it relates to my specialization in service analysis and public opinion,” Gilens said.

“The organization’s overall purpose is to make data available to student journalists, student government members, campus leaders, and administrators, which may aid in decision-making and strategic planning,” Emba said.