APSA - American Political Science Association

Election Year Interest in Politics Marks Record Low

Election Year Interest in Politics Marks Record Low Results from the Annual CIRP Survey of Entering College Freshmen

The annual CIRP survey of entering college freshmen reports a decrease and record low in interest in politics among the 2000 class of entering college freshmen. "Although the 2000 results reflect a long-term decline in students' political interest, this year is significant since freshman interest in politics traditionally increases during a presidential election year," said Linda Sax, Director of Cooperative Institutional Research Program (CIRP) which conducts the survey. The results of this survey were released in late January 2001 by the Higher Education Research Institute(HERI) at UCLA's Graduate School of Education & Information Studies.

	Total	Men	Women
Objectives considered essential or very important
influncing the political structure:	17.6%	20.4	15.3
keeping up to date with political affairs:	28.1%	31.8	25.1

The study found that only 28.1 percent of freshmen were inclined to keep up to date with political affairs, a decline from the record low in 1999 of 28.6 percent and the record high in 1966 of 60.3 percent. The survey also shows a record low (16.4 percent) of freshmen discuss politics frequently, relative to the 16.9 percent in 1999 and a high of 33.6 percent in 1968.

	Total	Men	Women
Activities in the past year
participated in organized demonstrations:	45.4%	43.4	47.0
discussed politics frequently:	16.4%	19.9	13.6

The survey also indicates the fourth consecutive increase in the percent of students identifying as "liberal" or "far left," which rose from 26.0 percent in 1999 to 27.7 percent in 2000. Fewer students identify as "middle of the road" (51.9 percent, compared to 53.4 percent in 1999). The percent of students who consider themselves"conservative" or "far right" in political orientation remained fairly steady between 1999 and 2000; however, this percentage has generally decreased over the past four years and currently stands at 20.3 percent.

10% of today's freshmen say they plan to choose a major in the social sciences. Here's the breakdown of that percentage:

Anthropology	0.3%
Economics	0.5
Geography	0.0
Political Science	2.8
Psychology	4.8
Social work	0.8
Sociology	0.5
Other	0.3

While interest in politics continued to decline, interest in majoring in political science increased among freshmen. The percentage of students expecting to major in political science rose by 27% from 1999: from 2.2% to 2.8%. And, interest in a political science major is comparable for men (2.9%) and women(2.8%).

The 2000 CIRP survey is the 34th annual freshman survey conducted by this national research program, and is designed to provide community colleges, four-year colleges, and universities a cost-effective method of collecting comparative data on their entering students for use in institutional decision-making, research, and assessment activities. Established in 1966 by the American Council on Education, the CIRP is one of the nation's largest and oldest empirical study of higher education, involving data on 1,700 institutions and over 10 million students.

View the executive summary online at www.gseis.ucla.edu/heri/heri.html

To order copies of the report, "The American Freshman: National Norms for Fall 2000," contact Shaena Engle (engle@gseis.ucla.edu or 310.206.5951) at the UCLA Graduate School of Education & Information Studies.