November 6, 2017 10:57AM # 20% of College Students Say College Faculty Has Balanced Mix of Political Views By [Emily Ekins](https://www.cato.org/people/emily-ekins) --- SHARE ![Media Name: 62_campusclimate1_b.jpg](/sites/cato.org/files/styles/pubs_2x/public/images/free-speech-survey/overview/free-speech-suvery-overview-12.jpg?itok=MZfef69x) The [Cato 2017 Free Speech and Tolerance Survey](https://www.cato.org/survey-reports/state-free-speech-tolerance-america) finds only 20% of current college and graduate students believe their college or university faculty has a balanced mix of political views. A plurality (39%) say most college and university professors are liberal, 27% believe most are politically moderate, and 12% believe most are conservative. **College Democrats Less Likely Than Republicans to Think Faculty Is Liberal** Democratic and Republican students see their college campuses very differently. A majority (59%) of Republican college students believe that most faculty members are liberal. In contrast, only 35% of Democratic college students agree most professors are liberal. Democratic students are also about twice as likely as Republican students to think their professors are moderate (32% vs. 16%) or conservative (14% vs. 9%). *[Full survey results and report found here.](https://www.cato.org/survey-reports/state-free-speech-tolerance-america)* ![Media Name: 63_campusclimate2_b.jpg](/sites/cato.org/files/styles/pubs_2x/public/images/free-speech-survey/report/free-speech-survey-report-main-63.jpg?itok=a0ypXDz2) College Students Agree Student Body is Liberal Current students believe that most of their campus’ student body is liberal. Fifty-percent (50%) believe that most students at their college or university are liberal, 21% believe most are moderate, 8% believe most are conservative, and 19% believe there is a balanced mix of political views. Democratic and Republican students largely agree on the ideological composition of their campus student body. **Consequences of Campus Political Climate** These perceptions of ideological homogeneity on college campuses may explain why 72% of Republican college students say the political climate prevents them from saying things they believe because others might find them offensive. About a quarter (26%) of Republican college students feel they can share their political views. ![Media Name: chart3_campusclimate_copy.jpg](/sites/cato.org/files/styles/pubs_2x/public/social-images/chart3_campusclimate_copy.jpg?itok=lLXmeDqH) Far fewer Democratic college students feel they can’t share their beliefs. College Democrats (51%) are 21 points less likely than Republican students (72%) to feel they can’t share their views. Nevertheless over half of Democratic students also feel the need to self-censor. Interestingly, college students who identify as independents (70%) are about as likely as Republicans (72%) to say they feel uncomfortable sharing their opinions as well. Only current students who identify as “very liberal” do not feel the need to self-censor (74%). However, liberal college students (55%) instead feel that they have to hide some of their political views, as well as 69% of moderates, 71% of conservatives, and 83% of strongly conservative students. In sum, there is a widespread perception that most faculty and students at American colleges and universities are liberal. But it’s not just perception. Empirical studies of faculty ideology confirm what most students observe. Surveys [conducted](https://jhupbooks.press.jhu.edu/content/professors-and-their-politics) by sociologist Neil Gross and [others](https://heterodoxacademy.org/problems/) find that, indeed, most of the professoriate is liberal. Sam Abrams at Het​ero​dox​a​cad​e​my​.org [summarizes](https://heterodoxacademy.org/problems/) some of this data to show that as of 2014 about 12% of professors are conservative while about 60% are liberal. Further, the Cato Free Speech and Tolerance Survey finds that nearly half (46%) of current college and graduate students identify as Democrats or independents who lean Democratic. About a quarter identify as Republican (27%). These results matter because if universities become political echo chambers, it could lead to the exclusion of non-conforming political views, self-censorship, and less rigorous academic inquiry. Without a free exchange of ideas, there may be [less thorough checking of academic work and the quality of research may decline](https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/behavioral-and-brain-sciences/article/political-diversity-will-improve-social-psychological-science1/A54AD4878AED1AFC8BA6AF54A890149F). By extension, the public may lose confidence in the process of academic inquiry and become skeptical of its results. *[Full survey results and report found here.](https://www.cato.org/survey-reports/state-free-speech-tolerance-america)* div*[Sign up here to receive forthcoming Cato Institute](https://www.cato.org/project-public-opinion)[ survey reports](https://www.cato.org/project-public-opinion).* *The Cato Institute 2017 Free Speech and Tolerance Survey was designed and conducted by the Cato Institute in collaboration with YouGov. YouGov collected responses online August 15–23, 2017 from a national sample of 2,300 Americans 18 years of age and older. The margin of error for the survey is +/- 3.00 percentage points at the 95% level of confidence.* ##### Related Tags [Constitutional Law](https://www.cato.org/constitutional-law), [Education](https://www.cato.org/education), [Government and Politics](https://www.cato.org/government-politics), [Center for Educational Freedom](https://www.cato.org/center-educational-freedom), [Robert A. Levy Center for Constitutional Studies](https://www.cato.org/robert-levy-center-constitutional-studies), [Center for Representative Government](https://www.cato.org/center-representative-government), [Public Opinion](https://www.cato.org/public-opinion) [![Creative Commons License](/build/cato_2020/images/creative-commons.svg)](http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/) This work is licensed under a [Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/).