Harding students demonstrated overwhelming support for Mitt Romney in an on-campus election poll recently completed by students in the political science department.
Among the 763 likely voters surveyed, Mitt Romney led President Obama 79.8 percent to 12.1 percent. In contrast to national trends, the Republican nominee drew greater support from Harding women than from men. Females favored Romney over President Obama by a margin of 83 percent to 10.5 percent, while Romney’s lead among male students was 75.6 percent to 14.1 percent.
The student body at Harding is clearly more conservative and Republican than the nation as a whole, but the level of support enjoyed by Mitt Romney at Harding is generally consistent with trends observed among Evangelical Christians in the general electorate.
In a Pew Research poll published on Oct. 8, individuals classified as Evangelical Christians also favored Romney by a large margin (76 percent to 20 percent).
The results of this year’s poll are similar to those from a previous study conducted among Harding students during the 2008 presidential campaign. That poll also indicated widespread support for the Republican nominee, with John McCain favored by a margin of 73.9 percent to 17.3 percent. Both surveys produced very large majorities for the Republican candidate, but this year’s survey indicates a significant shift in support among Harding students. Support for President Obama is more than 5 percent less than in the earlier poll while support for the Republican candidate is almost 6 percent higher. This shift in support represents a warning sign for the president, indicating a decline in his crossover appeal over the past four years.
More than 70 percent of those surveyed reported moderate or high levels of interest in the presidential campaign with more than 53 percent of those surveyed identifying the economy as the central issue in the campaign.
While Romney supporters outnumbered Obama supporters by a wide margin and Republicans outnumbered Democrats by more than a 10-1 margin (68 percent-6 percent), it is unlikely that Harding students will exert a dramatic influence over local races. Only 11 percent of those participating in the survey reported being registered to vote in White County.
Students from the political science department taking courses in parties and elections and policy analysis and applied research and the Pi Sigma Alpha honor society completed this survey of 763 likely voters among students at Harding between Sept. 26 and Oct. 15. The margin of error for the survey was +/- 3 percent.
