Study: Professors Donate to Democrats More Than Republicans 95 to 1

The Associated Press
The Associated Press

A new study has found that professors registered as Democrats outnumber Republicans by a ratio of nearly nine to one. The study adds that professors who donate to Democrat candidates outnumber those giving to Republicans by a ratio of 95 to one.

According to new statistics published in National Association of Scholars by Brooklyn College associate professor Mitchell Langbert and Heterodox Academy director of research Sean Stevens, Democrat professors greatly outnumber Republicans — especially regarding donations to political candidates.

Using a sample of 12,372 university professors, Langbert and Stevens say they have discovered that 48.4 percent of professors are registered Democrats, while 5.7 percent are registered Republicans — adding that Democrat professors outnumber Republican professors at a ratio of 8.5 to 1.

The researchers also noted that “partisan affiliation is the most skewed” among the nation’s highest-ranked institutions, adding that the institutions “are the most elite in each state, but they are not in all cases the most elite nationally.”

Langbert and Stevens added that the nine disciplines they sampled — Anthropology, Biology, Chemistry, Economics, English, Mathematics, Philosophy, Psychology, and Sociology — also showed a discrepancy with regards to the Democrat:Republican (D:R) ratio.

“In all nine disciplines, the D:R registration ratio favors the Democratic Party,” said the researchers, noting that “the natural sciences are the least politically homogenous.”

According to the researchers, Anthropology was found to have the largest discrepancy, with a ratio of 42.2 to 1.

The study added that region is also associated with differences in D:R registration ratio, noting that the greatest discrepancy in partisanship is among professors in the Northeast — favoring Democrats at a ratio of 15.4 to 1.

“The D:R registration ratio in the Northeast is also roughly three times the size of the D:R registration ratio in the Midwest [4.7 to 1],” said the researchers. “The South’s D:R ratio may be elevated by remnants of its traditional association with the Democratic Party.”

“The findings regarding assistant professors are also noteworthy,” the study added. “The D:R registration ratio is highest among this cohort, yet they are also more likely not to be registered to vote.”

Langbert and Stevens also analyzed political donations, noting that professors donating to Democrats outnumbers professors donating to Republicans by an overall ratio of 95 to 1.

The researchers added that among the 12,372 professors sampled, only 22 of them donated exclusively to Republicans, while 2,081 gave their money to Democrats.

“The D:R donation rate is highest in the West, not in the Northeast, while with respect to registration it is highest in the Northeast,” said the researchers in their study. “The donation ratio is also highest among associate professors while the registration ratio is highest for full professors.”

The study also mentions that when it comes to gender, the greatest discrepancy in partisan donations is among female professors.

“The D:R donation ratio among female professors is greater than among their male counterparts, and the ratios are lowest in the Midwest,” the study notes. “It is also evident that assistant professors are less engaged in party politics as measured by the smaller percentage who register and who make political contributions.”

“The D:R donation ratio and the D:R registration ratio tell a story that is broadly consistent,” conclude Langbert and Stevens in their study.

“Compared to the D:R registration ratio, the skewness in the D:R donation ratio for each discipline is more extreme than for registration,” they added. “For six of the eight or nine disciplines, the D:R donation ratio exceeds [100 to 1].”

You can follow Alana Mastrangelo on Twitter at @ARmastrangelo, and on Instagram.

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