ONE HUNDRED AND THIRTY YEARS OF EDITORIAL FREEDOM

ANN ARBOR, MI | WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 28, 2020 | MICHIGANDAILY.COM

How are UMich

students voting

this election?

The Michigan Daily conducted an

anonymous survey of more than 1,900

students to understand the political

leanings of the student body at the

University of Michigan and what issues

are most important to them.

The following data was collected

from Oct. 16 to Oct. 21. All questions

were
optional
and
no
personal

information about the participants was

stored. Results show 96.4% of student

respondents said they are planning to

vote, with 45.2% being first time voters.

Where are students located this

semester?

With more than 78% of classes being

held online prior to the announcement

of the stay-in-place order last week,

85.8% of respondents said they are

located in Ann Arbor this semester.

Respondents also broke down to 60.7%

in-state students, 37.9% out-of-state

and 1.5% international students.

Where are students registered to

vote?

Majority of students are registered

to vote in the state of Michigan, with

33.3% registered to vote in Ann Arbor

and 47
.7% registered in another

Michigan district. Of the respondents,

15.7% were registered in another state,

0.6% were not registered to vote and

2.8% were not eligible to vote in this

election.

How are students planning on

voting?

Of the students surveyed, 54.1% said

they have already voted early. Out of

those students, 40.4% voted through

mail-in absentee ballots, 10.9% voted

at either the University of Michigan

Museum of Art or Ann Arbor Station

5 and 2.8% voted absentee at the Ann

Arbor city clerk’s main office.

The
UMMA
satellite
location

opened last month, and as of Oct. 13

more than 3,000 students have voted

there, 2,600 of which also registering

to vote.

Furthermore, 31.6% plan to vote

absentee. Only 14.4% said they plan to

vote in-person at the polls on election

day.

What is the political leaning of

students?

The survey showed that 42.8%

of student respondents identified as

very liberal, about 33% who said they

identified as ‘somewhat liberal,’ 7
.7%

said they were somewhat conservative

and only 3.8% as very conservative.

About 12.8% of respondents identified

as moderate.

Who are students planning to

vote for?

Of the 1,846 responses to this

question, 84.5% of respondents said

they will vote for Joe Biden and 10.1%

for Donald Trump.

How enthusiastic are students

about voting?

About 25% of respondents said they

are very enthusiastic about voting,

while 39.3% are somewhat enthusiastic.

About 14% were neutral, and the rest

were either somewhat unenthusiastic

or very enthusiastic.

What
issue
is
the
MOST

important to students this election?

Environmental and racial justice

issues were voted as the top election

concerns by survey respondents, with

both around 24%.

LSA junior Luke Dillingham has

been a member of the Climate Action

Movement on campus since freshman

year. He said voting is just the minimum

action students should take to get

involved with climate change policy.

“These issues don’t end with just

the election,” Dillingham said. “It’s not

a productive conversation to say that

people should just vote and that it’s

the only strategy to produce change.

You have to pressure these people to

stand up for the right thing, regardless

of which party they’re from. It’s just

that this is easier to do when they

(politicians) are from a certain party.”

Dillingham
also
said
local

elections are important in creating

change, especially when most of the

government is not very representative.

He mentioned A2Zero, the City of

Ann Arbor’s initiative to go completely

carbon neutral by 2030.

“Cities also have ways to do really

impactful work on a smaller scale,”

Dillingham said. “So, for example, the

A2Zero plan is very promising. And

that is sort of a demonstration of some

of the importance of local politics.”

LSA senior Sarah Jeng said racial

justice issues have been at the top of her

mind throughout this election season,

adding it is important for voters to be

thinking about these matters while

casting their ballots. She said it may be

harder for majority communities to see

racial inequality issues in America since

they are not directly impacted by them.

“In the past few years, I think there’s

been this whole idea that racism maybe

hasn’t ended completely, but it’s gotten

a lot better,” Jeng said. “I feel like under

the surface, there’s still a lot going

on, it’s just being called something

different. Racism adapts and evolves

with the times, and just because it

doesn’t necessarily look how it looked

40 years ago, that doesn’t mean it’s

completely disappeared.”

Jeng said she has watched all of the

debates. She recalled a specific moment

during the vice presidential debate

in which Vice President Mike Pence

said he did not believe implicit biases

existed.

“I think that’s really harmful when

you’re talking about race,” Jeng said.

“Everyone has implicit biases, and

that automatically impacts people and

communities of color.”

What other issues were important

to students in this election?

Other top priorities included health

care (16.2%) and the economy (13.8%).

Business sophomore Prisha Grover

said immigration policy and how

refugees are treated is an issue that she

keeps in mind while voting. She also

said voting gives you access to help

those who do not have a say in this

election.

“Immigration is very important

to me so policies like how we house

people who are refugees who are trying

to immigrate to different countries for a

better life (are important),” Grover said.

“Sometimes when you’re voting, you’re

voting for those who don’t have the

right to vote, whether it is international

students or those who aren’t legal

citizens.”

LSA
freshman
Nick
Martens

interned for a Michigan District 6

House congressional race the past

summer. He said he is concerned about

LGBTQ+ rights and income inequality.

“As a gay person, I think it’s really

important that we have a president

who doesn’t just say he’s pro-LGBT but

actually works towards policies that

are dismantling systemic oppression

rather than nominating supreme court

justices that want to ruin my life,”

Martens said. “In terms of income

inequality, Republican ideology of tax

cuts equals economic growth, I think

has really hurt American workers over

the last 40 years, and they still keep

doing it to us.”

How would students rate the

Trump administration’s handling of

the COVID-19 pandemic?

The survey indicated 76.6% of

student respondents said the Trump

administration’s
response
to
the

pandemic has been very bad, with

another 10% saying it was somewhat

bad. Around 5% said it was neutral,

with another 5% saying it was

somewhat good. Just 2.7% said it was

very good.

How
will
the
Trump

administration’s handling of the

COVID-19 pandemic influence the

student vote?

A majority of students (51.5%) said

it is very likely that the response to the

COVID-19 pandemic will influence

their vote with another 18.6% saying it

was somewhat likely.

Martens
doesn’t
believe
that

Trump’s handling of the pandemic will

influence the vote since there are not

very many swing voters.

“I mean, I’m sure there are some

people that are actual swing voters

but, in general, just not super common

among college students,” Martens said.

“I don’t know if (the pandemic) shifted

a lot of people from voting for Trump

to not voting for Trump.”

How
will
out-of-state
and

international student voting in

Michigan affect the election?

Of the 751 student respondents

who are out of state or international

students, 428 are registered to vote

in Ann Arbor or another Michigan

district. 378 out of these 428 said they

are voting or planning on voting for

Biden, which amounts to 88%.

Daily Staff Reporters Sarah Payne

and Varsha Vedapudi can be reached at

paynesm@umich.edu and varshakv@

umich.edu.

Varsha VEDAPUDI & SARAH PAYNE | Daily Staff Reporters

SURVEY DATA

BIDEN: 84.8%
TRUMP: 10.1%
OTHER: 5.1%

IF YOU ARE
PLANNING TO
VOTE, WHO DO
YOU PLAN TO
VOTE FOR?

VERY LIBERAL: 42.8%
SOMEWHAT
LIBERAL: 32.9%
MODERATE: 12.8%
SOMEWHAT
CONSERV
ATIVE: 7.75%

VERY
CONSERV
ATIVE: 3.75%

WHAT IS YOUR
POLITICAL
LEANING?

ALEX COTIGNOLA, ERIC LAU, WEN SI / DAIL
Y

1,843
responses
1,885
responses

SCAN WITH YOUR PHONE TO

SEE FULL DATA ANAL
YSIS

SCAN CODE

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INDEX
Vol. CXXX, No.
©2020 The Michigan Daily

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