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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