College freshmen are increasingly liberal and less religious, survey shows

Many say that college is a formative four years in a student’s life, a place that will shape their ideas, thoughts, and views of the world. But today it seems that college freshmen are already jumping into their next four years with a pretty clear idea of where they stand politically and socially.

According to the study held by UCLA researchers, college freshmen today are more liberal, less religious and increasingly active in civic involvement and political activism than students before them.

According to The Los Angeles Times,  more than 141,000 freshman students were interviewed from 29 public and private California campuses, including UCLA, USC and UC San Diego. The students were interviewed about their political views and their stances on several issues.

For example, despite the fact that young people still have the lowest voting rates out of any age group, nearly 60% of freshmen surveyed said that they expect to vote sometime during their college years.

A majority of those surveyed support same-sex marriage, abortion rights, affirmative action, legalization of marijuana and equal pay for women.

A plausible explanation for increased liberal views stems from recent events such as the increasing wave of protests against police shootings of African American men and student demonstrations against campus treatment of minorities at several colleges.

Kevin Eagan, director of UCLA’s cooperative institutional research program, believes that the increasing involvement of American freshmen in the political discourse of this nation can perhaps serve as a catalyst for real change.

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