A Liberal Shift Among the AJA Student Body

Palette Politics Survey Shows Respondents More Liberal than their Parents, AJA Democrats more Progressive than National Democrats

Matthew Minsk

For the first eighteen years of a person’s life, they typically live sheltered in their parents’ home, to some degree absorbing their ethos and outlook on life. Therefore, it is no surprise that a quarter (26%) of students said their political views “are about the same” as their parents, and another 18% say their views  are the same as one of their parents. Add the 3% of students who believe their political opinions lie between their two parents’, and we see that more than half of the students familiar enough to answer the question place themselves squarely within the political range set by their parents. 

However, it is interesting to note an overwhelming shift among those who break from their parents. An overall plurality (34%) report leaning more liberal than their parents, compared to just 8% who said they hold more conservative views. The spread within self-identifying Democrats is more drastic: 47% of AJA Democrats say they have more liberal political opinions than their parents. (5% of Democrats say they are more conservative than their parents. Among Republicans, those who split from their parents drift evenly, with 17% saying they are more liberal and 17% saying they are more conservative. As Palette staff writer Daliya Wallenstein writes, a large percentage of AJA Republicans hold the same views as their parents.)

Palette didn’t ask respondents what they believed their parents’ political views were in the abstract — just in comparison to themselves — so we don’t know if the liberal shift came from moderate Democratic students with Republican parents, or more radical kids with centrist Democratic parents. However, assuming that the makeup of parents at AJA somewhat reflects white suburbia, it is safe to say that at least some AJA students likely fit into the latter category, based on their other answers: young uber-progressives. 

“More than half of the students familiar enough to answer the question place themselves squarely within the political range set by their parents.”

Responding to questions on political typography and favorability towards political groups, AJA Democrats indicate a more progressive outlook than national Democrats. While 45% of national Democrats said in 2017 that the government is almost always wasteful and inefficient, only 11% of AJA Democrats responded the same. Similarly, 19% of national Democrats viewed the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency (ICE) favorably in a 2019 Pew Research Center poll, but not a single AJA Democrat had a positive view (44% answered neutrally or said they didn’t know enough, and the other 56% had a negative view of ICE).

AJA Democrats’ progressive bonafides expressed themselves even more when asked about their views on specific progressive-backed proposed policies. According to a 2019 Marist poll, 64% of national Democrats support Medicare for All — defined as “a national health insurance program for all Americans that replaces private health insurance” — with 31% opposed. Support for the plan — described as one “in which all Americans would get their insurance from a single government plan” in the Palette survey — rose to 79% among AJA Democrats, with just 5% opposed. 

That said, it is important not to draw too many conclusions for a few questions. 92% (excluding  those who answered “I don’t know enough to answer this question” or “neither favorable not unfavorable”) of AJA Democrats supported the Green New Deal plan proposed by progressive Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a roughly similar percentage to the 86% of national Democrats who support the plan. Additionally, 86% of Democrats or Democratic-leaners support stricter gun control laws, according to Pew, compared to 95% of AJA Democrats. A very similar 87% of Democrats said abortion should be legal in “most” or “all” cases in the Hofstra poll, from which Palette pulled the question phrasing, while 95% of AJA Democrats said the same. 

“A large portion of AJA students — particularly AJA Democrats — report more liberal leanings than their parents.”

(Nonpartisan polling of specific policy issues like the Green New Deal, gun control, or abortion are difficult to ascertain because many cited polls come from advocacy groups or are highly influenced by the explanation supplied about less-understood policies or the answer options allowed.)

In conclusion, a large portion of AJA students — particularly AJA Democrats — report more liberal leanings than their parents. On some issues, AJA Democrats place well to the left of the party as a whole; on others, their views fall close enough to be explained by the uncertainty of only 19 Democrats who responded to the Palette survey and the likelihood of response bias creating a more passionate and partisan sample.