The American Freshman, Fall, 2004

[central scrutinizer]

http://www.gseis.ucla.edu/heri/04_executive.pdf

excerpt:

AN OVERVIEW OF THE 2004 FRESHMAN NORMS
The 2004 freshman norms are based on the weighted responses of 289,452 students at 440 of
the nation’s baccalaureate colleges and universities. These data have been statistically adjusted to
reflect the responses of the 1.3 million first-time, full-time students entering four-year colleges and
universities as freshmen in 2004. The sections that follow summarize the 2004 results as well as
major trends in the survey since Fall 1966.
POLITICAL ORIENTATIONS MORE POLARIZED; SUPPORT FOR MILITARY SPENDING DECLINES
Students entering college have become increasingly polarized in their political orientations,
as a record number of students label themselves as politically “far left” (3.4 percent) and “far right”
(2.2 percent). Although these percentages are small, they reflect a significant increase over time in
the proportion of students who define themselves at the political extremes. Identification as either
“liberal” (26.1 percent) or “conservative” (21.9 percent) is also up from last year. While “middleof-
the-road” remains the most popular political category at 46.4 percent, this figure has reached its
lowest point in over thirty years, and marks a nearly four-percentage point drop since last year,
when 50.3 percent of students considered themselves to be politically moderate. The change
between 2003 and 2004 in students’ political orientation—concurrent with the 2004 presidential
election year—reflects the largest one-year shift in this item’s thirty-five year history on the survey
(see Figure 1).
Concurrent with the polarization of students’ political orientation is the continued growth in
students’ interest in politics.