College students identifying as Republican in Florida are outnumbered by Democrats and nonaffiliated, but higher than the national average. (Photo: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention)
Florida public university students identify as Republicans at a higher rate than the national average, a State University System study found.
The study, mandated by state law, surveyed students, staff, and faculty across the 12 public universities in Florida about political and ideological moods on campus and on “cancel culture.”
A summary of results from the study, led by conservative think tank American Enterprise Institute fellow Sam Abrams, was presented during the Board of Governors’ meeting Wednesday. Abrams serves on the board of directors for the Foundation of Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE), too, which conducts a similar national survey to which the Florida survey was compared.
Florida’s survey found that 22% of students identified as Republicans, 25% as Democrats, 43% as nonaffiliated, and 8% as something else. The FIRE survey found that nationally 13% of students identify as Republican, 30% as Democrats, 43% as not affiliated, and 14% something else.
The same question was asked of faculty and staff. Nationally and in Florida, 32% of faculty and staff identify as Democrat, while double the number of faculty in Florida identified as Republican, 22%, as did nationally, 11%.
The 2024 survey featured a student turnout of 14.5%, garnering responses from 49,132 students. Faculty and staff responded at a rate of 12.2%, 11,989 respondents.
In Florida, the survey found that 51% of students said their university was “equally tolerant of both liberal and conservative ideas and beliefs.”
For faculty and staff, that number was 41%. Nationally, 36% of students surveyed in the conservative Buckley National Survey, a survey separate from FIRE’s, said their university was tolerant of beliefs of both ideologies.
Florida’s survey found that 34% of students believe their university was more tolerant of liberal ideas and beliefs, while 14% of students said so of conservative beliefs.
GET THE MORNING HEADLINES.
The survey found that 69% of students agreed or strongly agreed that their school is “doing a good job when it comes to promoting or encouraging diverse political viewpoints.” For faculty and staff, that number is 48%.
More than half, 53%, of Florida students, said they rarely or never feel they could not express their opinion because of reaction from other students, a professor, or an administrator. For faculty and staff, 33% said they rarely or never feel that way. Both numbers are consistent with national data, which found 55% of students and 33% of staff and faculty felt they rarely self-censored.
Faculty Governor Amanda Phalin, a business professor at the University of Florida, said she was happy with the results.
“I think that the takeaway of this for me was that the stereotype and what we hear in the media and what we hear from perhaps elected officials about freedom of speech on campus is not the reality, and I was very happy that the survey results showed this — that relative to what’s happening in the rest of the country, is there room for improvement, absolutely, but the media narrative doesn’t match the reality, and I really want to put that on the public record that we’re actually moving forward,” Phalin said. “We’re doing good things.”
The national FIRE survey found that 55% of faculty and staff said it was “never acceptable” “for students to protest a campus speaker.”
That number in Florida was 37%, although, Phalin and student Governor John Brinkman said the definition of “protest” could be made clearer, because it can have varying meanings among faculty and students. They said the same about “cancel culture.”
Student participation in the survey was 2.5% in 2022, resulting in survey results that were not statistically significant, making this the first iteration of the survey with results.
YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE.