This article was co-written by Fawwaz Shoukfeh, Emmy Cho, Naomi Corlette, Rahem Hamid, Caroline Hao, Ethan Jasny, Imaan Mirza, Sophia Scott, Aidan Scully, Dominic Skinnion, and Alan Zhang. Polling logistics were led by Yao Yu and Dominic Skinnion.
Introduction & Methodology
Continuing with its quarterly tradition established in Spring 2021, the Harvard Political Review set out to understand the political views of undergraduates at Harvard College throughout the past few months. The poll addressed a wide-ranging set of topics, from campus politics to foreign policy to cultural issues.
The Harvard Political Review’s Winter 2022 Poll was conducted online via Qualtrics from Dec. 30, 2021 to Jan. 21, 2022 among a random sample of 1,215 Harvard College students. We received a 18.5% response rate. Responses that were incomplete or failed our quality control measures were invalidated and excluded from the final analysis, leaving us with a 10.5% valid response rate and a final sample size of 127. The margin of error for the full sample is 8.7%. Although the valid responses roughly aligned with Harvard College’s demographic distribution, we decided the valid responses were not numerous enough to weight by demographics of the undergraduate student population.
The following is a summary of the results from the poll. You can view the full report here.
UNITED STATES
Biden & Congressional Change
We sought to uncover student sentiment about key issues in U.S. politics. About 41% of respondents approved of President Joe Biden’s job performance, while 31% disapproved. This represents a significant drop in support for the president compared to last spring, as survey respondents approved of him by a 64% to 23% margin in our Spring 2021 Poll. When asked about Congress, an overwhelming majority (just under 87%) of respondents supported continuing the congressional investigation of the Capitol riots of Jan. 6, 2021, with only 5% of respondents indicating that Congress should end its investigations. Additionally, 45% of respondents supported the elimination of the Senate filibuster, while only 15% had reservations and 40% remained neutral.
Who Should Be Given a Platform at Harvard?
35% of respondents believed that figures who support former President Trump should not be given a platform at Harvard, while 48% indicated the opposite. In the Spring 2021 Poll, only 23% of respondents supported deplatforming supporters of President Trump, in contrast to 65% who felt they should be given a platform, suggesting that disillusionment with the former president and his supporters has increased rather than waned since he left office.
On the other hand, support for deplatforming figures based on party affiliation was virtually nonexistent. Only 3% of respondents agreed that figures who support the Republican Party should not be given a platform at Harvard, while 35% disagreed and a further 49% strongly disagreed with the statement. Less than 1% of respondents felt that figures who support the Democratic Party should not be given a platform at Harvard.
Roe & Rittenhouse
Looking to measure student sentiment on domestic cultural issues, we asked respondents about recent developments pertaining to abortion and gun rights in the U.S. We found that 85% of respondents believed that the Supreme Court should not overturn Roe v. Wade, a 1973 landmark decision by the Supreme Court establishing a pregnant woman’s constitutional right to have an abortion. Only 4% of respondents believed that the Supreme Court should overturn the decision.
Kyle Rittenhouse, a White 18-year-old from Antioch, Ill., who fatally shot two men and wounded another at the 2020 demonstrations in Kenosha, Wis., was acquitted on all charges in his trial on Nov. 19, 2021. About 14% of respondents agreed with the verdict of the Kyle Rittenhouse trial, while 57% of respondents disagreed. 28% of respondents were neutral regarding the verdict.
CAMPUS
The Undergraduate Council
Following a contentious election cycle for the presidency and vice presidency of the Undergraduate Council — in which several candidates levied accusations of financial mismanagement and corruption — the approval rating of the UC sat at 9.4%. Disapproval reached 46.5%, and 44.1% remained neutral.
The current president and vice president, Michael Cheng ‘22 and Emmett de Kanter ‘24, respectively, emerged victorious from the six-ticket race in November 2021 by promising to “Defund the UC” and create a new student government. The majority of students remained neutral with regard to this campaign promise, with 53% of respondents neither agreeing or disagreeing with the statement that the UC should be replaced with a new student government. Of the remaining respondents, 32% agreed and 15% disagreed. Most respondents — about 55% — agreed that the Undergraduate Council should exist, while only 17% disagreed.
Harvard Admissions Policies
Harvard’s controversial policy of factoring legacy status into its admissions decisions was the topic of a nonbinding referendum conducted by the Undergraduate Council in November 2021, in which 60% of respondents voted in favor of removing the policy, while 40% voted in favor of retaining it. The Winter 2022 Poll question on legacy admissions received similar results, with 32% of students agreeing that the policy should be kept and 54% calling for its elimination in the application process. Students who receive no financial aid demonstrated a greater preference for legacy admissions, with 36% of such respondents supporting the legacy policy, compared to only 28% of students who do receive financial aid.
The University’s controversial race-conscious admissions practices have also come under scrutiny, with the University embroiled in a lawsuit with Students for Fair Admissions over the practice. Harvard’s race-based affirmative action policy had widespread support among those polled by the HPR, however, with 64% of respondents supporting the practice, including 24% who strongly agreed that race should be considered in admissions. 20% of respondents opposed the practice, with the remaining 17% staying neutral.
Additionally, as a temporary measure during the COVID-19 pandemic, Harvard College announced it would adopt a test-optional policy, no longer requiring an SAT or ACT score for admission, with the policy remaining in place through 2030. When asked whether test-optional admissions should be permanent, respondents were split, with 38% in favor and 31% opposed. The policy saw greater support from the Class of 2025, currently the only class to be admitted under a test-optional process, with 46% of first-year respondents supporting making the test-optional policy permanent.
Harvard Administration
The approval rating of Harvard administration skewed positive, with 42% approval compared to 19% of respondents who disapproved and 39% who remained neutral. Only 6%, however, indicated that they strongly approved of the administration’s performance. This comes after a contentious fall semester for the administration, following its decision to divest from fossil fuel investments in September and its intense negotiations with several campus unions.
These labor tensions boiled over in late October, when the Harvard Graduate Students Union, the United Auto Workers-affiliated bargaining group for Harvard student instructors and researchers, went on strike for three days. The vast majority (75%) of respondents stated that they supported the three-day strike, including 38% who strongly supported it, while only 10% of respondents did not support it, in line with anecdotal observations of large undergraduate support for the October strike.
COVID-19 Policies
Harvard’s policies to combat the spread of COVID-19 on campus, which included mandatory vaccination, a masking requirement for all indoor spaces, and a 10-day quarantine for all positive cases, also saw widespread support among the student population. When asked if Harvard’s policies surrounding COVID-19 had been too strict, only 20% of respondents agreed, while 66% disagreed, with the remaining 14% being neutral. A vast majority of respondents also supported the University’s December decision to require that all students receive a booster shot of the COVID-19 vaccine, with 88% of respondents voicing their support for the mandate.
WORLD
Vaccine Distribution
Our poll also sought to evaluate Harvard undergraduates’ positions on international affairs and America’s role in foreign policy. One of this year’s most divisive global issues pertains to vaccine distribution. Against the backdrop of new coronavirus variants, international disparities in vaccinations, and accusations toward wealthy countries of hoarding more than their share of public health resources, the question of sharing in promoting health equity has taken center stage in international politics. More than 80% of respondents strongly agreed or agreed that the U.S. should share more of its COVID-19 vaccine supply with lower-income countries, with only 5.5% disagreeing.
U.S. Withdrawal from Afghanistan
The withdrawal of the United States Armed Forces from Afghanistan culminated on Aug. 30, 2021, signifying the end of America’s two-decades-long involvement in the country. Sixty percent of respondents agreed or strongly agreed with the United States’ decision to withdraw from Afghanistan, and over 20% of respondents remained neutral.
Biden & the Paris Agreement
The Paris Agreement was first drafted in 2015 to bolster the international response to the threat of climate change, aiming to prevent this century’s global temperature rise from exceeding pre-industrial levels by more than 3.6 degrees Fahrenheit (2 degrees Celsius). Although the United States originally joined the Paris Agreement in 2016, President Trump announced the United States’ withdrawal from the agreement just a year later, with the withdrawal coming into effect in 2020.
On Jan. 20, 2021 — his first day in office — President Biden signed the instrument for the United States to reenter the Paris Agreement. An overwhelming majority of respondents agreed with the United States’ reentry into the Paris Climate Accords, with just over two-thirds of respondents strongly agreeing and a further 24% agreeing. Only two out of 126 total respondents disagreed.
Palestinian Statehood
In May 2021, tensions flared on the Eastern Mediterranean after an Israeli police raid left over 300 people injured at the al-Aqsa mosque. After the 11-day-long flashpoint of violence in the Israel-Palestine region, American public discourse on the subject and the larger question of Palestinian statehood became rather intense. When presented with the statement “I support Palestinian statehood,” roughy 32% of respondents remained neutral, 29% strongly agreed, and nearly 34% agreed. Just under 5% of respondents disagreed or strongly disagreed with this statement.
China, Uyghurs, and Global Superpowers
Over the past few years, the Chinese Communist Party has faced heightened international scrutiny due to the genocide of Uyghur Muslims in its Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region. Satellite images have revealed large detention camps in the area, and stories detailing allegations of cultural erasure, forced sterilization, and other potential crimes have come to the forefront. In response, many nations — including the United States — have imposed sanctions on individuals and businesses involved in the Xinjiang region. Roughly 85% of respondents agreed or strongly agreed that China should face consequences for its treatment of Uyghur Muslims, with just over 14% remaining neutral. Only one respondent disagreed, and no respondents strongly disagreed.
From aggressive military actions in the South China Sea to soaring investment in the African continent, Chinese geopolitical power has risen dramatically in the past twenty years. Over the past four years, relations between the U.S. and China have been chilly, with news of trade wars dominating the headlines throughout the Trump administration. Respondents seemed to agree that they were worried about China’s increasing geopolitical power: 26% of respondents strongly agreed, a further 32% agreed, and 31% were neutral. Only 10% of respondents disagreed or strongly disagreed. In contrast, on the question of whether the U.S. currently has too much geopolitical power, 34% of respondents remained neutral and 19% disagreed, whereas 36% of respondents agreed or strongly agreed.
CULTURE
Black Lives Matter & Race Relations
Following the murder of George Floyd in May 2020, the year 2021 witnessed increased national outcry against White supremacy and police violence. The Capitol insurrection spearheaded by White supremacists, the defeat of Donald Trump (after his numerous denials of the 2020 presidential election result), the long-awaited conviction of Derek Chauvin, the death of Ronald Greene after a police chase, the acquittal of Kyle Rittenhouse, increases in police reforms, and plans to expand police funding are only some of many instances of 2021’s reckoning with race and law enforcement power in America.
When asked whether or not race relations had improved as a result of the Black Lives Matter movement, only 4% of respondents strongly agreed compared to the 26% who agreed with the statement, 24% who disagreed, and 6% who strongly disagreed; a plurality of polled students (40%) opted to stay neutral. Similarly, just 2% of respondents strongly agreed that law enforcement’s treatment of marginalized communities has improved as a result of the Black Lives Matter movement, whereas 20% agreed, 33% disagreed, and 5% strongly disagreed. The same share of respondents as the previous question, 40%, chose to stay neutral.
We also wanted to see whether Harvard undergraduates felt that racial progress had trickled into cultural currents. When we asked whether respondents felt that their identities were represented in Hollywood, 13% strongly disagreed and 32% agreed, compared to 12.6% who strongly disagreed and 24.4% who disagreed.
Social Media
Many of the movements of utmost relevance today are fueled by the power of social media. For instance, the Black Lives Matter movement originated as a simple hashtag that grew to mobilize millions in the U.S. With the onset of the coronavirus pandemic in 2020, social justice activism increasingly found its home on digital media platforms.
But what is accomplished by social media activism? When asked about online activism, 68% of respondents strongly agreed or agreed that social media activism is performative, while only 9% disagreed and zero respondents strongly disagreed. Despite this prevailing belief in the performative nature of social media activism, a substantial 43% of respondents still agreed or strongly agreed that social media activism is effective at producing change.
Cancel culture has become a mainstay of modern social media usage. After a controversy, public figures are often met with an incredible backlash that effectively “cancels” them, “whether through boycotts of their work or disciplinary action from an employer.” When asked about cancel culture, only 21% of respondents disagreed or strongly disagreed that the phenomenon has gone too far.
After Facebook has consistently been in the news for facilitating election interference in favor of Russian interests, we were curious what Harvard students felt about the increasing power of social media platforms. Harvard undergraduates overwhelmingly agreed that social media companies have too much political influence, with around 85% of respondents agreeing or strongly agreeing with the statement, while only 6.2% of respondents disagreed or strongly disagreed with the statement.
Critical Race Theory
Critical Race Theory — an academic and legal framework that denotes that systemic racism is part of American society, from education and housing to employment and healthcare — was developed in the late 20th century by Harvard Law School professor Derrick Bell, Columbia Law School professor Kimberlé Crenshaw, and other scholars, and has continued to gain both support and fierce backlash over the years. Previously invoked only within law schools, it came into mainstream discourse as Republican legislators introduced bills throughout the country, mainly in southern states, to outlaw its use within public school curricula to regulate conversations around race.
We polled Harvard undergraduates on their knowledge of the academic concept. We found that 37% of Harvard undergraduates polled agreed or strongly agreed to having a strong understanding of critical race theory, and 30% of respondents disagreed or strongly disagreed. However, only 12% of respondents either disagreed or strongly disagreed when asked whether this legal concept should be included in public school curricula. The majority (62%) of undergraduates felt otherwise, asserting that critical race theory should be included in public school curricula. This is in spite of the fact that a little over half of these same respondents admitted to having a strong understanding of critical race theory.
Image by Swathi Kella created for use by Harvard Political Review.
This article has been updated to include the final sample size and the margin of error.
