Views

Similar to last year, survey respondents skewed left, with 70.1 percent identifying as “somewhat” or “very” liberal. A mere two percent of individuals surveyed indicated that they are “very conservative.”

Now that he’s president, Joe Biden’s popularity among students seems to have grown; survey respondents were more likely to have a favorable or neutral view of the commander-in-chief when compared to respondents to the Class of 2024 survey, which was administered as he was running for office. Similar results were found by the Harvard Youth Poll, which recorded an increase in Biden’s popularity among youth between 2020 and 2021. Views of Biden seemed to correlate with political views in general: nearly three quarters of those who identified as “very conservative” had “strongly unfavorable” views of the president, whereas among those who identified as “somewhat liberal,” over 70 percent had “strongly” or “somewhat” favorable views of him.

The Black Lives Matter movement achieved a high level of support among respondents, with 81.7 percent holding “very” or “somewhat” favorable views. All the same, support declined from last year when 90.5 percent of respondents held favorable opinions. Proposals to abolish the police were less popular, with no clear majority on the issue. There was a direct correlation between identifying as “liberal” or “very liberal” and supporting movements to abolish the police, but, on the whole, students were twice as likely to have “strongly unfavorable” views of abolition than “strongly favorable” views.

Male respondents were twice as likely as their female counterparts to hold unfavorable views of accessible abortion services, or to be neutral on the issue. Despite clear gender divides, such as female respondents being much more likely to hold “strongly favorable” views on increasing abortion access, most of the Class of 2025 supports widely accessible abortion services. Fewer than 10 percent of survey respondents view the notion unfavorably.

In recent years, the digital community has grown to hold its most notable members more ruthlessly accountable, “cancelling” musicians, YouTube personalities, influencers, and more for actions deemed controversial or inappropriate. Commentators have coined the term ‘cancel culture’ to describe such situations. Some protest the label, insisting that celebrities and other powerful figures ought to be held accountable rather than just being labelled as ‘cancelled,’ while others think the culture goes too far. The Class of 2025 seems to think the latter; roughly two thirds of respondents had unfavorable views on cancel culture.

Nearly three quarters of respondents receiving financial aid view proposals to create tuition-free four-year public colleges in the United States favorably, with over half “strongly” in support. Those not receiving need-based financial aid were less likely to agree with such proposals, though a majority still viewed them favorably.

Survey respondents answered questions about hot-button issues on campus, such as fossil fuel divestment. Support for divesting the University’s endowment funds from fossil fuels increased this year, though a majority of respondents from both the Class of 2024 and 2025 surveys viewed divestment favorably. The University announced last May that it would divest from some segments of the fossil fuel industry.

Alumni

Christopher Eisgruber ’83

We asked students about their thoughts on four famous and influential alumni: Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor ’76, former First Lady Michelle Obama ’85, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos ’86, and Sen. Ted Cruz ’92 (R-Texas). Of these four, Cruz was by far the most unpopular; only 6.4 percent of respondents viewed him favorably, and nearly half said they held “strongly unfavorable” views of the Texas senator. His unpopularity is not limited to the Class of 2025. Just a few months ago, a petition demanding that the University condemn this former member of the American Whig-Cliosophic Society received over 1,500 signatures.

In contrast, a slight majority of respondents had favorable views of Sotomayor, with 36.4 percent saying they didn’t have enough information to have an opinion. Opinions on Bezos varied, though the percentage of those who viewed him unfavorably was 20 percentage points higher than those who viewed him favorably. Obama was the most popular of the four among respondents, with 85.5 percent of respondents reporting favorable views of the Chicago native.