Although the White House is Republican, an overwhelming majority of political science departments in the United States are not.
Edward Friedman, a professor of political science at the University of Wisconsin, said a number of surveys have overwhelmingly revealed political science professors are Democratic.
“In general, surveys show that economic departments tend to be Republicans, professors in political science departments tend to be Democrats, and professors in sociology tend to be to the left of that,” Friedman said. “The usual explanation tends to be that they are what Freud would call neurotics. They love what they study.”
This overwhelming trend has led some to fear that certain political interests are being undermined and that departments are favoring applicants whose views match those of current faculty.
Kenneth Mayer, a UW professor of political science, said party affiliation does not play a role in what finds its way to course curricula. What does play a role, he said, is the influence of ideologies on classroom instruction.
“The question is not political-party affiliation, but whether our teaching is affected by our ideologies,” Mayer said. “I’m pretty careful, and so are most of my colleagues, to not let that influence what we teach. I make it very clear to students that I am going to present to them different sides to the issue.”
Terry Moe, a professor of political science at Stanford, said the political ideology of professors could find its way to the classroom in the form of which courses are taught.
“Ideology is not a big part of our discussions and what we do,” Moe said. “It seems like it should be because everyone has one. It probably comes out in the kinds of courses that get taught and the themes that come out in class, because everyone has flexibility in designing their class. I would be surprised if it weren’t that way.”
A report from the Indiana University College Republicans listed the voting patterns of its professors from 1983 through 1996. The voting record showed Indiana professors voting Democratic 72 out of 73 times.
“I assume almost all [my colleagues] are Democrats,” Moe said. “I’ve seen figures on Stanford as overwhelmingly Democrat.”
The Indiana University College Republicans called on the university to hire more Republicans, a scenario Moe said never comes into question when hirings take place at Stanford.
“When it comes to hiring, we never talk about ideology,” Moe said. “It never is an overt factor in anybody’s firing or hiring.”
Some UW professors realize the imbalance and compensate by introducing Republican material along with Democratic material.
“I load up the course with much more Republican stuff so students for sure are seeing things that I might unconsciously not be saying,” said Friedman, a Democrat.
“You are supposed to be a teacher, not a preacher, and make sure people see a variety of things so they have a basis for making up their mind.”
David Cannon, a UW professor of political science, does not tell his students until the last day of class what party he belongs to. He said his students’ reactions reveal that his style of teaching does not bias towards any particular party.
“Students will sometime ask me if I’m a Democrat or a Republican, and I won’t ever tell them until the last day of class,” Cannon said. “Usually there is a group of 15 or 20 who will come up at the end of class, and I’ll make them guess. Usually it ends up breaking down 50-50 so it seems like I’m doing a good job of presenting both sides of the argument in class.
“My favorite comment [comes] from a student who said once, ‘You sound a little more like a Democrat, but you dress more like a Republican.’ I definitely have the approach of using balance as much as possible.”
