What We Did

• IRB certification of all 34 students involved• Six individual groups involved• Analyzed every question in class• Promotion through social media, Daily

Nebraskan• Made survey available to all UNL students

What we wanted to know:

• We sought to provide a snapshot of the political and campus landscape

• Campus attitudes• Nebraska issues• Political knowledge• Reaction to questions with different frames• Student stance on national issues• Elections

What is the Husker Poll?

• Survey of 3352 UNL students to understand student stance on a number of issues on campus, state and national levels.

What did we learn?

Campus Survey Demographics

• 55% women, 45% men• 73% undergraduates, 27% graduate students• 70% born in Nebraska, 92% born in U.S.• 45% Republican, 42% Democrat, 13%

Independent• 37% liberal, 27% moderate, 36% conservative

Campus issues

Scale of 1 to 7, 7=strongly agree Student-Professor Relations

• Students, at undergraduate and graduate levels and regardless of political ideology, believe their professors are fair with them and provide an unbiased environment in which to learn.

• My professors try to make class a fair and unbiased place: mean score 5.79

• My professors grade students more harshly if they have different political beliefs: 1.18

• My professors don’t try to change students' political opinions to match their own: 5.54

• My professors treat students fairly: 6

UNL Students on UNL to the Big 10 Conference

• 66% believe UNL joined due to a mix of academic and athletic reasons

• 82% strongly supported the move

Student Involvement

• 38% of students study more than 10 hours a week. Only 1% say they never study

• 80% of students participate in at least 1 extra curricular activity, 28% do 3 or more.

Student General Knowledge

Which member of the House of Representativesrepresents UNL?(Jeff Fortenberry)# Answer Response %1 Mike Johanns 459 15%2 Jeff Fortenberry 1,475 50%3 Ben Nelson 614 21%4 Lee Terry 428 14%

Total 2,976 100%

Who are Nebraska’s three members of the U.S. House of Representatives?(3)

# Answer Response %

1 Candice Miller, Ben Nelson, and Jeff Fortenberry

231 8%

2 Jeff Fortenberry, Lee Terry, and Mike Johanns

688 23%

3 Lee Terry, Jeff Fortenberry, and Adrian Smith

1,329 44%

4 Ben Nelson, Mike Johanns, and Lee Terry

716 24%

5 Bo Pelini, Tom Osborne, and Alex Henery

36 1%

Total 3,000 100%

Who is UNL’s student body president?(Lane Carr)# Answer Response %1 Lane Carr 1,401 46%2 Matt Hilgenkamp 692 23%3 Jeff Lopez 430 14%4 Justin Solomon 498 16%

Total 3,021 100%

Who is the Dean of Admissions at UNL? (Alan Cerveny)# Answer Response %1 Elbert Dickey 304 10%2 Alan Cerveny 1,848 61%3 Patrick Dussault 481 16%4 Joan Giesecke 388 13%

Total 3,021 100%

Nebraska Issues

Legal Drinking age

• Support for the legal drinking age to be loweredto 19 (38% of campus approved, but 44% of freshmen approved)

Do you support Nebraska’s Fetal Pain Bill?

Do you support the defunding of Planned Parenthood?

Experimental Questions

UNL Rec Center

“Do you support the Campus Rec Renovations which will provide more exercise equipment for students to use?” 70% answered YES

• “Do you support Campus Rec renovations despite $20 million price tag?” 50% answered YES

Wet Campus

• “Some people argue that if UNL became a wet campus, there would be more cases of alcohol poisoning because of the ease of availability of alcohol: do you support UNL becoming a ‘wet’ campus?” 50% YES

• “Some people argue that if UNL became a wet campus, there would be fewer cases of drunk driving because people could drink close to home: do you support UNL becoming a ‘wet’ campus?” 49% YES

Health Care

• 40% support "Obamacare” • 40% support the Patient Protection and

Affordable Health Care Act

National Issues, Leaders, & Group Favorability

On a scale from 1-7 how do you approve of:(1=Strongly Disapprove/7=Strongly Approve)

Obama

Congress

Suprem

e Court

Harvey

Perlman

Bo Pelini

John Cook

Charlie

Shee

n

Snooki

Michae

l Vick

Jon Stew

art

Rush Lim

baugh

Lady G

aGa

Wall

Stree

t

Mike Jo

hanns

Ben Nels

on

Dave H

einem

an

Tea P

arty

Christian

s

Muslims

Atheists/

Agnosti

cs

Mitt Romney

Herman

Cain

Rick Perr

y1

2

3

4

5

6

7

Series1

Occupy Wall Street Supporter’s Yearly Family Income

Tea Party Supporters Yearly Family Income

A Comparison of Group Makeup

• Tea Party Supporters • Occupy Wall Street Supporters

National Issues

Do you think that taxes should be raised on the wealthiest Americans?

Do you think that taxes should be raised on the wealthiest Americans?

Tea Party Supporters Occupy Wall Street Supporters

Who is most responsible for our economic situation (Conservative views)

Who is most responsible for our economic situation (Moderate views)

Who is most responsible for our current economic situation (Liberal views)

2012 Elections

2012 Presidential Election

• 37% Obama 26% Don't know 7% Romney 7% Paul 5% Cain 3% Gingrich 3% Perry

Support of Ben Nelson Re-Election, Nebraska Voters Only

• 47% yes 25% no 29% don't know

State GOP Senate Primary, Nebraska Voters Only

• 56% None of the above 25% Jon Bruning 7% Deb Fischer 6% Don Stenberg 3% Spencer Zimmerman 2% Pat Flynn

Who do you prefer in the Republican senate primary in Nebraska?

• Tea Party Supporters • Occupy Wall Street Supporters

Party Affiliation of Ben Nelson Supporters

Voting over four years

• Did you vote in 2008?46% Yes 10 % No 44% Too Young

2010? 40% Yes 40% no 20% Too Young

83% plan to vote in 2012