Political Bias and the Professoriate: What Actually Happens in the Classroom?

• In Event: Teaching Political Science: A Closer Look at Faculty

Abstract

While studies consistently indicate that professors tend to be more liberal than the public at large, there is less conclusive evidence that this actually affects student attitudes. Few if any studies ask students what if any political messaging they are confronted with in the classroom. Using unique survey data of a student population in a mid-level public university, I find that while students perceive that their professors lean slightly to the left politically, relatively few report that professors regularly share their political views. I also examine the individual predictors of the assessment of professor's ideology and the perception that they are using the classroom to influence their students.

Author

• Scott Liebertz, University of South Alabama