College Student Attitudes Toward Welfare in the United States

• In Event: 31.093 - Sheraton Roundtable Three - Osgoode Ballroom
  In Roundtable Session: 31.093-4 - Civic and Campus Student Engagement

Abstract

Drawing on a national sample of college students at institutions in the U.S., this study measures the effect of various demographic, experiential, and college-level factors on support for raising taxes on the wealthy and for universal healthcare. Findings align with well-established theory of political economy that pinpoints the salience of individual and group effects like race and party ID in predicting support for the welfare state, while also highlighting significant experiential factors in college like fraternity membership (-) and working on-campus (+). Results challenge popular wisdom of a "liberalizing" effect of college and suggest that pathways for both sustaining and changing political ideology exist for students on college campuses.

Author

• Austin Lyke, University of California - Los Angeles