Testing Conservative College Students on Election Day

Virginia King, a freshman at Texas State University from Dallastold me about the peer pressure that conservative students face on campus.

“Being a conservative on campus during an election campaign is isolating and nerve-wracking,” she said. “As usual, flyers from our chapter of the conservative club Enlightened Women’s Network are taken down by students about a day after they are posted. I have noticed that left-leaning students are more intolerant of opposing political views than right-leaning students.”

During an election year, the campus environment for conservatives often worsens. Many students are quick to exert direct and indirect pressure on their peers.

“Since early voting began, candidate signs have filled the busiest parts of campus,” King continued. “Trump-Vance signs erected on campus by the local Republican Party were toppled by students almost immediately after they were erected, even though the Harris-Waltz signs were seemingly left untouched. I see students confidently wearing Harris-Walz apparel around campus, but I have never seen students wearing MAGA hats or merchandise because of the backlash that might be received, and I have heard complaints from conservative colleagues about the double standard. I wish my fellow leftists would treat conservative students with the same respect that we treat them.”

And this is from a school in Texas.

Election years make campuses even more polarized, and that polarization may peak on Election Day or in the days after as students come to terms with the election results. Following former President Donald Trump’s 2016 victory, Cornell University students held a “shout” over hot chocolate, blankets and napkins.

Be sure to check in with conservative students on Tuesday. And depending on who wins, you might want to send a few extra text messages in the following days as well.

In addition to the everyday stresses of any college student, conservative students may face ostracism from peers and professors.

In the 2022 midterm elections, federal Democratic candidates and received 96% of donations come from Ivy League professors. Among faculty donations from Senator J.D. Vance’s (R-Ohio) alma mater, The Ohio State University, between January 1, 2023 and October 19, 2024: 99% went to Democrats.

While some professors create an educational environment that welcomes intellectual diversity, others use their platform to attack Republicans. University of Kansas teacher placed on administrative leave after I said about men who won’t vote for a female president: “We can line these guys up and shoot them; They clearly don’t understand how the world works.”

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The elections are finally here. After you vote on Tuesday and put on your sticker, do one more thing: check out the conservative students you know.

Karin Lips (@clip) is the founder and president of the Network of Enlightened Women and a senior fellow at the Independent Women’s Forum.