Education

Nearly 1 In 4 College Students Say They’ll ‘Likely’ Protest If Trump Wins Election, Survey Says

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Around 40% of college students said they will likely or certainly protest if President Donald Trump wins the election, according to an Axios poll released Friday.

Exactly 22% of students surveyed said they are likely to protest and 17% said they will protest should Trump win the 2020 election, the College Reaction/Axios survey found. More students, 30%, said they would not protest if Trump won and 31% said they are not likely to protest a Trump victory.

“The dissatisfaction with the status quo is also reflected by the number of students who are willing to protest Trump reelection with 40% of college students saying they will likely or certainly participate in protests,” the survey said.

Only 1% said they are “absolutely certain” to protest if Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden wins the election, according to the survey. Almost three quarters, 70%, said they “absolutely will not” protest if Biden wins the 2020 election.

???? 40% of college students would likely protest Trump win https://t.co/bwCpzIquul

— Jim VandeHei (@JimVandeHei) October 16, 2020

The survey also found that 2% said they are likely to protest while 27% said they are unlikely to protest should Biden win. When asked, “If someone you know does not vote even though they can, will you address, confront, or otherwise convey disappointment towards them?” more than half, 61%, said that they would or probably would, according to the survey.

Almost a quarter, 24%, said they probably will not confront nonvoting acquaintances and 16% said “definitely not” for the same question, according to the survey.

“We found that young people are bummed by the state of the nation. More than 75% believe race relations, America’s standing in the world, and safety have plunged since 2016,” Cyrus Beschloss, founder of College Reaction, told the Daily Caller News Foundation.

“Most students support Joe Biden, so a Trump win would naturally sting most. But what we learned is that it would also spark swift demonstrations, rather than empty rants. Civic engagement is cool now,” Beschloss continued.

The survey was conducted via email Oct. 6 – 7 and has a margin of error of plus or minus 3.3%. The poll was done “from a representative sample of 872 college students,” according to the survey methodology.