Students at the University of Notre Dame favor Donald Trump over Kamala Harris in the 2024 Presidential Election, according to a poll of 705 students taken by the school newspaper, the Irish Rover.
The poll, conducted from September 15-18, shows 47.6% of likely voters choosing Trump and 45.9% choosing Harris. This marks the first time in 12 years that Notre Dame students have chosen a Republican presidential candidate. Perhaps just as ominous for Harris, the numbers show the incumbent vice president underperforming the 66% President Biden earned from Fighting Irish students in the 2020 poll conducted by Student Government and NDVotes.
To further illustrate the tremendous swing toward the former president, in the 2020 poll, Trump earned the support of only 29% of the students.
“It is amazing to see a college campus stand by President Trump,” Elliot Anderson, College Republicans President, told the Irish Rover. “We hope that the trend of ultra-liberal colleges is finally coming to an end with the increasing youth support for conservative policies.”
53% of Catholic students favored Trump, while only 36% chose Harris. In addition, 65% of students strongly or somewhat disapproved of the job the current administration is doing, while only 35% strongly or somewhat approved.
When the numbers are broken down even further, only 5% strongly approved of President Biden, while 40% strongly disapproved.
Despite the vast disparities in the poll’s internals, Professor David Campbell, Packey J. Dee Professor of American Democracy and Director of the Notre Dame Democracy Initiative, says the poll’s findings show a closely divided student voter base.
“The student body is closely divided,” Campbell asserted. “As we head into the home stretch of this hotly contested presidential election, I hope that the students of Notre Dame can demonstrate to the country that it is possible to disagree politically but do so agreeably.”
While students may agree to disagree, that doesn’t mean they don’t have strongly felt reasons for their voting preferences.
“The last four years are why my family is on welfare,” said a Catholic student while explaining his decision to vote for Trump.
Students chose the economy as their most important issue (28%) and abortion as their second most important issue (26%). Of those most concerned with abortion, 69% favored Trump. Interestingly, 53% of women most concerned about abortion also preferred Trump.
“This student poll, I think, highlights in particular the conviction of pro-life students at Notre Dame and their commitment to voting for candidates who know abortion is a grave evil,” said former Notre Dame Right to Life President Merlot Fogarty
“While the Democratic Party may have made abortion the biggest issue on their national platform, most students at a Catholic university do not support their extreme abortion-until-birth policies. Hopefully, this means Notre Dame students will continue to trend pro-life.”
The poll had a 3.8% margin of error.
