By Tyler Hakes
To Trump or not to Trump? The presumptive Republican presidential candidate has been, without a doubt, one of the most polarizing figures in recent American political history and possibly of all time.
His presence has been so divisive that we wanted to get a pulse for his popularity among college students around the country.
In our study, we analyzed Facebook data on students at hundreds of the top U.S. colleges to see which campuses seem to have the highest affinity for Mr. Trump and which ones have the least love for his campaign.
What we found was — as you may expect — a bit mixed. Some of the campuses that are historically seen as conservative strongholds were among those that have him embraced him most fully. But our list of the most Trump-loving campuses is also peppered with small, liberal arts colleges — some even on the west coast, which is generally seen as a liberal paradise.
All told, it seems a fitting dichotomy that represents the feelings many Americans of all ages seem to have.
You either love Trump or you hate him.
College Name | Percent Trump | City | State |
---|---|---|---|
Centre College | 25.45% | Danville | KY |
Millsaps College | 21.28% | Jackson | MS |
Otis College of Art & Design | 21.28% | Los Angeles | CA |
Scripps College | 21.28% | Claremont | CA |
The College of Idaho | 21.28% | Caldwell | ID |
Austin College | 17.86% | Sherman | TX |
Kalamazoo College | 17.86% | Kalamazoo | MI |
Presbyterian College | 17.86% | Clinton | SC |
Texas Wesleyan University | 17.27% | Fort Worth | TX |
Lawrence University | 15.83% | Appleton | WI |
Beloit College | 15.38% | Beloit | WI |
Pacific Union College | 15.38% | Angwin | CA |
Dallas Baptist University | 14.00% | Dallas | TX |
Oral Roberts University | 14.00% | Tulsa | OK |
Claremont McKenna College | 13.51% | Claremont | CA |
College of the Ozarks | 13.51% | Point Lookout | MO |
Earlham College | 13.51% | Richmond | IN |
Wofford College | 13.51% | Spartanburg | SC |
Agnes Scott College | 11.90% | Decatur | GA |
Polytechnic Institute of New York University | 11.90% | Brooklyn | NY |
Transylvania University | 11.90% | Lexington | KY |
Wesleyan College | 11.90% | Macon | GA |
United States Military Academy at West Point | 11.21% | West Point | NY |
Eckerd College | 10.75% | St. Petersburg | FL |
Hampshire College | 10.75% | Amherst | MA |
Haverford College | 10.75% | Haverford | PA |
Taylor University | 10.75% | Upland | IN |
University of Northwestern – St. Paul | 10.75% | Saint Paul | MN |
Washington & Lee University | 10.75% | Lexington | VA |
University of Tennessee | 10.68% | Knoxville | TN |
We used data from Facebook’s advertiser targeting platform to analyze both the number of students on Facebook who are currently enrolled at each college, as well as those who have indicated interest in Trump on the social media network.
In our final tally, we used some discretion in removing schools with limited available data and also removed some small and specialized universities to create a list of mostly recognizable colleges on both ends of the spectrum.