Rollins College is a small, private liberal arts college in the heart of Winter Park, Florida. Rollins also hosts a No.1 Florida MBA program, surely producing students prepped for a life of capitalist venture. But Rollins is also built upon the basic tenants of liberal arts: critical thinking, community and positive impact.
Rollins students are often stereotyped to be rich, white kids considering they go to a tuition-heavy private college sitting on a lake, in what may be considered one of the wealthiest cities in Florida. But in my personal experience, there’s more than meets the eye. The richest, whitest, straightest male on campus can turn out to be the most progressive person you’ve ever met — or not.
Within the social circles I run in, there’s no doubt that liberal progressiveness runs through the same veins that five cups of coffee and two cans of Redbull do. Critical thought is everywhere, from classroom discussion to lunch conversations. However, with a mix of characters on campus, it was in my interests to investigate what Rollins students truly valued. And what better way to do it then to poll them on their presidential candidate choice?
Here are the results:
Of the estimated 3,000+ students enrolled at Rollins, 501 students participated.
Of the 501 students, 49.1 percent voted for Bernie Sanders for a total of 246 votes, putting him above the second runner-up Donald Trump. Trump received 17.96 percent of the votes, totaling 90 votes.
Hillary Clinton was, of course, the Democratic runner-up with 14.57 percent of the votes, or 73 total, while Marco Rubio trails behind Trump for the Republican nomination with 12.97 percent or 65 votes.
For the remaining Republican candidates, Ted Cruz failed to impress with only 27 votes, but enough to defeat John Kasich who received five votes.
Aside from the Republicans and Democrats, there were two votes for the Green Party candidate, Jill Stein; two votes for Libertarian candidate, Gary Johnson; and one vote for “my cat” — looks like Bernie just met his rival.
The poll represented populations of gender relative to the reported divide (41 percent male and 59 percent female) with 38.05 percent of male answers to 59.76 percentof female answers respectively.
The results shown below are broken down in terms of gender:
Female
Male
Unfortunately, I could not break the results down for the LGBTQ+ community as there were not enough responses and I’m almost positive nobody is truly identifying as an “elephant” or “cetacean.”
Which if you are curios, this is a cetacean:
I apologize if you truly identify as this mammal, anonymous poller.
There were no significant differences between response rates or candidate choice between each graduating class.
Rollins is undoubtedly “Feeling the Bern” right before Florida’s Primary Election on March 15, 2016. Whether or not these results will translate to the actual primary outcome will have to be determined in the near future.
Are these results surprising? Not to me at least. Sanders is running on a campaign based on social issues like college tuition / debt, women’s rights, wealth inequality and racial justice — all issues liberal millennials care about. And at its heart, Rollins is a place that preaches service, inclusivity and justice.
Yet, there are still some who believe other candidates can do more and are better fit for the oval office. That’s OK too, Rollins teaches us to form our own opinions.
For now, we remain a liberal campus.
Are you surprised? Upset? Proud? Disagree? Sound off in the comments below.
