Skip to content
ADVERTISEMENT
Sign In
  • Sections
    • News
    • Advice
    • The Review
  • Topics
    • Data
    • Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion
    • Finance & Operations
    • International
    • Leadership & Governance
    • Teaching & Learning
    • Scholarship & Research
    • Student Success
    • Technology
    • Transitions
    • The Workplace
  • Magazine
    • Current Issue
    • Special Issues
    • Podcast: College Matters from The Chronicle
  • Newsletters
  • Virtual Events
  • Ask Chron
  • Store
    • Featured Products
    • Reports
    • Data
    • Collections
    • Back Issues
  • Jobs
    • Find a Job
    • Post a Job
    • Professional Development
    • Career Resources
    • Virtual Career Fair
  • More
  • Sections
    • News
    • Advice
    • The Review
  • Topics
    • Data
    • Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion
    • Finance & Operations
    • International
    • Leadership & Governance
    • Teaching & Learning
    • Scholarship & Research
    • Student Success
    • Technology
    • Transitions
    • The Workplace
  • Magazine
    • Current Issue
    • Special Issues
    • Podcast: College Matters from The Chronicle
  • Newsletters
  • Virtual Events
  • Ask Chron
  • Store
    • Featured Products
    • Reports
    • Data
    • Collections
    • Back Issues
  • Jobs
    • Find a Job
    • Post a Job
    • Professional Development
    • Career Resources
    • Virtual Career Fair
    Upcoming Events:
    An AI-Driven Work Force
    AI and Microcredentials
Sign In
Data

How Higher Ed Intersected With the 2020 Election: By the Numbers

By Audrey Williams June November 2, 2020
election-by-the-numbers-promo2.jpg
Illustration by The Chronicle

Polarizing political ads. Heated rhetoric. Election anxiety.

It’s been a long presidential-campaign season.

And colleges and universities have played a role throughout. They’ve hosted presidential debates, served as popular stops on the campaign trail, and been at the center of efforts to get young people to vote. Meanwhile, a college degree has become the dividing line in American politics.

To continue reading for FREE, please sign in.

Sign In

Or subscribe now to read with unlimited access for as low as $10/month.

Don’t have an account? Sign up now.

A free account provides you access to a limited number of free articles each month, plus newsletters, job postings, salary data, and exclusive store discounts.

Sign Up

Polarizing political ads. Heated rhetoric. Election anxiety.

It’s been a long presidential-campaign season.

And colleges and universities have played a role throughout. They’ve hosted presidential debates, served as popular stops on the campaign trail, and been at the center of efforts to get young people to vote. Meanwhile, a college degree has become the dividing line in American politics.

The data below paint a picture of some of the ways that higher education has intersected with the 2020 election, both publicly and behind the scenes.


1

Day for the University of Georgia to reverse its decision not to host an on-campus voting site.


For students at the University of Georgia, early voting in recent years has meant taking a trip to the student center in the heart of campus. But this fall, the university decided that the possibility of long lines of people indoors during a pandemic would make voting too risky. Officials scrapped on-campus early voting and instead offered to shuttle students to a polling place in downtown Athens, Ga.

UGA Votes, a student-led voting-rights group that had worked to get early voting hosted at the student center, announced the institution’s decision in a statement posted on Twitter at 9:55 a.m. on September 16.

Right away, critics noted that Georgia had found a way to accommodate football games on campus but couldn’t do the same for voting. The university responded, in a tweet sent from its official account at 5:11 p.m., by saying football is played outdoors and the stadium crowds wouldn’t be at full capacity.

But in a state that has been the focus of national battles over voter disenfranchisement, the backlash was effective.

At just after noon the following day, the university tweeted that it was “pleased” to announce that its offer to use Stegeman Coliseum, home of Georgia basketball and gymnastics, had been approved as an early voting site by state and local officials.

UGA Votes reported in a tweet last week that 1,214 people had voted at Stegeman.


2

Universities backed out of hosting a presidential debate.


Last fall, the University of Michigan proudly announced that it had been selected to host one of three presidential debates before the 2020 election.

ADVERTISEMENT

But the anticipation was short lived. In June, three months into the global pandemic, Michigan decided that its efforts to bring students safely back to campus in the fall would be compromised by hosting the October 15 debate — now with layers of social-distancing protocols to consider in addition to everything else.

In a twist of events, this debate, which was moved to a performing-arts center in Miami, was ultimately canceled after President Trump was diagnosed with the coronavirus.

About a month after Michigan backed out, the University of Notre Dame did, too. That event, scheduled to be the first debate between Joe Biden and President Trump, was moved to the Health Education Campus of Case Western Reserve University and Cleveland Clinic.


5

Students at Prairie View A&M University who filed a federal lawsuit alleging voter suppression.


For years, students at Prairie View A&M have fought for voting rights in Waller County, Tex., where the historically Black college is located. Their latest lawsuit was filed in October 2018 when, during the first week of early voting in the mid-term elections, there was no early voting site on the campus.

ADVERTISEMENT

The plaintiffs asked a federal judge to give residents in the majority Black city of Prairie View and the university the same access to early voting as other cities in Waller County, which is mostly white.

The judge has not yet issued a ruling. The students and alumni, all five of whom were students when the latest suit was filed, represented by the NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund, saw their case go to trial, and closing arguments ended a few weeks before Election Day.

Early voting in Prairie View for the 2020 election was held at a community center a mile away from the campus of more than 9,000 students.


100

Level of interest in the term “Howard University” in Google searches.


When Biden named Sen. Kamala Harris, the California Democrat and a Howard alum, as his running mate in early August, historically Black colleges and universities everywhere took pride. But the choice sparked the most joy among Howard students and graduates, of course — and thrust the institution into the spotlight.

ADVERTISEMENT

Google-search interest in the term “Howard University” was at its highest since the beginning of the year during the week in August when the Biden-Harris ticket became official, according to Google Trends data.

On an index of 0-100, a value of 100 is the peak popularity of a term. The week before, Howard University as a search term had a value of 50.


113

Visits to colleges by presidential hopefuls.


Last year, when campaigning meant traveling to meet potential voters in person, the Democratic candidates for presidents made it a point to stop at college campuses

ADVERTISEMENT

From May 1 to October 2019, the four leading Democratic presidential candidates at the time — Biden, Sen. Bernie Sanders, Sen. Elizabeth Warren, and Pete Buttigieg, the former South Bend, Ind., mayor — mixed and mingled with students in 15 states and the District of Columbia between them.

Sanders was the most likely to be found on a college campus during that period. He visited 37 institutions.


555

Students working as interviewers for the Quinnipiac University Poll since polling for the 2020 election season began.


For years, Quinnipiac polls have been synonymous with election season. And behind every poll is the work of 11 staff members. But also integral to the operation are students, who reach out to registered voters to get their opinions.

ADVERTISEMENT

What’s their work like? According to the Poll’s website, interviewers call from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m on weekdays, with additional hours on the weekend. If no one answers, they call back at least four times. Quinnipiac’s polling for the 2020 presidential race began in 2018, said Doug Schwartz, the Poll’s associate vice president and director.

The Poll’s interviewers are a mix of students and nonstudents, all professionally trained and monitored. Great candidates for the job, the Poll’s website says, are Quinnipiac students “interested in learning the art and science of survey research.”

A version of this article appeared in the November 13, 2020, issue.
We welcome your thoughts and questions about this article. Please email the editors or submit a letter for publication.
Tags
Data Political Influence & Activism
Share
  • Twitter
  • LinkedIn
  • Facebook
  • Email
June_Audrey_Williams.jpg
About the Author
Audrey Williams June
Audrey Williams June is the news-data manager at The Chronicle. She explores and analyzes data sets, databases, and records to uncover higher-education trends, insights, and stories. Email her at audrey.june@chronicle.com, or follow her on Twitter @audreywjune.
ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT

More News

Photo illustration showing Santa Ono seated, places small in the corner of a dark space
'Unrelentingly Sad'
Santa Ono Wanted a Presidency. He Became a Pariah.
Illustration of a rushing crowd carrying HSI letters
Seeking precedent
Funding for Hispanic-Serving Institutions Is Discriminatory and Unconstitutional, Lawsuit Argues
Photo-based illustration of scissors cutting through paper that is a photo of an idyllic liberal arts college campus on one side and money on the other
Finance
Small Colleges Are Banding Together Against a Higher Endowment Tax. This Is Why.
Pano Kanelos, founding president of the U. of Austin.
Q&A
One Year In, What Has ‘the Anti-Harvard’ University Accomplished?

From The Review

Photo- and type-based illustration depicting the acronym AAUP with the second A as the arrow of a compass and facing not north but southeast.
The Review | Essay
The Unraveling of the AAUP
By Matthew W. Finkin
Photo-based illustration of the Capitol building dome propped on a stick attached to a string, like a trap.
The Review | Opinion
Colleges Can’t Trust the Federal Government. What Now?
By Brian Rosenberg
Illustration of an unequal sign in black on a white background
The Review | Essay
What Is Replacing DEI? Racism.
By Richard Amesbury

Upcoming Events

Plain_Acuity_DurableSkills_VF.png
Why Employers Value ‘Durable’ Skills
Warwick_Leadership_Javi.png
University Transformation: a Global Leadership Perspective
  • Explore Content
    • Latest News
    • Newsletters
    • Letters
    • Free Reports and Guides
    • Professional Development
    • Virtual Events
    • Chronicle Store
    • Chronicle Intelligence
    • Jobs in Higher Education
    • Post a Job
  • Know The Chronicle
    • About Us
    • Vision, Mission, Values
    • DEI at The Chronicle
    • Write for Us
    • Work at The Chronicle
    • Our Reporting Process
    • Advertise With Us
    • Brand Studio
    • Accessibility Statement
  • Account and Access
    • Manage Your Account
    • Manage Newsletters
    • Individual Subscriptions
    • Group and Institutional Access
    • Subscription & Account FAQ
  • Get Support
    • Contact Us
    • Reprints & Permissions
    • User Agreement
    • Terms and Conditions
    • Privacy Policy
    • California Privacy Policy
    • Do Not Sell My Personal Information
1255 23rd Street, N.W. Washington, D.C. 20037
© 2025 The Chronicle of Higher Education
The Chronicle of Higher Education is academe’s most trusted resource for independent journalism, career development, and forward-looking intelligence. Our readers lead, teach, learn, and innovate with insights from The Chronicle.
Follow Us
  • twitter
  • instagram
  • youtube
  • facebook
  • linkedin