UMass Amherst Students Follow National Trend, As Voting Rates Increased Significantly in 2020

AMHERST, Mass. – The University of Massachusetts Amherst today reported that student voting for its campus increased 20 percent in last year’s presidential election, rising to 74.7 percent in 2020 from a rate of 54.4 percent in 2016. The full campus report can be viewed online.

Image

In 2020, the university engaged in several voter registration and education efforts to encourage students to participate in the 2020 election. These included social media campaigns, email campaigns and voter registration drives by various student organizations.

The report comes from the Institute for Democracy & Higher Education (IDHE), creators of the National Study of Learning, Voting, and Engagement, or NSLVE. IDHE is located at Tufts University’s Tisch College of Civic Life.

“Our campus and the broader community become more equitable when everyone gets involved and exercises their right to vote,” said Brandi Hephner LaBanc, vice chancellor for student affairs and campus life. “Our students have the power to drive change not just at the local level, but in national issues. The trends reflected in this report confirm what we’ve seen in real time: students at UMass Amherst are showing up in greater numbers to advocate for the causes they believe in. I am proud of the engagement demonstrated by our students and am grateful for the student organizations that mobilized to get out the vote. The healthy habits of civic engagement our students develop now will help us build a more equitable future and a stronger democracy.”

The report indicates that from 2016 to 2020, UMass Amherst had an increase in enrollment of 1,413 students, including an increase of 856 total eligible voters. The number of students who voted in the 2016 election was 14,190, compared to 20,118 in 2020, a difference of 5,928 voters. The voter registration rate in 2016 was 83 percent of the student body, compared to 88 percent in 2020, the report showed.

Data also showed that UMass students in every racial or ethnic group studied increased their voting rates by double digits from 2016 to 2020. The report also showed that undergraduate students led the way with a 21 percent increase in voting. The graduate student rate went up 4 percent from 2016 to 2020. Students enrolled in the biological and biomedical sciences led the way with an overall 26 percent increase in voting from 2016 to 2020, with architecture and communications and journalism majors coming in second at 19 percent. Business, management and marketing students increased their voting by 17 percent.

Nationwide, the study’s authors report a record-breaking set of findings. On campuses across the country, students built on the momentum swing of 2018 and voted at high rates in the 2020 election, with voter turnout jumping to 66% in last year’s presidential election. The 14 percentage point increase, from 52% turnout in the 2016 election, outpaces that of all Americans, which jumped 6 percentage points from 61% to 67%, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

“That students, often younger and first-time voters, turned out at rates commensurate with the general public is nothing short of stunning,” said IDHE Director Nancy Thomas. “We attribute this high level of participation to many factors, including student activism on issues such as racial injustice, global climate change and voter suppression, as well as increased efforts by educators to reach students and connect them to the issues and to voting resources.”

IDHE’s National Study of Learning, Voting, and Engagement (NSLVE) is the nation’s largest study of college and university student voting. Institutions must opt-in to the study, and at this time, nearly 1,200 campuses of all types—community colleges, research universities, minority-serving and women’s colleges, state universities, and private institutions—participate. The dataset reflects all 50 states and the District of Columbia and includes 49 of the nation’s 50 flagship schools. IDHE uses de-identified student records to ensure student privacy. The 2020 dataset is robust with 8,880,700 voting-eligible students representing 1,051 colleges and universities.