The Political Make-Up of Harvard

Goldwater supporters, according to the more than 5000 straw polls the Crimson received last week, are liable to major not in the traditionally conservative natural sciences, but rather in the social sciences.

Of the 819 in University who favored the Republican candidate for president, the biggest single bloc was of course the business students, with 144 for BMG. Next were the lawyers, of whom 89 were for Goldwater.

Among Harvard College students, 202 social scientists, 103 natural scientists, and only 69 humanities majors gave their support to Goldwater. The majority of these votes were in these fields:

No other fields had more than 6 representatives filling out Crimson polls.

These students were not evenly distributed around Harvard, however. In Eliot House were large blocs of History and Government majors voting for Goldwater; in Quincy House substantial groups of History, Government and Economics majors; and in Winthrop House numerous History, Economics, and Biology majors.

In Leverett and Adams Houses, where the total Goldwater vote was very small, it was only the Physics majors who evidenced any solidity at all behind the conservative candidate.

Considering percentages, variants on business, economics, and history majors were still the ones most likely to vote for Goldwater. In fields where at least 20 students, handed in Crimson polls,

35% of the business students were for BMG

25% of History & Science majors

22% of Anthropology majors

20% of Economics majors

20% of History majors

20% of History and Literature majors

18% of Biology majors

18% of Chemistry majors

15% of Government majors

15% of Arch SCI majors

14% of Social Studies majors

14% of Biochemistry majors

14% of Engineering majors

13% of Fine Arts majors.

13% of Law students

11% of Social Relations majors

9% of English majors

7% of Medical students

7% of Philosophy majors

6% of Math majors

0% of Education students

But the social scientists at Radcliffe were in complete disagreement with their Harvard counterparts. Only 1 of the 16 female economists, only 2 of the 58 historians, and only 1 of the 58 History and Literature majors at the Cliffe filling out ballots were for Goldwater. Among girls, it was mostly the scientists:

15% of Math majors at Radcliffe were for BMG (4 out of 27)

11% of Biochemistry majors (4 out of 38)

6% of English majors (8 out of 126).

No other field gave Goldwater more than two votes. And while Radcliffe as a whole only gave Goldwater 6% of its vote, Cabot Hall gave the conservative 17% of its vote, with 10 girls voting in the largest single bloc for BMG. Although Moore and Holmes gave Goldwater 7 votes apiece, this was not more than the college average percentage. History  69 Government  58 English  38 Economics  35 Biology  31 Math  18 Physics  18 Social Relations  18 History and Literature  14 Biochemistry  13 Medicine (the Med School)  13 Chemistry  10