Is there a correlation between school "popularity" and political views?

[darklordoftech]

For example, are people who were "popular" in middle/high more likely to grow up to be Trump supporters?

[Galaxie]

wat

[Del Tachi]

No

[DINGO Joe]

Everybody at the Cooley School of Law is popular and Trump dominates that demographic.  At least among those who aren't in jail.

[Wisconsin SC Race 2019]

Considering the alt-right is full of basement dwellers, nah. I'd say it does correlate more to having voted Romney over Obama, though.

[Adam Griffin]

Looking back at my primary and secondary school crowd and knowing what I do about the opinions of those then and those who I still know now, I'd say there was a strong correlation between "being popular = GOP" and "not being popular = DEM". I think the exercise would be pretty futile when applied to college campuses.

If anything, though, I imagine a correlation would exist more along the lines of "popular = prevailing political opinion of the community" and "not being popular = minority opinion of the community". In other words, those who fit in will fit in politically, and those who are outcasts will be political outcasts.

[darklordoftech]

Looking back at my primary and secondary school crowd and knowing what I do about the opinions of those then and those who I still know now, I'd say there was a strong correlation between "being popular = GOP" and "not being popular = DEM". I think the exercise would be pretty futile when applied to college campuses.

If anything, though, I imagine a correlation would exist more along the lines of "popular = prevailing political opinion of the community" and "not being popular = minority opinion of the community". In other words, those who fit in will fit in politically, and those who are outcasts will be political outcasts.

What I had in mind is that anti-intellectualism, tribalism, bullying, being confrontational, etc. stereotypically go with being popular in school and with being a Republican as an adult while valueing education, inclusiveness, timidness, etc. stereotypically go with being unpopular in school and with being a Democrat as an adult.

[BidenDuckworth2020]

Popularity rankings:
1. Establishment Republicans
2. Establishment Democrats
3. Berniecrats
4. Trumpists

[Zaybay]

I think this is genuinely true, but it also has to do with the traits that the two groups, popular and unpopular, have.

To start with the Dems, they are usually more emotional(as a child), more empathetic, and less confrontational. This is the textbook definition of a wuss, in middle and high school terms, and can lead to unpopularity. They are also more academic, and less likely to be in sport programs, which would make them much more likely to be drawn up as a nerd, which still has a negative conotation.

Compare that to the Reps, who are more confrontational, more suave, and generally much less empathetic. This leads to the general popular guy/girl, who gets what they want, and can befriend/dump anyone. Rs are generally more situated in sports programs, so they also represent a large population of jocks. The Rs are also more rebellious to the cultural norm, at the moment, and so, the more cool kids, the ones who are rebelling, will probably be closer to Republicans than Democrats, though it depends on what they are rebelling for, if against the parents, D, if against the system or culture, R.

Basically, the stereotype is that the Ds are wusses, and the Rs are bullies, which make the Rs popular in middle and high school, and unpopular in college, where those traits are deemed less suitable in adulthood.

THis is anecdotal, but my younger sibling, who is started high school back in 2016, would always tell me how the popular kids would parade their Trump support, and they told me how upsetting it was to see that Trump might win the school election, considering how it seemed that all of the school was R and they were the only D. And then they voted. Hillary got 75% of the vote. So it does seem, as in real life, that perhaps their support is a bit overstated.

[King of Kensington]

For example, are people who were "popular" in middle/high more likely to grow up to be Trump supporters?

I doubt there's any hard evidence, but probably.

[RINO Tom]

I can only speak to my high school, which I attended from Fall 2006 to Spring 2010 (to give an idea of the political climate).  I also went to high school in a very liberal and heavily Democratic area, Iowa City.  I would say that among the most popular kids, political views were concentrated well to the right of the school as a whole.  I would also say that some of the most unpopular kids were pretty left-wing.  However, I would say that there was almost no correlation between those two extremes.

[Wisconsin SC Race 2019]

What this tells me is that a lot of people in this forum have been bullied before and have an axe to grind.

[DC Al Fine]

The popular kids have better things to do than think about politics FFS. The real correlation is kids with political views are unpopular.

[OSR stands with Israel]

LOL No

[Kamala's side hoe]

Popularity rankings:
1. Establishment Republicans
2. Establishment Democrats
3. Berniecrats
4. Trumpists

This makes sense if you consider how socioeconomic class factors into "popularity".

[Yellowhammer]

I can't really say, because there were very few left-leaning folks at my high school; maybe a couple dozen at most. So it's hard for me to gauge.
In fact, in my graduating class, there were only three people that I would characterize as left-leaning.

[Figueira]

I'm still not convinced that high school popularity is even a thing.

[Zinneke]

The popular kids have better things to do than think about politics FFS. The real correlation is kids with political views are unpopular.

Either this, or some popular kids are smart enough to keep it to themselves.

Anyway, its an amusingly absurd question, but school unpopularity might develop inferiority complexes that generate a slant towards the left. On the other hand I find in general the success of the alt-right in the Anglophone world has suddenly become the new "edgy" ideology to adopt if one is looking to be against the tide.

[pops]

I don't know where the hell all of you went but this is what popularity looked like at my school:

1. SJWs
2. Ben Shapiro Republicans
3. Berniecrats
4. Libertarians
5. The "I like Bernie" crowd that does not follow politics
6. Trump Republicans
7. People who made fun of Gary Johnson despite not knowing anything about Aleppo
8. Socialists/Druggies/Anarchists (tied)
9. Moderate Republicans (did not exist)
10. Moderate Democrats (see #9)

[Indy Texas 🇺🇦🇵🇸]

I went to high school in the early-to-mid-2000s in a very wealthy white Republican suburb of Houston.

I don't recall any significant correlation between "popularity" and political views.

For instance one guy who was a year older than me who played varsity baseball and soccer and was always having parties at his parents' multimillion dollar house and basically looked and acted the part of the rich privileged white guy also constantly got in trouble for putting anti-Bush political cartoons up in the hallways and had a Kerry/Edwards sticker on his Jeep during the '04 election.

[Peanut]

I found that, in my high school, the "popular" clique was very socially liberal, though economically moderate. Probably related to it being a normal suburban school.

[cvparty]

i go to a wealthy suburban high school. there's a lot of trump people among the rich white popular athletic peeps, but there's a lot of overlap. the correlation is probably better with the amount of honors/AP classes someone's in. most of the popular trump supporters aren't in honors-level classes

[Tekken_Guy]

The alt right is white men who were never popular. Usually they grew up in a diverse community and developed hatred for their peers of color or female classmates. Felt that they were superior to him.

[RINO Tom]

The alt right is white men who were never popular. Usually they grew up in a diverse community and developed hatred for their peers of color or female classmates. Felt that they were superior to him.

You managed to answer under 20% of the question, LOL.

[Bandit3 the Worker]

The bullying types tend to almost always be Trumpists. I've noticed this just by looking at their Facebook profiles.

They don't know how to live in society.