How do fraternities and sororities members vote?

[Bootes Void]

I'd have assume in the south and some parts of the Midwest they would be fairly republican although some sororities may have shifted in 2016 for Clinton and maybe some fraternities in 2020 for Biden

As for the East coast and West coast, I'd say they are close to split but tilt depending on the location. What do you think?

[H. Ross Peron]

*Current* fraternity and sorority members in blue state colleges have probably been at least lean Dem since Obama. In most states outside of maybe the Mountain West/Plains and white majority colleges in the Deep South, Biden definitely won current frat/sorority members.

[Del Tachi]

Fraternity and sorority membership has been growing much slower than overall college enrollment for several decades now, exactly because enrollment growth is not being driven by an increase in the college-going rates among your prototypical Greek student demographics (i.e., White UMC.)  The result is probably that Greek students are increasingly less likely to represent the politics of the college student population at-large.

[Хahar 🤔]

I am agreement with both of the replies above. My own observation in college and since has been that fraternities and sororities actually draw from fairly different pools. Fraternity membership tends to be driven more by similarity in interests; young men join fraternities because they're interested in the frat lifestyle, et cetera, and this tends to be less dependent on their ethnic or socioeconomic background. By contrast, the decision to join a sorority for young women tends to be much more motivated by who they are; if you're a white woman whose family has money, then it's the thing to do, especially if your mother was in a sorority. The result is that sorority members tend to have more diverse interests; my own interests when I was in college put me in touch with many sorority members but few fraternity members.

From the standpoint of politics, I suspect that this means that sorority members would be somewhat more representative of voting patterns among young upper middle class white women than fraternity members would be for the analogous group of men. The people I know are certainly not a representative sample, but my friends who were in sororities in college were generally Harris/Warren types and all enthusiastically supported Biden in the general election. My one close friend who was in a fraternity was undecided about his primary preference until the field clearing out rendered his decision moot; he did some phonebanking for Biden last fall.

[Kuumo]

It would depend a lot on the university. Fraternities and sororities are almost always whiter and wealthier than the overall student body, so they would tend to be more conservative than college students as a whole. However, given that current college students vote strongly Democratic, current Greek students would lean at least slightly Democratic at universities that aren't state or regional schools in conservative areas or conservative-leaning private schools.

Anecdotally, at my university, fraternity and sorority members didn't seem all that different from non-Greek students other than being more overwhelmingly upper middle class/wealthy and domestic. There were quite a few black, Latino, and especially Asian members, and the Greek students regardless of race and ethnicity seemed to be almost as left-leaning as the rest of the students.

[Never Made it to Graceland]

Greek life people, at least fraternities, tend to be douchebags. At my undergrad during the 2016 election one of the houses had three dudes sitting outside with a "honk 4 Trump" sign.

[Kamala's side hoe]

I can anecdotally confirm Mung Beans, Xahar, and Kuumo's posts- with the added observation that professional (i.e. non-panhellenic, not associated with a residential building on Greek Row) fraternities don't have quite the same "upper-crust Romney Republican" vibe as panhellenic associations, even if they are still more bougie and preppier than the student body as a whole.

[TJ in Oregon]

At the University of Wisconsin, the precinct with most of the frats has traditionally been the most heavily Democratic precinct on campus.

[H. Ross Peron]

At the University of Wisconsin, the precinct with most of the frats has traditionally been the most heavily Democratic precinct on campus.

This is interesting. Any guesses as to why?

[TJ in Oregon]

At the University of Wisconsin, the precinct with most of the frats has traditionally been the most heavily Democratic precinct on campus.

This is interesting. Any guesses as to why?

Hard to say for sure, but I'd guess it has something to do with demographic differences between the students who join Greek life from the general student body. One of the common tropes about the UW student body is the division between Sconnies (ie students who are from Wisconsin) and Coasties (ie students from the coasts). There is a long list of stereotypes associated with each, but suffice to say being in a frat is a Coastie stereotype, and that we would expect Coasties to vote quite a bit to the left of Sconnies.

[palandio]

Interesting. The associations that come closest to fraternities in Germany (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Studentenverbindung) have a staunchly conservative reputation, although judging from the fraternity members that I know, they are not as homogeneous as you might think. Austria seems to be more extreme, as far as I know.

[Alcibiades]

Interesting. The associations that come closest to fraternities in Germany (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Studentenverbindung) have a staunchly conservative reputation, although judging from the fraternity members that I know, they are not as homogeneous as you might think. Austria seems to be more extreme, as far as I know.

Yeah, the FPÖ recruits many of its future leaders from nationalist fraternities.

[beesley]

What's the main incentive to join a fraternity or sorority? What differentiates each individual one? Based on what I've heard, I'm glad that they don't have them in our unis.

[Kamala's side hoe]

What's the main incentive to join a fraternity or sorority? What differentiates each individual one? Based on what I've heard, I'm glad that they don't have them in our unis.

There are panhellenic fraternities and sororities, which are more social in nature, generally single-sex, and are usually associated with a residential building on Greek Row. And there are professional fraternities, which are usually co-ed/mixed-gender, not associated with a frat/sorority house, oriented around a vocational field or academic interest (engineering, business, pre-law, pre-med, pre-health, community service, etc), and are less strongly associated with partying. Both types have an initiation process, dues to pay per term, and regularly scheduled events and meetings. Both types can be good ways to make friends in college and potential future networking connections. 

[beesley]

What's the main incentive to join a fraternity or sorority? What differentiates each individual one? Based on what I've heard, I'm glad that they don't have them in our unis.

There are panhellenic fraternities and sororities, which are more social in nature, generally single-sex, and are usually associated with a residential building on Greek Row. And there are professional fraternities, which are usually co-ed/mixed-gender, not associated with a frat/sorority house, oriented around a vocational field or academic interest (engineering, business, pre-law, pre-med, pre-health, community service, etc), and are less strongly associated with partying. Both types have an initiation process, dues to pay per term, and regularly scheduled events and meetings. Both types can be good ways to make friends in college and potential future networking connections. 

Oh I see. The latter just seem like what I would call a student society. Thanks very much.

[H. Ross Peron]

What's the main incentive to join a fraternity or sorority? What differentiates each individual one? Based on what I've heard, I'm glad that they don't have them in our unis.

There are panhellenic fraternities and sororities, which are more social in nature, generally single-sex, and are usually associated with a residential building on Greek Row. And there are professional fraternities, which are usually co-ed/mixed-gender, not associated with a frat/sorority house, oriented around a vocational field or academic interest (engineering, business, pre-law, pre-med, pre-health, community service, etc), and are less strongly associated with partying. Both types have an initiation process, dues to pay per term, and regularly scheduled events and meetings. Both types can be good ways to make friends in college and potential future networking connections. 

There also are religious fraternities and sororities, especially Jewish as well as Evangelical Christian ones.

[Indy Texas]

I am agreement with both of the replies above. My own observation in college and since has been that fraternities and sororities actually draw from fairly different pools. Fraternity membership tends to be driven more by similarity in interests; young men join fraternities because they're interested in the frat lifestyle, et cetera, and this tends to be less dependent on their ethnic or socioeconomic background. By contrast, the decision to join a sorority for young women tends to be much more motivated by who they are; if you're a white woman whose family has money, then it's the thing to do, especially if your mother was in a sorority. The result is that sorority members tend to have more diverse interests; my own interests when I was in college put me in touch with many sorority members but few fraternity members.

Some of this probably stems from the fact that Greek life is asymmetrical. Fraternities throw wild parties at which crazy shenanigans happen. Sororities do not. Guys in fraternities are expected to make drunken fools of themselves and it is heavily encouraged. Sorority girls are supposed to have a good time but conduct themselves "well" and the consequences of failing to do so are far graver than they would be if the same offense were committed by a male frater. This creates a selection bias. I knew plenty of "quiet, bookish" girls who were in sororities but that type of guy is basically absent from Greek life.

There's also the fact that all-male and all-female organizations have very different implications. An all-male group of any kind is basically by definition reactionary. But all-female groups can be reactionary or quite progressive depending on the context. So you have sororities at places like Ole Miss that are basically just blonde former cheerleaders and pageant queens majoring in communications and determined to get an engagement ring on their finger by senior year or soon after. And you have sororities at places like Northwestern that raise money for Planned Parenthood and are very active in sexual assault awareness and gay rights and whatever else.

Somewhat predictably, no one has mentioned the very distinct institution that is historically Black fraternities and sororities. Those play an enormous role in Democratic politics in African-American constituencies. Candidates will often go to chapter meetings to campaign (unlike white Greek organizations, black Greek organizations basically continue functioning as social clubs/community service organizations for their members after they leave college and are well into adulthood) and if you are a young black person who wants to be involved in politics by working your way up through the traditional black Democratic power structure, it would be a great benefit to you to join one of these groups in college. Last year, the Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority played a big role in Democratic GOTV efforts and I often saw their pink-and-green signs in people's yards.

[WindowPhil]

Greek life people, at least fraternities, tend to be douchebags. At my undergrad during the 2016 election one of the houses had three dudes sitting outside with a "honk 4 Trump" sign.

Fraternities (at least the heavily white ones) strike me as very Bro-ey organizations with many Trump supporting Evangelical/Conservative-Catholic former high school athlete college students.

Sororities and more diverse fraternities strike me as having members who are heavily establishment Dem.

[WindowPhil]

I knew plenty of "quiet, bookish" girls who were in sororities but that type of guy is basically absent from Greek life.

Quietness and Bookishness isn't really a thing among American men though, to be fair. Most guys in the United States conduct themselves pretty extroverted and gregariously.

[H. Ross Peron]

I knew plenty of "quiet, bookish" girls who were in sororities but that type of guy is basically absent from Greek life.

Quietness and Bookishness isn't really a thing among American men though, to be fair. Most guys in the United States conduct themselves pretty extroverted and gregariously.

It may be a relatively small group, but they hardly are nonexistent and they certainly are overrepresented on college campuses.

[palandio]

Interesting. The associations that come closest to fraternities in Germany (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Studentenverbindung) have a staunchly conservative reputation, although judging from the fraternity members that I know, they are not as homogeneous as you might think. Austria seems to be more extreme, as far as I know.

Yeah, the FPÖ recruits many of its future leaders from nationalist fraternities.

Most Austrian fraternities belong to one of two camps:
Catholic fraternities, organized in the Cartellverband (CV) and the slightly less reactionary Kartellverband (KV) are politically close to the conservative ÖVP. All Catholic fraternities (and confessional fraternities in general) reject academic fencing.
The FPÖ on the other hand draws many politicians from fraternities that practice academic fencing, in particular Burschenschaften organized in the Deutsche Burschenschaft (DB), but also to a lesser degree from the not explicitly political Corps and Landsmannschaften.

[Skill and Chance]

As adult alumni, former fraternity members are probably Likely R and former sorority members are probably Lean R today.  This is a substantially more conservative demographic than college students writ large, and also skews Southern/Midwestern.   

Now, for people currently in fraternities/sororities, I would say tilt R for the guys and tilt D for the ladies.  Again, these are disproportionately the most culturally conservative college students.

[Kamala's side hoe]

At the University of Wisconsin, the precinct with most of the frats has traditionally been the most heavily Democratic precinct on campus.

It’s the opposite at UW Seattle- Greek Row is noticeably more R than the rest of campus. Not that precinct results on campus are politically representative of the student body or the faculty.

Piggybacking off of Mung Beans and Indy Texas, I’m pretty sure there’s a sorority that’s designated for Latina women that has chapters at UW Seattle and maybe WSU-Pullman. There was a Latina sorority featured in the movie 21 and Over (which was filmed on the UW Seattle campus).

[Sol]

Sorry to necro an old thread, but there's a precinct in Knoxville (10-W) where virtually the entire population is in UTK's Sorority Village. It voted for Trump by a fairly amount in 2016 (68%-25%) and then had a tie in 2020.

[Хahar 🤔]

Sorry to necro an old thread, but there's a precinct in Knoxville (10-W) where virtually the entire population is in UTK's Sorority Village. It voted for Trump by a fairly amount in 2016 (68%-25%) and then had a tie in 2020.

Unfortunately, only 18 votes were cast in precinct 10W in 2020, so I'm not sure how usable these results are. In 2018, the precinct voted 22 to 12 for Lee but 21 to 12 for Bredesen.

There were 69 votes cast there in 2016, so this may have been a result of the unusual circumstances of the 2020 election. We'll see how many votes are cast in that precinct next month.