PhD holders that vote Republican

[TransfemmeGoreVidal]

Which PhD fields have the most Republicans in them?

[jojoju1998]

Probably the Engineering fields. Or Business.


And theology.

[Del Tachi]

Agriculture & Life Sciences

[Alcibiades]

Agriculture & Life Sciences

I very much doubt this is true for life sciences. If any thing, you’d expect biology PhDs to be more Democratic than, say, physicists, because they’re much more female.

[Stranger in a strange land]

- Economics
- Things involving management, finance, and business administration
- Computer science (though still Dem overall)
- Engineering (though still Dem overall)

Things that you might think would but don't:
- Classical Studies: RETVRN weirdos and statue f[inks]ers do not have PhDs. Most have never even read a work of classical literature from cover to cover that wasn't assigned to them in school
- Security Studies: these people have soured on the GOP since Trumps ascendance
- Earth Science: it may have been true a long time ago that many of these programs were funded by oil & gas companies or that grads hoped to work in said companies after they completed their degrees, but nowadays Earth Science PhDs are at the forefront of advocating action on climate change and are put off by anti-science & anti-intellectual attitudes still prevalent among the GOP base

[Alcibiades]

- Economics

This is absolutely not true. The vast majority of academic economists are Democrats; the percentage only seems low in comparison to some other fields, but it is still pretty high in absolute terms.

[TransfemmeGoreVidal]

- Economics
- Things involving management, finance, and business administration
- Computer science (though still Dem overall)
- Engineering (though still Dem overall)

Things that you might think would but don't:
- Classical Studies: RETVRN weirdos and statue f[inks]ers do not have PhDs. Most have never even read a work of classical literature from cover to cover that wasn't assigned to them in school
- Security Studies: these people have soured on the GOP since Trumps ascendance
- Earth Science: it may have been true a long time ago that many of these programs were funded by oil & gas companies or that grads hoped to work in said companies after they completed their degrees, but nowadays Earth Science PhDs are at the forefront of advocating action on climate change and are put off by anti-science & anti-intellectual attitudes still prevalent among the GOP base

Not sure about computer science either tbh. There’s a lot of trans people in the computer science field so I’d tend to think they’d lean socially liberal overall but I could be wrong.

[TheElectoralBoobyPrize]

- Economics

This is absolutely not true. The vast majority of academic economists are Democrats; the percentage only seems low in comparison to some other fields, but it is still pretty high in absolute terms.

Yeah, the data I've seen shows that it's just not as lopsided as say sociology or poli-sci.

[Del Tachi]

Agriculture & Life Sciences

I very much doubt this is true for life sciences. If any thing, you’d expect biology PhDs to be more Democratic than, say, physicists, because they’re much more female.

"Agriculture & Life Sciences" are collectively the degree programs you'd expect to only see at land-grant institutions.  For example:  

--Agricultural Economics
--Animal Science
--Crop Management
--Food Science & Technology
--Forestry
--Horticultural Sciences
--Nutrition
--Poultry Sciences
--Rangeland, Wildlife & Fisheries Management
--Recreation & Tourism Sciences
--Soil Sciences
--Veterinary Sciences

All these fields have in common that they're concerned with the management of land, plants and animals for human use (i.e., agriculture.)  In contrast to biology, they involve an inherently interdisciplinary approach and tend to overwhelmingly attract students from agricultural/rural backgrounds (hence why they'd be Republican-leaning.)    

[Alcibiades]

Agriculture & Life Sciences

I very much doubt this is true for life sciences. If any thing, you’d expect biology PhDs to be more Democratic than, say, physicists, because they’re much more female.

"Agriculture & Life Sciences" are collectively the degree programs you'd expect to only see at land-grant institutions.  For example:  

--Agricultural Economics
--Animal Science
--Crop Management
--Food Science & Technology
--Forestry
--Horticultural Sciences
--Nutrition
--Poultry Sciences
--Rangeland, Wildlife & Fisheries Management
--Recreation & Tourism Sciences
--Soil Sciences
--Veterinary Sciences

All these fields have in common that they're concerned with the management of land, plants and animals for human use (i.e., agriculture.)  In contrast to biology, they involve an inherently interdisciplinary approach and tend to overwhelmingly attract students from agricultural/rural backgrounds (hence why they'd be Republican-leaning.)    

Ah, I see. I thought you meant life sciences in general, as separate from agriculture, rather than this specific category.

[ملكة كرينجيتوك]

Agriculture & Life Sciences

I very much doubt this is true for life sciences. If any thing, you’d expect biology PhDs to be more Democratic than, say, physicists, because they’re much more female.

"Agriculture & Life Sciences" are collectively the degree programs you'd expect to only see at land-grant institutions.  For example:  

--Agricultural Economics
--Animal Science
--Crop Management
--Food Science & Technology
--Forestry
--Horticultural Sciences
--Nutrition
--Poultry Sciences
--Rangeland, Wildlife & Fisheries Management
--Recreation & Tourism Sciences
--Soil Sciences
--Veterinary Sciences

All these fields have in common that they're concerned with the management of land, plants and animals for human use (i.e., agriculture.)  In contrast to biology, they involve an inherently interdisciplinary approach and tend to overwhelmingly attract students from agricultural/rural backgrounds (hence why they'd be Republican-leaning.)    

I don't get the impression that PhD holders in any of these fields outright lean R, at least in the Pacific Northwest. Then again I don't perceive Computer Science to be a particularly R field either.

[Secretary of State Liberal Hack]

People here don't realy understand who get's engineering PHD's these days when they say it's a republican leaning field. The hard truth is that 80% of Engineering PHD students are international students who for obvious reasons can't vote. The remainder are those who are motivated to pursue an academic careers at the expense of their earning potential.

Engineer PHD's aren't something you do for money; sure they pay is comfortable and you'll almost definitely get a job compared to humanities PHD's but there's zero monetary benefit compared to simply doing a masters. The kind of person who wants to sacrifice earning potenial for an academic careers is not going to be republican.

[Secretary of State Liberal Hack]

Agriculture & Life Sciences

I very much doubt this is true for life sciences. If any thing, you’d expect biology PhDs to be more Democratic than, say, physicists, because they’re much more female.

"Agriculture & Life Sciences" are collectively the degree programs you'd expect to only see at land-grant institutions.  For example:  

--Agricultural Economics
--Animal Science
--Crop Management
--Food Science & Technology
--Forestry
--Horticultural Sciences
--Nutrition
--Poultry Sciences
--Rangeland, Wildlife & Fisheries Management
--Recreation & Tourism Sciences
--Soil Sciences
--Veterinary Sciences

All these fields have in common that they're concerned with the management of land, plants and animals for human use (i.e., agriculture.)  In contrast to biology, they involve an inherently interdisciplinary approach and tend to overwhelmingly attract students from agricultural/rural backgrounds (hence why they'd be Republican-leaning.)    

I don't get the impression that PhD holders in any of these fields outright lean R, at least in the Pacific Northwest. Then again I don't perceive Computer Science to be a particularly R field either.

When I was out campaigning at A&M, one the people who also volunttered was an agricultural economics proffesor.

[○∙◄☻¥tπ[╪AV┼cVê└]

Business and fossil fuel extraction. But those aren't that common to get a PhD in.

[AtorBoltox]

PhD's awarded by Christian colleges that are barely more than degree mills

[Del Tachi]

Agriculture & Life Sciences

I very much doubt this is true for life sciences. If any thing, you’d expect biology PhDs to be more Democratic than, say, physicists, because they’re much more female.

"Agriculture & Life Sciences" are collectively the degree programs you'd expect to only see at land-grant institutions.  For example: 

--Agricultural Economics
--Animal Science
--Crop Management
--Food Science & Technology
--Forestry
--Horticultural Sciences
--Nutrition
--Poultry Sciences
--Rangeland, Wildlife & Fisheries Management
--Recreation & Tourism Sciences
--Soil Sciences
--Veterinary Sciences

All these fields have in common that they're concerned with the management of land, plants and animals for human use (i.e., agriculture.)  In contrast to biology, they involve an inherently interdisciplinary approach and tend to overwhelmingly attract students from agricultural/rural backgrounds (hence why they'd be Republican-leaning.)   

I don't get the impression that PhD holders in any of these fields outright lean R, at least in the Pacific Northwest. Then again I don't perceive Computer Science to be a particularly R field either.

This is probably true for new graduates.  But I get the impression that, at least in the South, departments like soil or poultry science have mostly Republican faculty.  Fields like ag econ and fisheries probably are outright D-leaning these days, but that's been a shift that has only happened in the last 10-20 years.

If you want to track this at the macro level, it's interesting to look at presidential results in counties with big land-grant colleges.  Brazos, TX; Riley, KS; Tippecanoe, IN; etc. are all quite a bit more Republican than college towns of comparable size, even if the recent trends have looked good for Democrats.

[RINO Tom]

I think a much more interesting question (with several more examples) might be which graduate degree holders by industry/major/whatever vote Republican.

[Benjamin Frank]

It used to be the case 20 or so years ago (and going back before that) that scientists were Democrats but engineers were Republicans (and by wide margins, like at least 80-20 both ways.) However, now a majority of engineers are Democrats as well the last time I heard.

Computer science seems to be the largest field for libertarians.

[MyLifeIsYours]

Fields relating to military would skew more conservative on average. Law enforcement types would be the same, though I could see Forsenics skewing more liberal on average because of the science involved. 

[Secretary of State Liberal Hack]

I think a much more interesting question (with several more examples) might be which graduate degree holders by industry/major/whatever vote Republican.

I think ultimately gender and racial divides among students in the field are the main thing that determine whether something leans right or left rather than the program itself. In my experience Female engineering graduate are as left-wing as their humanities counterparts but males are significantly more right which due to their overrepresentation probably leads to, their fields being more republican leaning. 

If I had to rank engineering majors in terms of how republican/democrat, they are i'd say beyond the obvious Oil & Gas, Mining being republican and Environmental and Ocean engineering being liberal. The main factor determining the leaning of majors is just how many women and minorities are in it.



*note this is based on my experience at Texas A&M which is a very right-wing realtive to most universities

[Vice President Christian Man]

Law enforcement, business, agriculture & military although there's probably less in the later 2 categories that still vote "R" than in previous years.

[Ragnaroni]

Oil and Gas? Older ones (like 45+)