Uploaded March 2026 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
Are universities really dominated by left-leaning faculty? We reviewed the latest research on the political ideologies and party affiliations of U.S. university professors to separate fact from narrative.
Key findings from our review:
• Left-leaning faculty consistently outnumber right-leaning faculty across studies
• Liberal-to-conservative ratios range from 2:1 to 82:1 depending on the study
• Significant variation exists across disciplines (humanities vs. STEM vs. economics)
• Sizable shares of faculty identify as moderate or politically unaffiliated
• The most rigorous studies tend to produce the lowest estimates of political imbalance
Read the full report: heterodoxacademy.org/reports/how-politically-diverse-are-university-faculty
Are universities really dominated by left-leaning faculty? We reviewed the latest research on the political ideologies and party affiliations of U.S. university professors to separate fact from narrative.
Key findings from our review:
• Left-leaning faculty consistently outnumber right-leaning faculty across studies
• Liberal-to-conservative ratios range from 2:1 to 82:1 depending on the study
• Significant variation exists across disciplines (humanities vs. STEM vs. economics)
• Sizable shares of faculty identify as moderate or politically unaffiliated
• The most rigorous studies tend to produce the lowest estimates of political imbalance
Read the full report: heterodoxacademy.org/reports/how-politically-diverse-are-university-faculty
