How Do You Politically Compare To Your School/Workplace?

[H. Ross Peron]

I average out to probably being roughly median in my university. Obviously owing to my pro-life stance, I'm probably one of the most socially conservative people at my university but even here my stances on economic issues are probably somewhat left of centre if one takes into account the Moderate Heroes, libertarians, and Clinton Democrats especially since I'm far more oriented toward "Big Idea" projects and programs than most liberals. There probably are enough far leftists and progressive Democrats though to keep my

At my high school which was in suburban Orange County, CA composed primarily of middle-class Asians and whites, I was almost certainly to the left of centre. Once again my pro-life stance probably pushed me among the more socially conservative people there although there definitely were a lot of people who were if anything to the right of me. Still considering most of the liberals there were relatively ideologically fuzzy and owing to the large number of upper middle class types there, my economic views pushed me well to the left of median there.

[Hatman 🍁]

Four of the programmers here (including me) took the Toronto Star values test, and 2 of us got "social democrat" and the other two got "post materialist leftist" (including me).

[Sprouts Farmers Market ✘]

My HS - very much to the right. I recall 2 other conservatives in my grade (plus one more since graduation).

College - certainly to the left. Everyone's a Republican, but the "bad type" of Republicans are the majority. College Democrats are more active though as they've pushed for more speakers. A lot of the stereotypical "I'm a Republican because of course - just look at me" without putting much thought into it.

[Oakvale]

I don't know most people's political opinions (normal).

[Mr. Smith]

At my old place of employment, which was Cal's RSF,...I was to the far-right. Most there were either the "screw politics but especially the Republicans" type of liberals who forget to vote, Snowstalker-esque Marxists, or SJW's.

At my university, I'm to the far left. Most here tend to be of the So-Con persuasion, and with a corporatist streak. The Democrats around here are practically underground by nature.

But when you reside in the highest Ed Gillespie area, what else is the outcome?

[DC Al Fine]

I guess I'm somewhat to the right. It's a pretty even mix of Tories and Liberals, with a definite lack of NDP supporters.

[Del Tachi]

Significantly to the left on both social and economic issues

[windjammer]

I don't know most people's political opinions (normal).

[Associate Justice PiT]

     I'm pretty far to the right compared to my alma mater. A little less so compared to my workplace.

[Chunk Yogurt for President!]

In high school I was much more centrist than I was now.

But now in college I am to the right domestically but also considerably more dovish.  I'm also surrounded by people who have a reflexive support for the police when someone is shot by a cop.  Of course, when the cops try to arrest them for doing something really stupid after getting plastered, then they become massive HPs in their mind.

[TDAS04]

My college is pretty liberal for South Dakota, but I'm guessing I'm to the left of the majority of students there.

[Fmr President & Senator Polnut]

I work in a politically-involved environment, so everyone's views come out sooner or later. I think we're all broadly of the progressive left... except for one, who's a moron.

[Phony Moderate]

Well to the left economically, probably not much difference socially.

[Clarko95 📚💰📈]

My college is extremely left-wing, so I am to it's right, while my workplace is pretty conservative, so I am a bit to the left.

[angus]

How Do You Politically Compare To Your School/Workplace?

I bet I fit right in.  My colleagues are fairly pragmatic and non-aligned, also very stoic.  Sure, they whine and complain about the public's lack of interest in truly important matters, but they none of them try to persuade anyone toward any causes, and those with whom I've discussed such matters neither donate money to any causes nor vote any more often than once every two years at the most.  They're well informed about society, but mostly amused by it.  Cynicism prevails, and many will admit readily to me that democracy is over-rated. 

[Boston Bread]

Judging by the results from the polls/precincts where my university is at, I would be slightly to the left of the median voter, who would be a liberal. Typically the Liberals do well here, and Conservatives fare poorly. 40% Liberal, 30% NDP, and 20% Conservative would be a typical result. However compared to other schools in Canada we're much more apolitical (really low turnout) so the median voter wouldn't really be a liberal but rather someone who is uninformed or apathetic about politics. So far almost everyone I've discussed politics at my university with has been a liberal, interestingly.

My high school is more competitive politically. In the mock student vote Conservatives actually won twice (2011 Federal, 2011 Provincial). For some reason, Liberals aren't popular, and in those elections Greens and NDP got second place. In the 2014 provincial the NDP actually won the mock student vote narrowly, with PC and Green close behind. I would be somewhat more to the left of my high school, but still not a lot. The people I know there are evenly split between Liberals, Conservatives, and Greens, not many Dippers, so I was surprised to hear that the NDP won the mock vote.

[TNF]

High School

Then (2005-2009) Definitely to the left of the average student, given that I supported Obama in a county that is 97% white, very rural, and hasn't voted for a Democrat for President since 2000. My friends who were political at the time were to the right of me, with maybe one exception, and even he was slightly to my right. Lots of Democrats, but they were all Kentucky Democrats, so make of that what you will.

Now (2015) Far, far to the left, obviously.


University

Then (2009-2013) I didn't decide that I was a socialist until right before my last semester, so it varied. The average college student in my area is probably more or less a moderate liberal, although again, pretty much everyone I spoke with about politics was noticeably conservative or libertarian. Needless to say I ended up far, far to the left of everyone outside of the few anarchists I became friends with during the four years I was there, but even then I could count the number of the far-left on campus probably on one hand.

Now (2015) Not much has changed, although I'm far less squishy on the issue of anarchism (it's a waste of time/petty bourgeois bullsh#t) than I was in college and far less willing to identify with 'democratic' socialism (not that I reject democracy, I just don't pretend that 'democratic socialists' or 'social democrats' are in any way actually committed to achieving socialism).


Job #1 (Office Assistant, Summer 2008)

To the left, again. My boss and his boss were Republicans and I was a 'progressive' Democrat.

Job #2 (Fast Food, Summer 2009 - Summer 2013)

More or less to the left, but had a lot of good conversations with the people that I worked with about unions, wages and hours, etc. Unsurprisingly most of them thought that unions were a good idea and that we should be paid more. Pretty much everyone had a 'live and let live' attitude as far as things like LGBT rights and drug use went, but then again the average worker was probably in their late 20s and terribly underpaid, so I guess it comes with the territory.

Job #3 (College newspaper, Spring 2012 - Winter 2013)

Most of my colleagues were liberals, although both of the bosses that I had while I was there were libertarians. So obviously I was to everyone's left.

Job #4 (Local newspaper, Summer 2013)

Only really interacted with one person, and as far as I know the paper is more or less allied with the local Democratic Party machine. So to the left yet again.

Job #5 (Fast Food (again), Winter 2014 - Summer 2014)

Returned to the bad place for most of 2014, and not much had changed. Everyone did seem a tad more willing to talk about unions and those kind of things. I'd say to the left mostly because there wasn't a clear ideology to speak of, but I did talk with a few workers about communism and they thought it sounded like a good idea.

Job #6 (Canvassing, Spring 2014)

The only place were I can say that I had more or less mainstream political views was doing canvassing with a union group. One of my co-workers is an active communist militant in Chicago, so there's that.

Job #7 (Big Box Retail, Summer 2014 - Present)

Not a whole lot of talk about politics, but when unions have been brought up (offhandedly), there seems to be positive response. I'm obviously far to the left of pretty much everyone, though.

Job #8 (Grocery store, Summer 2014 - Present)

My first ever union job, which is funny in that most of the workers there seem to be a little more conservative than I'm used to encountering, but this is also a Republican suburban area, so there's also that. I do have a few co-workers who are fairly politically progressive, though, and supportive of our union. I'm still far on the left of everyone else, though.

Job #9 (Substitute teaching, Autumn 2014 - Present)

Really not sure. Safe to assume that no one is to my left, though.

[Arturo Belano]

I don't know most people's political opinions (normal).

[memphis]

Just about everybody here thinks a lot more about politics than anybody else at his workplace. That's a much more significant thing than any I lean to the right of most people on x.... sort of reply to this question.

[The Dowager Mod]

My workplace is 100% in agreement with me in all things.  :/

[politicus]

My workplace is 100% in agreement with me in all things.  :/

So you work alone?

[Miles]

At LSU, I fit in pretty well in that Jindal was (is) universally despised for his gross mismanagement of the state's education system.

[The Dowager Mod]

My workplace is 100% in agreement with me in all things.  :/

So you work alone?

HausFrau.

[anvi]

My present permanent workplace (in Illinois) has a pretty wide range of political orientations, so I couldn't generalize.  At my previous job, though, every other full-time employee in my department was a Marxist of some stripe.  They found me really politically conservative, and found ways to communicate that to me toward the end.

[Mr. Illini]

My university (U of I at Urbana-Champaign) is actually fairly apolitical. You really don't have the "activist" culture that some big public universities have. The school is largely divided into these groups, with my estimated percentages:

Loud left-wing activists (10%) - we still have this group, although it is smaller than at Ann Arbor or Madison. There was a big protest on the quad after the Brown/Garner decisions.

Silent Republican (15%) - there's actually a good number of Republicans on campus, but they aren't very political. They go that way because of their parents or because it is "frat." They are left-wing on social issues and centrist or center-right on economic issues. Our business school is large and many of this group are part of that.

Ag Republican (5%) - I've noticed that the agriculture students really stand out as vocally Republican. Many come from downstate and were loud in support of Rauner. This is the most annoying group on campus, albeit smaller.

Silent Democrat (15%) - the corresponding Democratic group. Come from Democratic families and follow suit. They don't know much about the issues other than gay marriage, which they are outspoken about when it is in the news.

Apolitical (65%) - don't care. Really sad that it is such a high number.

Averaging it all out, I am probably right on par with the average or maybe slightly to the left with my sometimes-left-of-Democrats economic stances. It's a politically diverse campus. You won't hardly find a social conservative anywhere. You get some fiscal conservatism (Rauner won one of the campus precincts that encompasses the Catholic dorm and some of the Greek houses). You also have your leftists. Hard to judge since it is such a large school.