Election Entry: Wolfpackers really are more red & Tar heels really are more blue

Miscellaneous & Fun Stuff64

We are not going to completely ignore the biggest the story in the world today; but, at least we can kick off the entry by tying the election to our primary focus here on the blog.

With that said, I thought you would be interested in this little poll put together by the folks at Elon. It is always interesting to me how numbers and statistics often support stereotypes and generalities. (Of course, the stereotypes have to evolve from SOMEWHERE — usually they evolve from more truth than not or the ideas wouldn’t stand the test of time)

It seems the jersey colors of the premier men’s college basketball teams from North Carolina might also reveal their fans’ picks for president.

The latest Elon University Poll asked likely voters to share which North Carolina men’s hoops programs they support during college basketball season. Of the top three schools cited in the poll:

Those who wear the “red” of the North Carolina State University Wolfpack overwhelmingly back Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney, the former governor of Massachusetts, by a 59-30 margin.

UNC Tar Heel fans and their “Carolina blue” apparel prefer incumbent President Barack Obama this fall by a 53-41 margin.

And Duke University? Blue Devils supporters are nearly divided with a slight edge favoring Obama (47-45 percent).

In the race for North Carolina governor, it turns out there is something that unites diehard fans of all persuasions: Pat McCrory.

The Republican former mayor of Charlotte, N.C., draws support from all three fan bases, most notably from N.C. State fans, where 63 percent of Wolfpack voters said they support McCrory over his Democratic opponent, Lt. Gov. Walter Dalton. Tar Heel fans would vote for McCrory as well by a 52-38 margin. Duke fans are more evenly divided, though McCrory still holds a 47-43 edge.

The live-caller telephone poll of 1,238 likely voters was conducted Oct. 21-26, 2012, and has an overall margin of error of 2.79 percentage points. Both landlines and cell phones were included in the sample.

Just because NC State supporters tend to be more conservative and support Republican candidates does not mean that the professors and administrators in West Raleigh follow step. This tidbit of work done by Technician would seem to indicate that the beliefs of NC State students and faculty diverge a bit.

It is no secret that relative to most college campuses, NC State’s student body and overall campus environment has historically leaned relatively moderate-to-conservative. With this said, I would welcome your thoughts on other large universities around the country that has a similar ‘political profile’ than State. Of course, Texas A&M immediately comes to my mind as a/the bastion of conservatism for colleges. Is there anyone else that even comes close to them?

For this entry only we are going to let SFN become a little more ‘free flowing’ than normal. With this said, please feel free to politically ‘go to it’ today on this entry. You can also feel comfortable sharing news, updates and links in this entry as well in this open thread on message forums. Outside of that, the rest of our message forums – linked here – are hot with dozens of currently relevant NC State sports topics.

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Miscellaneous & Fun Stuff

64 Responses to Election Entry: Wolfpackers really are more red & Tar heels really are more blue

  1. Master 11/06/2012 at 1:42 PM #

    bluelena69 – I don’t want to change the nature of this thread, but what a crock about hard science. You liberals have hung your hat on claiming scientific superiority for years and its always based on propaganda. Whether it’s stem cells or global warming, you guys are just out and out wrong. There is just massive data against liberal scientific dogma.

  2. SqlWolf 11/06/2012 at 1:47 PM #

    ^Master, what exactly is this “liberal scientific dogma” that you reference? I have never heard of such stuff and am genuinely curious about it. I learned about the “Scientific Method” in school as an undergrad at NCState. Not once did any professors mention liberal scientific dogma.

  3. Wulfpack 11/06/2012 at 1:49 PM #

    It is all in good fun. Know plenty of liberal Wolfpackers and conservative Tar Heels. No big deal. We all want the best for this nation, just disagree somewhat about the ways to accomplish that. Enjoy being an American today.

  4. ADVENTUROO 11/06/2012 at 1:50 PM #

    Yep,

    Probably more of the EDUCATED and UNEMPLOYED youth have been huckstered by all the media and rock stars that seem to gravitate towards him.

    As time and circumstances change (folks finally figure out that those working are supporting those NOT working), they come around.

    I was young and naive in college….and then the reality hit me….I was supporting a party that wanted me to work so the bulk of their constituency would not have to. I also noticed that those that were at the top of the food chain in that party had the more lofty goals of redistribution of the ones in the middle or near the bottom. THEIR contribution was their intellect and OURS were our paychecks…

    As to Rove, he was a bit disgraced in 2006. Bush lost Congress. I do not remember him calling the 08 election for McCain. Morris is really out on a limb, but hey, he gets paid well. I do NOT ever recall Slick Willie or any of the Clinton Clan EVER refuting his comments and his influence in salvaging and remolding Bill.

    SO, maybe he is a bit off. The OTHER more realistic prognosticators (who are NOT pollsters) all have Romeny with a 275 – 285 victory.

    As one NC voter told a reporter this morning, “I’m gotta undo what the idiots did in 2008….”. Romney will be at least a 5% point favorite in the state. Between he and Pat McCrory (I hope NO Sane poster here is predicting a Walter (Mitty) Dalton victory), there will be a LARGE percentage voting straight R. That might really shake up, as well as set back, the Council of State. Can’t say that I ready for Goldman…

    So, I guess we just have to take our afternoon nap and have lots of coffee for our all nighter.

    As to the “early exit polling” results and the insider info, I do NOT doubt the accuracy of such nor refute the info presented eariler. However, I can tell you, first hand, that my son (an NCSU Grad and UNC JJD Grad) and his wife had top level clearance to the DNC data base(s) in 2004. They read all the data and were giddy all day long and called early in the evening and told me NOT to stay up too late as Kerry was the winner. They almost required counseling after the votes were actually counted. I think that any poll that shows an overwhelming victory by either side may have had its “demographics” adjusted a little bit too much.

  5. Wolfpack93 11/06/2012 at 1:52 PM #

    I’d be curious to know which of the two “main” party candidates those voting for a non-traditional party would have voted for if forced to?

    I typically find I align more closely with a third party candidate but spend the last few days leading up to the election trying to decide whether to vote my conscience or vote “against” the “bad guy”.

    My guess is that those who vote for a third party would almost unanimously vote Republican otherwise in which case the Democrats are always as a slight advantage.

  6. TruthBKnown Returns 11/06/2012 at 1:58 PM #

    bluelena, I want to respond to your “hard science” statement. But your post was very vague. I can only presume to know what you meant by that.

    In order to debate you on that topic, you’ll need to clarify exactly what “hard science” to which you were referring. Otherwise, my response can just be dismissed as a straw man argument.

    I believe you meant global warming. But you’ll need to clarify. And honestly, I don’t even want to debate that here. That is very off topic for this blog.

    I’ll just say I disagree with your premise. There is a lot more to these types of debates than simply disagreeing with scientists. For example, my big problem with the global warming topic is not so much that I think it is bunk. It is that it can no longer be discussed (causes, potential remedies, etc.) One side has accepted it as fact, and dismissed any discussion about it as lunacy. It reminds me of the 1970’s when “hard science” also told us an ice age was coming.

  7. Wolfpack93 11/06/2012 at 2:02 PM #

    I think the country needs to move in one of two directions (or a combination) to limit the “popularity contest” of the current voting method:

    1) Ballots should ask voters to vote on the topics rather than the candidate and match answers to the candidate that most closely matches the voter’s opinions. I’d be willing to bet the average American couldn’t explain why they voted the way they did without falling back on the clueless “I just like him better.”

    2) We should get rid of the party system altogether and have candidates run on their own platforms. This would allow a candidate to support the NRA while also being pro-choice. The new combinations might appeal to voters who are left on the fence under the current system.

  8. projectwentynine 11/06/2012 at 2:03 PM #

    The parallels between the current Presidential administration and that of UNC-CH are uncanny.

    As for other large (ultra)conservative universities, I’ll go with BYU.

  9. Pack Mentality 11/06/2012 at 2:18 PM #

    “You liberals have hung your hat on claiming scientific superiority for years and its always based on propaganda. Whether it’s stem cells or global warming, you guys are just out and out wrong.”

    HAHAHAHAHA.

    That was a parody post, right?

  10. Gene 11/06/2012 at 2:22 PM #

    “NC State, engineering, analytical thought, logical, hard data, reality, results based.

    u*nc, liberal arts, feelings, emotion, intent vs results.”

    In other words, engineers won’t act unless evidence is overwhelming them that change needs to be made, where as the artsy-fartsy types will take intuitive leaps in logic that are often needed to solve problems at the very early stages, when those problems are just beginning to become apparent.

    What would be interesting is to evaluate management styles versus political views.

    There’s probably some research on the subject, but I don’t have time to find it ATM.

    There’s a bunch of management literature out there about intuitive management styles versus empirical management styles and one isn’t inherently superior to other.

    The benefits of one style over the other is purely based on the situation a firm finds itself in and the ability of the manager to play nice with others.

  11. Pack78 11/06/2012 at 2:36 PM #

    CNN poll (for what it’s worth) had a 49-49 tie with the following internals:

    CNN’s most recent poll has an astounding D+11 sample (41 Democrat 30 Republican 29 Independent)

    Digging in further, it showed a 1% Republican crossover to Obama and a 5% Democrat crossover to Romney-I see Romney with ~5% popular vote victory with 300+ Electoral College vote count…but I COULD BE WRONG!

  12. nouveau wolf 11/06/2012 at 3:16 PM #

    There was a pretty good article in The Independent Weekly last week over the direction of the Republican Party. Essentially, the rich 1% run the party, and now they have a perfect ticket with one of their own (Romney) and the economic policies of his running mate. To get enough votes to win, they appeal to all of the “single-issue voters” ie; gun rights, pro-life, racists, immigration, and of course, blowing off the situation Obama inherited from the last Republican president, pointing at how bad things are, and saying “he needs to go!”

    Good article, made me think…

  13. nouveau wolf 11/06/2012 at 3:31 PM #

    Back to Wolfpack stuff, this is a great read:

    http://www.backingthepack.com/2012/11/6/3610032/bowled-over-by-the-pack#add-comment

  14. 61Packer 11/06/2012 at 3:41 PM #

    Liberals flock to public institutions of higher education because they love the POWER it gives them when they can control others. Especially gullible are college students who have just left home and are open to having their opinions rearranged. You must remember that these college administrators and professors, for the most part, are smarter than you and I, and therefore they know what’s best for us.

    This is the thing that’s gotten us into the political mess that we’re in now with the explosion of the college vote in ’08, and the threat of same today.

    I still don’t know who’ll carry the nation today, but for all the talk I hear, and some of it’s on here, why does anyone think that NC will again be blue for president? I keep remembering the 61% vote for Amendment One, which basically mirrored the Obama and liberal stance politically. To me it’s illogical to expect any significant numbers of A-One voters to cast for Obama.

    This is why these polls that have given the election already to Obama should be questioned, just like the BCS poll that ranked a shaky Notre Dame team and now K-State ahead of Oregon, a team many of us feel is the nation’s best.

  15. Gene 11/06/2012 at 3:57 PM #

    “Especially gullible are college students who have just left home and are open to having their opinions rearranged. You must remember that these college administrators and professors, for the most part, are smarter than you and I, and therefore they know what’s best for us.”

    As most people on this forum are college educated and have at least an undergrad degree from a certain college in west Raleigh, North Carolina, I think your rant is full of it.

    The professor I worked for in college got into her job because she liked the field and wanted to share her enthusiasm with her students. I don’t view that as some twisted plot to lord a few years of education over me and turn me into a mindless pod person. It’s what educators are supposed to do and despite the emphasis on research, college professors are also educators.

    “This is the thing that’s gotten us into the political mess that we’re in now with the explosion of the college vote in ’08, and the threat of same today.”

    And only letting white men, over the age of 21 vote led to the Civil War. Your point?

    ” I keep remembering the 61% vote for Amendment One, which basically mirrored the Obama and liberal stance politically.”

    Voter turn out is a big deal.

    A ballot measure added to a primary ballot in May will draw fewer voters than a Presidential election in November.

    As it is roughly half of eligible voters show up during a Presidential election and vote. That number drops well below 50% in mid-term elections, such as 2010 and even further for elections held in May.

  16. Wulfpack 11/06/2012 at 4:28 PM #

    At NCSU, I had liberal professors. I also had a conservative professor or two. They were each excellent (from the ones I can actually remember).

    Education is about bettering oneself. It is also about opening one’s eyes to new ways of thinking. I don’t know about you but I respect the hell out of that. If we all just held the same beliefs as our parents and grandparents, and worked in the same lines of work, this would be a pretty darn boring and stagnant place to live.

  17. wolfwarrior 11/06/2012 at 5:09 PM #

    RED.

  18. tuckerdorm1983 11/06/2012 at 5:12 PM #

    Well, If I were betting money on this race I would take Obama. I did not vote for him but from what I can see he wins. fivethirtyeight.com I think is probably spot on. It is all about the electoral vote (which I think should be abolished). Obama 303 Romney 235. Fl goes for Romney and so does N.C. Obama wins Va, Oh, Pa, Ia, NH, Co, NV. If you like I will take Romney and 70 points if I can get any action on that. Obama must win and beat Romney by more than 70 points. It has been a long time since the Republicans have fielded such a weak candidate. As for the current occupant of the White House I pray when he gets back in he does not bankrupt us any further.

    As for Handicapping other more important races:
    NCST Wake Wake by 7.
    NCST Clemson Clemson by 21
    NCST BC BC by 3

  19. Manu Ginobili 11/06/2012 at 5:23 PM #

    I have two degrees in engineering from NC State and I’m democrat. I had a majority of conservative professors in engineering and others that I presume were liberals in the social science classes. But their political ideas were never relevant to their courses.

    I identify myself as ‘progressive’ because I believe that we all deserve equal opportunities in life. No, I don’t believe that we should all get the same for everything we do despite our efforts (socialism!), but I do believe in a country were access to good quality education, health and jobs are available to all.

    I could never vote for a guy that pays less taxes than me. A guy that is totally out of touch with the middle-class American. A guy that worked for a company that made millions by bankrupting failing companies, with total disregard for their employees. A guy that will send us back to the economic policies of the 80s (deregulation, deregulation, deregulation), which got us into the mess we are slowly getting out from.

  20. TruthBKnown Returns 11/06/2012 at 5:33 PM #

    Gene, I went to State, too. I never once felt pressure to be of any particular political leaning. I never once felt like if I wrote a paper espousing a conservative viewpoint that I would receive a poor grade from a professor (or liberal, for that matter). It is different at liberal arts universities. I was taking mostly mathematical courses. The closest I came to a liberal arts class was a history class I took. And to this day, I could not tell you which way that professor leaned politically.

    I had good friends at Carolina who did not feel the same way about their school.

  21. highstick 11/06/2012 at 5:41 PM #

    “Also, I think most of you red state Wolfpackers have been out of school for quite some time, because most of the student body can’t afford to pay for school on their own, or have their parents do it for them, which is why more of the educated youths here are voting for Obama today.”

    So you are voting for Obama cause you want “someone else” to pay for your education? Educated youth or severely misguided?

  22. eas 11/06/2012 at 7:16 PM #

    ^ LOL

  23. tjfoose1 11/06/2012 at 8:11 PM #

    Wow. I make a joke about stereotypes of the two schools and people want to engage me in a scientifc debate.

    I’ll step aside and let you all hash it out.

    Thought I made it pretty clear it wasn’t a serious post when I included “redneck hicks” to describe ourselves. Guess I should have thrown in a reference to cows, horn-rimmed glasses, and pocket protectors.

  24. tjfoose1 11/06/2012 at 8:29 PM #

    Not that it really matters, but to offer a counter point to some of the above…

    I had a marketing prof back in the 80’s tell us straight up, the first day of class, she didn’t like engineers. Didn’t like the way we thought, didn’t like the way we worked, didn’t like the “restrictive” and “condescending” attitudes we carried. wtf?

    We thought she was joking, She wasn’t.

    “Surprisingly”, she grouped the four engineers in the class into one project team. Long story short, she gave us a D on our final project – a marketing proposal for a theoretical new product of our own conception (which is essentially what Google Voice is now).

    She ripped us apart, including, ironically enough, our product choice, telling us it was ridiculous, not feasible, and no market for it.

    We were shocked, as presentations to the class, including handouts, were part of each project. Ours was clearly superior to every other in the class. The lowest grade, other than ours, was a B.

    We took our work to several business and the base communications office at Camp Lejeune. They raved at our work, saying it was better than most of the proposals they review.

    Anyway, we protested to the higher ups and eventually got our grade changed.

    Point is, NC State, as Universities go, is pretty conservative (at least I found it to be), but even on conservative campuses you can find unhinged liberal wackos looking to abuse and take ‘revenge’ upon those who do not fall into their line of thought.

  25. jamieinkorea 11/06/2012 at 9:01 PM #

    If the US is the greatest country in the world, then why do so many conservatives say that the country isn’t?

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