(The Center Square) – Only 9% of University of Wisconsin-Madison faculty identify as conservative while 70% identify as liberal, according to a new faculty poll from the school’s Department of Political Science and Tommy G. Thompson Center on Public Leadership.
The poll also showed that junior faculty were more likely to identify as liberal than senior faculty, meaning the ideological gap could expand in the future.
“The findings paint a picture of an environment where conservative faculty feel marginalized and face differential treatment,” said Center Director Alex Tahk, an associate professor of political science. “But there are also grounds for optimism: large majorities of faculty, regardless of ideology or race, believe it is important for both underrepresented racial groups and conservatives to feel included on campus.”
The survey was sent to 2,388 faculty members with 633 completed responses sent back. Incomplete responses were not included in the results. The survey was first sent Nov. 19 and responses were accepted through Jan. 23.
The poll is in line with what bill sponsor Rep. Amanda Nedweski, R-Pleasant Prairie, said while pushing a campus free speech law. The proposal would carry a punishment of two academic years of frozen tuition if a school violates any of the requirements of the bill multiple times in a five-year period.
Nedweski cited during testimony a report from The College Fix showing that more than 99% of donations from UW system professors went to Democrats, not Republicans, using 2021-22 Federal Election Commission data.
“We designed this study to move past assumptions and get rigorous evidence,” Tahk said. “I don’t think the findings will entirely fit anyone’s preconceptions.”
The survey also found that race was not the main factor in ideology. Faculty of color where slightly more conservative than their white colleagues.
In terms of hiring, faculty showed that they were up to 38 percentage points more likely to penalize a conservative view than a liberal one.
“Further proof that there is little intellectual diversity in higher education today,” former Republican Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker wrote on social media.
Further proof that there is little intellectual diversity in higher education today. https://t.co/lBZlK895no— Scott Walker (@ScottWalker) March 9, 2026
Liberal faculty were also more likely to express controversial views while conservative faculty reported experiencing consequences at a substantially higher rate. Conservative faculty also reported feeling less comfortable expressing their views and felt less welcome on campus with less confidence that their speech rights would be protected.
