From students’ summer expectations to their views on abortion, here are this week’s top college student insights.
Summer Expectations
As more states lift their mask mandates and other COVID-19 restrictions, many college students expect to get back some aspects of their pre-pandemic lives. A new College Pulse survey of 600 undergraduates finds that 4 in 10 (42%) think the U.S. will pretty much return to normal this summer, compared to 58% who disagree. However, male students are more likely than their female classmates to say the country will be back to normal soon (48% vs. 37%).
In the same vein, male students are more likely than female students to think their social life will mostly return to normal this summer (60% vs. 43%). Overall, students are split, with half (50%) saying they expect their social life to fully rebound in the next few months.
Students are more confident about the fall. About two-thirds (66%) believe their college life will pretty much return to normal, compared to one-third (33%) who don’t. And the gender gap shrinks, with two-thirds of male and female students alike expecting campus life to be back to normal this fall.
Percentage of students who expect the following to be back to normal.
Abortion
The Supreme Court has agreed to hear an abortion case about a Mississippi law seeking to ban most abortions after 15 weeks of pregnancy. A recent survey of 824 students finds that about two-thirds (66%) believe abortion should be legal in all or most cases, while 23% say it should be illegal in all or most cases and 10% are not sure.
But there’s a stark ideological divide. College Democrats are six times more likely than college Republicans to say abortion should be legal in all or most cases (89% vs. 14%). Students who identify as Independent lean more towards the left on the issue of abortion, with two-thirds (66%) saying the procedure should be legal.
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Methodology: All surveys were designed and conducted by College Pulse. Interviews were conducted among a sample of full-time and part-time students attending colleges or universities in the U.S. who are part of College Pulse’s American College Student Panel.
