Most West Texas A&M University students wear masks and a plurality will vote for President Donald J. Trump, according to a recent survey.

The online survey, conducted by Dr. Dave Rausch, WT’s Teel Bivins Professor of Political Science, was open to WT students from Oct. 2 to 9.

More than 75 percent of responding students reported wearing a mask or face covering all or most of the time. Less than 2 percent reported never wearing a mask.

“The survey reveals that there is truth to the notion that wearing masks and other face coverings has become a political issue,” Rausch said.

Of those who reported wearing a mask, 51.7 support the Democratic presidential ticket of Joe Biden and Kamala Harris, while 35.9 percent support Trump and Vice President Mike Pence.

Almost 13 percent of students report wearing a mask some of the time; of those, 83.1 percent support the Trump ticket. And of the combined 10 percent who rarely or never wear face masks, about 92 percent support the Republican candidates.

Overall, 48.4 percent of respondents would vote for the Trump/Pence ticket, with 40.58 percent supporting the Biden/Harris ticket. About 8 percent indicated they would vote for someone else, and about 2.5 percent said they would not vote.

“The survey also showed that strong political polarization is a reality among our students, too,” Rausch said. “Virtually all students who identify as Democrats say they will vote for Biden, and virtually all Republican-identifying students say they will vote for Trump.”

Students identifying as independents back Biden/Harris by a 2-to-1 margin — more than 52 percent to 26.7 percent.

Female students support Biden/Harris by a 46.1 to 45.8 percent margin, with male students backing Trump/Pence by 52 to 33 percent.

Rausch will use the survey results to analyze students’ ideology and level of participation in politics.

“Political science has long been interested in why some people participate in politics and why others do not,” Rausch said. “There is a theory that college students who participate in student groups like sororities, fraternities, and other organizations find ways to participate in politics, usually by voting. The larger survey includes questions seeking to better understand at what levels students participate in politics and what factors explain this level of participation.”

A link to the survey was emailed to 10,037 students, and 841 responded.

Rausch’s last such survey, in 2018, found about 47 percent of students backing Texas Gov. Greg Abbott over Democratic challenger Lupe Valdez, and about 46 percent supporting Beto O’Rourke over Sen. Ted Cruz.

Projects like Rausch’s are one way WT will become a regional research university, the goal of the University’s long-term plan, WT 125: From the Panhandle to the World.

-West Texas A&M University