Saint Mary’s students also back Kamala Harris over Donald Trump, a separate poll conducted by The Observer at Saint Mary’s College finds. According to the poll, 64.5% of Saint Mary’s students favor Harris and Tim Walz, compared to 31% for Trump and JD Vance. The results fall outside of the 6.9% margin of error at a 95% confidence interval.
The vast majority of respondents are registered to vote — only 7% indicate they are not registered to vote. Harris slightly expanded her advantage over Trump among registered voters, capturing 65.6% support to Trump’s 30.1%. Zero respondents indicated they planned to vote third party, while 4.5% of respondents said they planned not to vote or were still undecided.
Despite Notre Dame women supporting Harris (68.8%) slightly more strongly than Saint Mary’s women (64.5%), Saint Mary’s more strongly backs Harris (64.5%) than Notre Dame at large (54.2%). This finding adds to the growing evidence of a political gender gap that could become the largest in U.S. history.
Unaffiliated voters at Saint Mary’s overwhelmingly backed Harris, with 72.2% support compared to Trump’s 14.8%.
The Observer’s election poll surveyed 200 students between Oct. 31 and Nov. 1. Respondents submitted anonymous ballots in person via Google Forms, conducted outside of Noble Family Dining Hall. Email addresses were collected separately to prevent individuals from voting twice and verify students were actual Saint Mary’s students.
Although the margin of error is larger than in the Notre Dame poll, Harris’ substantial lead indicates the poll accurately identifies the presidential preference of the Saint Mary’s student body.
Abortion and the economy emerged as the top issues for Saint Mary’s students, each receiving 25.5% of the vote share. At Notre Dame, the economy was the leading issue, capturing 32.5% of the vote, with abortion following at 18.8%.
Paralleling a trend most recently identified by the final NBC election poll, Saint Mary’s voters support Trump on the economy, but Harris on abortion. Saint Mary’s students who ranked abortion as their top issue overwhelmingly support Harris (82.4% to 17.6%), a trend shared by Notre Dame’s female students, albeit by a narrower margin (70.6% to 27.3%).
The economy paints a different picture — Saint Mary’s students who identified the economy as their top issue strongly backed Trump over Harris (68.6% to 25.5%). Among Notre Dame females who prioritize the economy as the top issue, support is nearly evenly divided, with a slight edge for Trump at 48.4% over Harris’ 45.2%.
12.5% of respondents indicated health care is the most important issue to them this election. 6% of respondents said immigration is the most important issue, and another 6% prioritized foreign policy.
Saint Mary’s students are even less optimistic than Notre Dame students about the direction of the country, with only 7.5% of respondents (15 votes) indicating they think the United States is headed in the right direction. Meanwhile, 52.5% of Saint Mary’s students think the United States is headed in the wrong direction, slightly higher than the 48.4% of Notre Dame students who feel the same.
