National Study of Learning, Voting, and Engagement Report Available

Since 2017, Northeastern has taken part in the National Study of Learning, Voting, and Engagement (NSLVE) through the Institute for Democracy & Higher Education at Tufts University.  This study uses student enrollment data from the National Student Clearinghouse as well as publicly available voter data to track voter registration and turnout rates at over 1,200 colleges and universities nationwide. Participating colleges are from 50 states and represent all Carnegie classifications.

The Northeastern-tailored report containing our students’ voting rates for 2020 is now available on the UDS website. It uncovers many interesting facts about students’ voting habits and Northeastern students in particular.

For example, the national student yield rate (the percent of registered students who voted) in 2020 elections was 80%, up from 69% in 2016. Northeastern’s yield rate was 84.9% in 2020, up from 72.4% in 2016. The Average Institutional Voting Rate (AIVR – the percent of all voting-eligible students who voted) among campuses in the study was 66%, which exceeded the rate of 53% from the prior presidential election. The AVIR for Northeastern students for the presidential elections in 2020 was 68.7%, an increase from 57.7% in 2016.

For more information, please check the report here.