Residents in Orange County have drastically changed political tendencies in the last few decades, according to the Orange County Registrar of Voters, but many Biola students say Biola remains a center for conservative values.

O.C.’s history of conservatism

For more than 50 years, Biola’s next-door neighbor, Orange County, has been a symbol of political conservatism in the U.S. In the past, the conservative community aided in giving California’s electoral votes to Republican candidates, such as Gerald Ford and Ronald Reagan. However, the O.C. Registrar of Voters found that, as of June, the county’s percentage of registered Republican voters dropped to 43 percent, its lowest percentage in the past few decades. The low number suggests that the O.C. is no longer the conservative center of California.

Biola students’ stance of conservatism

While the area around Biola has become more liberal, several students and faculty said they believe Biola has remained a conservative center.

“In my experience, most Biola students tend to vote Republican because of social issues such as abortion and gay marriage,” sociology professor Bradley Christerson said. “They tend to ignore issues such as poverty and economic justice.”

Biola freshmen Macey Washburn and Bethany Linnenkohl both claimed to be Republicans because of the party’s stance on abortion, gay marriage and the war.

“I am a Republican, and I think that a lot of people here are, based on what I’ve heard around campus, but I understand that there are people here at this Christian university who are liberal as well,” Linnenkohl said.

Many liberal students have made Biola their home, as well, and some have joined the student club Biola College Democrats.

“I see myself as more liberal than anything,” said freshman Christian Ortega. “I try to detach religion from politics because I feel that some things require logic, justice and equality. But, based on the students who I’ve come to know the best, most seem conservative. So Republican-Conservative would be the side that most Biolans have.”

O.C.’s minority makes their voice heard

Orange County’s stronghold of the staunch conservatism was breached by an influx of liberal support from minority groups in the area. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, only 45.5 percent of the county consisted of non-Hispanic, white persons in 2009.

Christerson said demographics like this likely did not favor Republicans because of the party’s stance on immigration and education.

“The Republican Party has largely been seen as anti-immigrant in California since the Republican-backed Proposition 187 went on the ballot in the 1990s,” Christerson said. “This bill would have denied services, such as education and health care, to children of undocumented immigrants.”

Role of ethnicity in politics

O.C., like the rest of California and the nation, is experiencing political and social change due to ethnic diversity, Christerson said.

Some Biola students said they believed ethnicity plays a part in political affiliations, but that it is not right to claim that ethnicity automatically defines a person’s political ideology.

“People who’ve come from other countries often came because they weren’t content with the government, injustice or immorality present in their society,” freshman Greg Bernard said. “So it would make sense for this to affect their political affiliation.”

Impact of economy in the O.C.

Other students commented on the overall change in the O.C.’s political identity.
“I do think that a lot of the people that now live in the O.C. were raised by families or in countries that tend to have more socialist leanings; therefore, this is how they expect the government to behave,” freshman Claire Callaway said. “The Democratic Party tends to cater more towards these ideals, therefore it is a pretty natural fit.”

Due to the economy, O.C.’s middle class is slowly deteriorating; the wealthy upper class and poor lower class continue to drift further and further away from each other. As the classes become more polarized, the issues that concern them become distinctly different as well, Christerson said.

“Because of their policy goals of cutting taxes for the wealthy and reducing government services for poor and middle class people, Republicans are seen as the party of the rich and unconcerned with the struggles of poor people,” Christerson said. “Thus, as the percentage of working, poor people grows in the O.C., Republicans lose votes.”