Associate Life Survey: The Law Vote
We received just over 1,200 responses to last week’s ATL / Lateral Link survey on politics in the workplace, and two things immediately became apparent.
First, there aren’t that many good political lolcats, so we’ve decided to make do with an lolronpaul (h/t punditkitchen).
Second, now that the general election is in full swing, political discourse is way up at law firms:
* 86% of respondents reported that they discuss politics in the workplace, which is up from 74% back in February.
* 92% noted that associates discuss politics (up from 80%).
* 73% of respondents said that partners discuss politics (up from 64%).
* 52% noticed that staff members discuss politics too (up from 38%).
But while conversations are up, actual campaigning is about the same:
* Only 18% of respondents said that fellow associates had tried to convince them to vote for a particular candidate, and 15% said that associates had encouraged them to contribute to a campaign. This is about the same as what we reported in February.
* Similarly, twelve percent of respondents said that partners had tried to swing their vote, but roughly sixteen percent reported that a partner had solicited a contribution. These, again, are the same numbers we saw in February.
* About seventeen percent of respondents felt that their firms encouraged them to participate in political events, either for personal satisfaction or as a rainmaking opportunity. Only about 4% of respondents, however, felt the need to conform to any particular view.
Interestingly, only 9% of respondents said their firms were solidly Republican, in contrast to 50% who declared their firms Democrat territory. 24% of respondents said their firms were evenly mixed.
ATL’s readership has a similar liberal bent, with 60% of respondents deciding that Barack Obama won last week’s town hall debate, and 70% declaring that they will be voting for That One in a few weeks. 10% of respondents, however, were able to stay awake thought McCain won the debate, and 25% intend to vote for him.
But some of you would rather choose none of the above. One percent of respondents wrote in that they’ll be voting for Bob Barr, two people still look forward to voting for Hillary Clinton, three people will vote for Ralph Nader, and four people — not shown in the photo above — will be voting for Ron Paul.
—
Justin Bernold is a Director at Lateral Link, the sponsor of this Associate Life Survey.
(15) Comments
Comments
Comments hidden for your protection. Show them anyway!
first to say that these surveys suckz
JusTTTin
boring
The surveys are totally useless. The pic is funny though....
should i discuss politics in my interview? i was thinking about wearing a obama button on my suit...too much? maybe i'll get an obama button and a mccain button and wear both to show my readiness to adapt, i bet law firms would like that.
-nervous T-10 1L
BC sucks!
Picture above = nervous T-10 1L in three years.
Alone.
Without a job.
Old.
Gay.
debating suicide.
I talk about politics all the time.
William Ayers
Ron Paul is the only person who could take back the republican party from the neocons like Bush, Rove, Kristol, etc. The neocons and liberals try to portray him as crazy because they are both so far left that they have the mutual goal of discrediting classical liberalism.
I am voting for Elie Mystal.
Had you put "The One" instead of "That One," it would have been more amusing.
I'm voting for Monty Brewster.
Put me down for Ron Paul, the only politician in Washington who actually understands the downturn, and knows how to fix it.
I agree with 13. As attorneys I would think we of all people would understand the importance of following the Constitution. Too bad handouts, bailouts, and talking points are more popular.
As a Berkeley liberal and former Green, I like Ron Paul, even if there are issues I disagree with him on. He is one of the few candidates that has taken principled positions, rather than pandering with empty promises and constantly shifting positions like the Republicans and Democrats do. We need to break the stranglehold of the two big parties. If politics were more interesting, with more real choices, citizen participation and the quality of our democracy would improve. Given the recent performance of both the President and Congress, it would not be hard to do better.