NBC poll shows college-aged Democrats would not be roommates with Trump supporters

A new poll published this week by NBC showed nearly half of college-aged Democrats would not room with supporters of former president Donald Trump, signaling a deep divide in American politics.

The NBC/Generation Lab poll of sophomore college students showed nearly half of respondents who voted for President Joe Biden in 2020 could not see themselves choosing to be roommates with someone who supported Trump in the same year. One college sophomore told NBC, “I could never live with someone who supported a racist, homophobic, xenophobic and sexist person.”

She added, “I could possibly room with somebody who is Republican. But when it comes down to it, Donald Trump is not the average Republican candidate.”

Only 11 percent of Democrat respondents said they could see themselves opting to room with someone who supported Trump in 2020. When it comes to dating, the results are similar. Asked whether they would go on a date with someone who voted for the opposing candidate in 2020, about half of the respondents said “probably not” or “definitely not.” Asked whether they would marry someone who voted for the opposing candidate, 31 percent of respondents said “definitely not.”

The results of the poll are not vastly changed from last year’s poll of the same age group, from the class of 2025. A year ago, 92 percent of respondents said they were “optimistic” about their futures and 48 percent said they were optimistic about the future of the country as a whole. This year, 86 percent are optimistic about their personal futures while only 34 percent are optimistic about the future of the United States.