Measured Politics: Assessing Student Views and Experiences in a Polarized Age

This article introduces the Political Identity and Relational Impact Scale (PIRI), a tool designed to help institutions understand how students navigate political identity and relationships. Developed by an interdisciplinary research team and employed at two Christian liberal arts institutions, one in the Midwest and one in California, PIRI provides empirical insights into students’ political orientations, beliefs, and experiences. Used alongside measures of ideology, partisanship, religiosity, and political opinion, the findings reveal that students’ political orientations are more nuanced than familiar narratives of rigid polarization suggest, often reflecting a blend of progressive and conservative positions. We conclude by highlighting implications for practice and research, inviting institutions to consider empirical tools to better understand and engage the complexity of ideological diversity in a polarized political climate.