[tuan]

> how they are about to get candidates at the top of the funnel under these circumstances

Is there any data on the percentage of software engineers "at the top of the funnel" who lean left? This is a genuine question. I’ve always assumed that most do, but lately, I’ve been wondering if I’m in a bubble.

[anon373839]

“Left” isn’t the right framing at all. The axis of division these days is really democratic vs. authoritarian. Rule of law vs. “might makes right”. I know few educated, intellectual people who find the latter appealing (though they do exist and are loud).

[stanleykm]

The rule of law is authoritarian by definition. So authoritarian vs authoritarian?

Anyway you’re wrong. There are a good number of left wing engineers out there but they’re outnumbered by libertarian chuds in the industry.

[acdha]

That’s not true of any standard definition of authoritarianism: the whole point of the rule of law is that it applies consistently to everyone rather than following the whims of an autocrat. That’s why the Republicans being able to stop enforcement of the laws Trump broke was so worrisome for many people as it marks the transition away from the rule of law which had existed previously.

[tw04]

I can’t imagine a lot of folks that excel at math and science are leaning hard into the party gutting the NSF and actively trying to undermine the entire scientific community.

[kergonath]

I don’t know. I’ve met good scientists who were terrible human beings and would have been willing to defund everything except their field, because obviously everything else is useless. I have no stats, and I think they are far from the majority, but they exist. Scientists are not superhuman and some do actually vote for the face-eating leopard party.

[tuan]

I think that people like Zuckerberg and Bezos fit this profile, but look whom they are supporting now. Simply being part of the scientific community may not be a sufficient criterion. Other factors, such as wealth or power, may have a greater influence on their political affiliations.

[shermantanktop]

The biggest predictor of political affiliation is located in the wallet. It’s not a perfect predictor but it’s pretty good, and it gets better the fatter the wallet is.

What is bizarre now is that the biggest wallets are supporting economic uncertainty.

[QuadmasterXLII]

Despising trump and his groupies isn’t a lefty thing to do unless you classify John McCain, Romney, Bush, and Pence as lefty.

[seanmcdirmid]

Top SWEs tend to live in rich cities that have those jobs and lean left; they just blend in with the demographics of where their jobs are located. Like, I’m sure if there were a lot of SWE jobs available in a rich conservative city like…Riyadh…they would be leaning more right.

[monero-xmr]

The top paying fully remote jobs are in AI and Crypto (blockchain). And my experience shows the top are libertarian, which is right wing if you only see the spectrum as left / right (I see it as freedom / authoritarian)

[seanmcdirmid]

For people who don’t have to work in an office, it’s wide open, but I think even if we consider full remote employees, they are still likely to live in big liberal cities, and it’s the minority roughing it in the country/small towns that are likely to be libertarians. I don’t have access to any numbers though, so your hunch might be better than mine (I’m full remote but live in Seattle, my political ideology follows from that).

[int_19h]

The reason why people see right libertarians as, well, right-wing is because the majority ends up aligning more with mainstream right-wing parties and candidates when it comes to voting.

FWIW left libertarianism is also a thing, but you won't find much of that in crypto.

[seanmcdirmid]

Libertarians used to be left on social issues (they don’t want the right telling them who they can marry or what they can do with their bodies) and right on economic issues (traditional liberal unregulated economics, less socially funded services). It’s hard to see where they land today given Trump distortion (Trump as an obvious authoritarian shouldn’t appeal to libertarians very much, but does, so I wonder if their average ideology has changed).

[jeffbee]

There are indicators such as FEC campaign donation data.