Shortly after 11 p.m. on the night of Election Day, as the major television networks declared the race for Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois, hundreds of Elis streamed onto Old Campus for a night of revelry. The few supporters of the Republican nominee, Sen. John McCain, were nowhere to be found.

It was the same story on Tuesday as Obama was inaugurated as the 44th president of the United States. According to a News poll of about 700 undergraduates, Obama-supporting Elis overwhelmingly made time to get to a television at noon to watch the president-elect’s swearing-in ceremony. But just as they did not want to celebrate his victory on Election Day, McCain supporters did not seem to want to watch Obama take office, either. (That’s not to say there were not plenty of eyes trained on Obama around midday. Of the respondents to the poll who said they voted in November, 82 percent said they voted for Obama, compared to 15 percent for McCain.)

81

Percentage of Yale students who said they watched all or part of Obama’s inauguration.

89

Percentage of Yale students who said they voted for Obama and watched all or part of his inauguration.

54

Percentage of Yale students who said they voted for McCain and watched all or part of Obama’s inauguration.