510 In-Person Votes Cast on Election Day and 26.25% Overall Voter Turnout Reported at Fairfax’s University Precinct

Student Media conducted exit polling outside Merten Hall on November 4th to learn more about what issues and candidates were motivating student voters in 2025. Voters were asked to complete an anonymous exit survey after voting at Mason’s on-campus polling place (University Precinct). Click here to view the unofficial 2025 Fairfax County election results >

According to Student Media’s exit polling, Mason voters overwhelmingly supported the Democratic candidate in the race for Virginia’s next governor, with 93.1% of respondents indicating they voted for Democrat Abigail Spanberger. 5.9% of respondents said they voted for Republican candidate Winsome Earle-Sears.

That trend continued into the lieutenant governor and attorney general races, with 92.1% (Ghazala Hashmi) and 90.1% (Jay Jones) of survey respondents voting for Democratic candidates. Republican candidates for lieutenant governor and attorney general received 5% (John Reid) and 7.9% (Jason Miyares), respectively.

On-campus voters also heavily favored incumbent Democratic candidate David Bulova (84.2%) for the Virginia House of Delegates in the 11th District race that includes Mason’s Fairfax campus. Republican challenger Adam Wise received 5.9% support according to exit polling results.

Voter enthusiasm is a topic of concern for both parties during any election cycle, but the vast majority of survey respondents at Mason reported being “very” or “somewhat” enthusiastic about voting in 2025. On a scale of 1 to 5, with 5 indicating “Very Enthusiastic” and 1 indicating “Not Ethusiastic At All,” responses broke down like this: (5-54.8%; 4-22.2%; 3-17%; 2-3.7%; 1-2.2%).

According to the results of Student Media’s 2025 exit poll survey, the most important issue to on-campus student voters was “Abortion,” with 16.3% of respondents selecting that as the number one concern influencing their vote. “Civil Rights,” “Social Justice,” and “LGBTQ+ Issues” all tied for second most important issue at 14.1% each. Next highest were “Education/Higher Ed” at 8.1%, “Healthcare” at 5.9%, and “Immigration” at 4.4%.

George Mason University is consistently ranked as a “Voter-Friendly Campus,” so perhaps it’s no surprise that the majority of exit poll respondents strongly agreed with the statement “I feel comfortable expressing my political views” on campus. On a scale of 1 to 5, with 5 indicating “Strongly Agree” and 1 indicating “Strongly Disagree,” responses broke down like this: (5-51.4%; 4-29.7%; 3-13.8%; 2-3.6%; 1-1.4%).

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