Campus Report

Notre Dame Marriage Pact · ·
NEWRELEASE

The time has come, Notre Dame.

We thought we’d share a bit about Notre Dame’s romantic playing field——just so you know what you’re up against.

Our analysis is built upon anonymized and aggregated data from the Notre Dame Marriage Pact. It will never be sold or shared for commercial purposes. You can read more about our principles and practices here.

01

Topics to avoid

at the dinner table

In other words: politics, drugs, and breaking the rules. But really——who are we without them?

Take a look below to gather fodder for your next divisive discussion. If you try and discuss these on a first date, let us know how it goes.

Politics over time

We’ve run the Notre Dame Marriage Pact four times since spring 2021——here’s how the campus political climate has evolved.

Note: this year, we added several new political identities to the options.

Seniors are the campus hedonists

According to Notre Dame’s average answers on doing soft drugs, hard drugs, drinking, and smoking cigarettes. Don’t let their parents see this.

not okay
🥳
Freshmann=1124
Sophomoren=1057
Juniorn=687
Seniorn=712

Socialists at Notre Dame are most likely to break the rules

Meanwhile, you’ll find conservatives coloring inside the lines. Here’s what students’ answers from each political group say about their respect for authority:

rebellion
conformity to rules
Socialistn=51
Liberaln=366
Democratn=773
Apoliticaln=106
Independentn=933
Republicann=791
Conservativen=410

55% of socialists wouldn’t date a Republican

Breaking down the biggest political beefs: Each box indicates the percentage of the political identity listed to the left who reported they don’t want their partner to have the political identity listed above.

SocialistLiberalDemocratApoliticalIndependentLibertarianConservativeRepublican
Socialist0.020.040.040.240.140.250.510.55
Liberal0.040.020.020.070.020.090.270.30
Democrat0.040.010.010.060.020.100.230.30
Apolitical0.040.010.050.000.010.030.030.04
Independent0.060.020.020.020.010.040.030.03
Libertarian0.140.140.140.020.020.000.020.03
Conservative0.280.240.240.070.040.070.000.00
Republican0.370.300.360.130.080.140.020.01
02

Women vs Men

Ladies and gentlemen——we know you’re curious. We’re here to give you the data on the age-old question: How different are men and women, really?

These analyses focus on respondents that identified as men and women. We support nonbinary students at Notre Dame absolutely, and due to the limited size of our sample we can’t share their insights without compromising their anonymity and safety. If you have questions about this, or ideas about how we can do this better, send us a note at inclusion@marriagepact.com.

Orientation and gender

About 1 in 12 women at Notre Dame identifies as non-heterosexual.

Of those, 71% identify as bisexual and 15% identify as homosexual.

About 1 in 14 men at Notre Dame identifies as non-heterosexual.

Of those, 65% identify as homosexual and 29% identify as bisexual.

Points of disagreement

Presenting the questions the women and men of Notre Dame were most misaligned on. If you’re in the mood to pick a fight, have fun.

Q: I generally like to take control during sex

3%
3%
8%
36%
27%
17%
6%
men
I'd rather not 🥺
Give me the reins 😈
14%
26%
27%
24%
7%
1%
1%
women

Q: I would stay in an unhappy marriage for our child(ren)

3%
8%
11%
14%
29%
21%
13%
men
12%
17%
19%
15%
23%
10%
4%
women

Q: I find politically incorrect humor funny

0%
2%
4%
11%
23%
27%
33%
men
Strongly disagree
Strongly agree
3%
9%
14%
19%
25%
15%
15%
women

Q: I tell my friends how much I love them

3%
11%
16%
14%
29%
16%
10%
men
Never
All the time
1%
4%
8%
9%
26%
22%
29%
women
03

1,856 first dates

A deeper dive into the dating habits of this year’s 3,713 participants.

Openness to being open

How Notre Dame students with different religions answered: “I’m open to being in a non-monogamous relationship.”

1 – no way
the more the merrier – 7
Catholicn=2575
Christiann=294
Protestantn=159
Agnosticn=253
Atheistn=89
Spiritualn=118

Middle children ghost the most

They gave the highest answers to the question “I’d rather ghost somebody than outright reject them.”

“it’s not you it’s me”
boo 👻
Only childn=240
Youngest childn=1210
Oldest childn=1307
Middle childn=823
04

Let’s Talk

About Sex

Get your mind into the gutter. Here’s a what Notre Dame students are getting up to in the bedroom.

Freshmen are ready to settle down

Meanwhile, seniors like to keep things casual.

Here’s how each year stacks up on sociosexuality (in other words, openness to hooking up without commitment).

commitment
casual sex
Freshmann=1124
Sophomoren=1057
Juniorn=687
Seniorn=712

Taking things slow, by religion

Here’s how students with different religious identities at Notre Dame answered the question “How long do you think it’s appropriate to wait before sex?”

Zero wait
Until marriage
1234567
Spiritual0.050.240.310.230.130.030.02x̄=3.29n=118
Atheist0.090.120.350.280.120.020.01x̄=3.34n=89
Agnostic0.040.150.380.240.140.050.01x̄=3.48n=253
Christian0.040.110.170.250.210.080.13x̄=4.26n=294
Catholic0.020.080.200.220.200.120.17x̄=4.52n=2575
Protestant0.020.080.130.190.170.150.26x̄=4.92n=159

Bringing politics into the bedroom

...is always a good idea! Here’s how students with different political identities answered the question “I generally like to take control during sex.”

I’d rather not 🥺
Give me the reins 😈
Democratn=773
Liberaln=366
Republicann=791
Libertariann=58
Independentn=933
Conservativen=410
Apoliticaln=106
More to come ·

Like what you see? There’s more to come.

Help launch next year’s Notre Dame Marriage Pact, or help launch Marriage Pacts across the country.

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