This guy does make a point you hear a lot from folks who won’t toe the line on global warming etc:

Jonah:
I don’t understand the stats on liberal engineers. I am on the faculty of an engineering dept. in a mid-sized Southern university. We have, I think, one Democrat on the faculty, and no real lefties.
Engineering is NOT a ‘hard science’. It is in a separate college, and has little or nothing to do with the Arts and Sciences. Generally speaking, the liberals are in places like Physics and Biology. Chemists trend a bit more Republican.
You are wrong on why a professor would become a liberal/left wing nutjob. The answer is money, in particular grants. Liberals dispense them (i.e. our tax dollars) with a lavish hand. All that is needed is a product that backs the liberals up – no real (i.e. successful) output is required. Perfect for academics. Grants are the root of all promotion and tenure, all advances to more prestigious university positions, and all advances to rank of endowed chair, etc. In other words, it’s the key to career advancement. It really has little to do with creativity or talent. Particularly in the hard sciences, where industry funding is scarce, getting on some government gravy train can be a career saver. Engineers have a wider variety of funding sources, including industry, and consequently have much less pressure to tow the party line. Ditto with Chemists, who in many cases have extensive industry contacts.
An NRO reader