between techies in general, and space groupies in particular, and right wing sympathizers. True, scientists usually tend to be liberals, but engineering
types often swing hard the other way. Maybe it has something to do with the fact that scientists are temperamentally drawn to learn and study nature, while the more entrepreneurially minded are more inclined with dominating it and bending it to 'practical' use. I've noticed this ever since I was a student. There was a clear ideological divide between the science and engineering students, even though the curriculum for both factions had a great deal of overlap. Many of my general science and math courses were split between the two, but you could usually distinguish between the two just by looking at them (the engineers all had crew cuts and wore neckties, while the science geeks had long hair and wore bell-bottoms and old army jackets).

Whether this is still the case I do not know. What I do know, and find very puzzling, is why so many right wingers today are sympathetic to Russian policies and actions. Maybe its because the old Iron Curtain types no longer call themselves Marxists, but embrace capitalistic organizational models, like plutocracies and oligarchies.

Ever since high school, I've always harbored the suspicion that Communist dictatorships (like Red China and the Soviet Union)would never be able to mount a credible challenge to the capitalist West until they abandoned the classic Marxist-Leninist ideology and adopted a more Mercantilist philosophy.