“Why are a majority of academically smart people, worldwide, so profoundly dumb, whenever it comes to their own political ideology choices (left to far left)?” This should be one of the questions, IMHO.
Because 1) they're government workers, either directly or indirectly, and 2) they think they are so smart that other people shouldn't have more than them. It's no fair. It insults their vanity. There is also a subset that have had to deal with being the target of envy their whole lives. Playing leftist enables them to deflect envy as well as get laid by the hippy girls, not that that is much of an accomplishment.
Women's studies, cultural studies, sociology, education, communication, etc are all bastions of leftwing academics.
Physics not so much. I think many physicists would have to be reminded that there WERE such a thing as politics.