For those of us with some regard for frivolity and mischief, it is disconcerting when a college campus is quiet on a Friday night.
But when Sen. Barack Obama debated Sen. John McCain on Sept. 26, Connecticut College was, according to one student, “dead silent.”
William Ball, the head of the Conn College Democrats, said the majority of the school’s 1,500 students were in common rooms, huddled around televisions, watching the debate.
“There is a genuine interest in this election,” he said.
When the polls open in three weeks, many young people across the country will be voting in their first election.
And every election cycle since the 26th Amendment was ratified, lowering the voting age to 18, young voters have been a sought-after, but unreliable, lot.
In 1972, with Vietnam in the headlines and Richard Nixon on the ballot, 52 percent of 18- to 24-year-olds turned out to vote.* Four years ago, with Iraq in blogs and George W. Bush on the ballot, that figure dipped to 47 percent, though that was an 11-point increase from America’s last peacetime election in 2000.
In Connecticut, 57 percent of 18- to 24-year-olds turned out in 1972, substantially more than the 41 percent who showed at the polls in 2004.
The state actually saw a 2-percent downturn at the polls from 2000 to 2004, however, it could be argued that the 2006 congressional race between Rob Simmons and Joe Courtney turned on towns with colleges, such as Mansfield, Windham, and New London.
Both Ball and Matt Sterett, the head of the Conn College Republicans, sense something different about young people this election, but for different reasons.
Economics major Sterett, a soft-spoken Texan with closely cropped blond hair, is a member of the counterculture at Connecticut College. But these days, counterculture at the college on the hill has nothing to do with marches, sit ins, or tight-fitting Che Guevara T-shirts.
In 2008, the loyal opposition is more the crowd at ease in chinos and think nothing of casually name dropping F.A. Hayek and prefer Gary Wills’ early stuff.
Sterett is a conservative and caretaker of the Connecticut College Republicans, who in past years rallied to support Bush and Simmons, numbering just eight members.
“Recruitment has been down this year,” he said. “There is not a lot to be excited about.”
Conversely, the Connecticut College Democrats have been humming with activity.
Ball’s 30-member group has been busy with voter registration drives and organizing students to campaign for both Obama and the Democratic candidates in and out of state.
“We’re really trying to get out the vote,” the bearded philosophy student said.
Ball said the student Democrats have been trying to get people who live in states where races are close to register at home, instead of Dem-leaning New London.
Some students, Ball said, also want to vote on ballot initiatives that might be taking place.
For college Democrats, the main catalyst for the enthusiasm has been Obama.
“He’s a viable candidate,” Ball said. “He’s not John Kerry.”
Sterett, like many Republicans, is lukewarm about McCain, citing the divisions in the GOP during the protracted nominating season.
“I would have gone with [Rudy] Giuliani or [Mitt] Romney,” Sterett said.
Not surprisingly, the budding economist cited the experience Giuliani and Romney would have as the financial markets remain unstable.
Despite the twinkle many students have in their eyes for Obama, Ball said the left-leaning college voters are not a monolithic bloc.
“We have members who are more mainline Democrats,” he said. “Then we have members who take more libertarian views on issues such as civil liberties.”
Sterett said that many in his camp are focusing on the financial crisis that led to the federal government bailout of investment banks two weeks ago.
“We used to get people from Bear Stearns and Lehman Brothers looking to recruit students for good-paying jobs,” Sterett, who supported the bailout, said. “That is obviously not happening.”
The financial crisis also has been a sobering experience for Conn students, whose past political passions have been stoked in recent years by march-worthy issues such as American foreign policy and immigration.
But this year, students have been paying closer attention to wonkish issues such as health care and the economy.
“I’ve been teaching a class on health care and the economy,” said Monkia Lopez-Anuarbe, an economic professor at Conn. “There has been plenty of interest.”
Lopez-Anuarbe was one of several professors who took part in a recent mock debate *** lecture on the top issues in the presidential campaign.
Organized by one of the environmental awareness clubs on the campus, more than 70 students attended the Friday night event.
Two students, Chad Stewart and Travis Lynch, portrayed Obama and McCain, respectively, and answered questions on the candidates’ environmental policies. A tough task, as the environment and energy is one issue where Obama and McCain tend to be in relative harmony, save for nuclear power.
Melanie Bender, 20, from Sudbury, Mass., said though she’ll be voting for Obama, she doesn’t mind McCain.
“It’s Sarah Palin I don’t like,” she said, going on to speak with concern about the Alaska governor’s anti-abortion position.
Still, some Conn students are
still learning about the candidates’ positions.
“I came to [the mock debate] because I wanted to find out more about health care,” said Lindy Nash, 19, from Providence.
Afterward, Nash had a better idea about the issue, and she, like most of the campus, knows that the final exam is on Nov. 4.
*Source: Center For Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement, University of Maryland.