Posted on 10/29/2004 9:35:50 AM PDT by Tamar1973
Sonoma State University student Gabrielle Chretien worries that if President Bush is re-elected, his war on terror will lead to more drawn-out military conflicts all over the world.
"It's very sad," said the 20-year-old liberal studies major. "He's using money that we don't have for a war so many of us do not want, and yet there is no health care."
Ashley Brucklacher has a different view.
The 20-year-old communications major at SSU said she is also concerned about the war. But she supports Bush's actions, even if all the pre-war justifications have not panned out.
"I don't think that anybody really wants to go to war. But it's our job as citizens to support our troops," Brucklacher said, adding she'll cast her vote for Bush because she trusts the moral compass he uses to make decisions.
For Chretien and Brucklacher, and countless other college students across the country, the war in Iraq has turned the campus spotlight on the 2004 presidential election. It's the entry point into other issues that could affect the younger generation.
The war and its costs lead to discussions on health care, jobs and a possible draft. Abortion and stem-cell research also resonate as the nation's newest voters scope out positions, often on perceived moral lines.
Political researchers say that in this election, what young people think is important because Bush and Sen. John Kerry are more likely to find new voters among 18- to 24-year-olds, a group that promises to turn out Tuesday in record numbers.
In 2000, only 36 percent of Americans 18 to 24, or 8.6 million people, voted in the presidential election, compared with 63 percent of Americans over 25 who participated, said Mark Bunge, a senior analyst with Peter D. Hart Research Associates.
Bunge's firm, along with Republican pollster John McLaughlin, conducts MTV's "Choose or Lose" polls, which explore young voters' attitudes toward politics and current events.
"Playing the odds, you're dealing with two-thirds of young people who didn't vote in 2000 versus two-thirds of people over 25 who did," Bunge said. "The probability of turning out a new vote is much greater among people under 25 than the rest of the electorate."
Last week, a national poll by the Kennedy School of Government's Institute of Politics found exceptionally high interest among young voters in the presidential election. Nearly 72 percent of college students said they were "certain" they are registered and they "definitely" plan to vote.
The findings differ significantly from those in a survey conducted several months ago by Hart Research for the Leon and Sylvia Panetta Institute, a public-policy think tank at California State University, Monterey Bay. That survey found 43 percent of U.S. college students believed politics had little or no relevance to their lives. The two polls suggest the candidates, during the weeks leading up to the election, have succeeded in getting their messages to young voters.
Panetta, a former congressman and chief of staff to President Bill Clinton, said the war, talk of a draft and the economy pushed young people onto voter rolls.
"People are motivated to vote when they believe that their interests are jeopardized or threatened," Panetta said. "Job security, the ability to lead their life the way they want - fear is always a bigger motivator than hope."
Said Chretien: "I'm afraid that we'll have a draft. I'm not willing to risk my life or that of my loved ones for a war I don't believe in."
About half the country's 18- to 29-year-olds believe Bush favors a draft even though he repeatedly has rejected the idea, according to a poll concluded Oct. 3 by the University of Pennsylvania's National Annenberg Election Survey.
Cody Sapieka, 20, a junior at SSU majoring in wine business, said that's an issue he thinks about. It was the televised debates that grabbed his attention and helped convince him to vote for Kerry.
John Henry Waugh, a 19-year-old football player for Santa Rosa Junior College, already has cast his vote - an absentee ballot from his home state of Washington. Waugh said the issues that resonate most with him are the war, environment, education and women's rights.
Jordan Finn, an 18-year-old SRJC freshman, said her political views are greatly influenced by her parents, who are voting for Bush.
Other students also said the opinions of parents play a big role in how they'll vote.
Finn said she is voting for Bush because she feels safer with him in the White House.
Tiffany Caldwell, treasurer of the Sonoma State College Republicans , said most of the club's members are concerned about the war in Iraq. It's the issue that resonates with the students who are throwing support behind Bush.
"The vast majority support President Bush's actions," she said. "They don't trust Kerry's promise to finish the conflict properly."
Carlos Nieto, an SSU sophomore who heads the Progressive College Democrats, said many students are worried about the economy, rising college tuition and health care.
"The administration says the economy is improving, but that only applies to low-paying jobs, retail, fast food," said Nieto, who hopes to go to law school.
Chretien, a friend of Nieto's, carries a voter information pamphlet in a tan shoulder bag with her college books and notes. She's committed to brushing up on every state and local election initiative and candidate.
But make no mistake, it's the presidential election that's drawing her to the polls Tuesday. "It's going to be the fall of the American empire if Bush gets re-elected," she said.
Someone remind this youngster that Americans have a Consitutional right of National Security but there's NO right to Universal Health Care. What's the point of having universal heath care if we are being forced to learn Arabic and pray to Mecca 5 times/day. Boy are liberals shortsighted.
What about our constitutional right to free cable tv and carribean vacations. Might as well add them to the list.
What ever gave you the idea that an idealistic, socialistic, whiny 20-something gives a damn about what the Constitution says about anything, let alone something as "basic" as the "right" to health care?</rhetorical>
Shows you the failure of our elemetary and high school education systems, I guess.
Everybody who can mouth the phrase "there is no health care" should be forced to llsten to his own voice repeating it 10,000 times while (or before) receiving treatment for any medical condition. How many repetitions would it take for him to notice the absurdity?
Cody Sapieka, 20, a junior at SSU majoring in wine business, said that's an issue he thinks about. It was the televised debates that grabbed his attention and helped convince him to vote for Kerry.Cody majors in wine business? You can major in wine? The real story here is not young voters but the utter collapse of higher education.
You forget that Sonoma County is in the heart of California's wine country, it's a neighbour to the more famous Napa County.
A wine business major is basically a specialised Agriculture Business major. There's nothing wrong with that. I think the fact that Agribusines degress of any kind are still offered in US colleges and universities is one of the few good things about American higher education.
However, I also think that Mr. Sapieka have been drinking too much of the stuff to seriously consider voting for Kerry.
20-year-old liberal studies major,,,19-year-old football player,,,,20, a junior at SSU majoring in wine business,,,
My question is, WHAT KIND OF CRAP ARE THEY TEACHING IN HIGHER EDUCATION THESE DAYS.
Liberal studies= Commie socialist liberal gutless professional lying whiner. Like everybody at the DNC & MSM.
"It's going to be the fall of the American empire if Bush gets re-elected," she said.
First of all, America is not an Empire, you nitwit.
And second, if it IS an Empire according to you and your fuzzy little liberal pea brain, wouldn't its fall be desirable? Meaning that by your own logic, you should vote for Bush!!!!
I didn't major in wine, however I did undertake a very rigorous extra-curricular study in beer.
Yea, I ended up majoring in partying in the parking lot myself.
"Liberal Arts" were originally the seven studies of grammar, rhetoric, logic, math, geometry, music and astronomy. Later it became a major for college students who didn't want to commit to any particular direction. "Liberal studies" sounds like political science, socialism, dissent, diversity and new age BS. I'm sure she thinks we must take all the earnings from the evil rich to pay for her education, health care and so forth. She also probably thinks that under a universal socialist world, there would be no reason for war since we all would have the same and we all would own nothing.
Possibly she thinks, or rather "feels", that the way to achieve and preserve that socialist utopia is to geld all those eeevil walking testosterone factories that prey upon the weak and thereby become the "evil rich".
C'est possible, non? (A little JF'nK lingo there....)
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.