Students not in swing states, less engaged

Students in the battleground states aren't breaking down doors to convert undecided voters in their neighborhoods or even persuading members of their own family to go to the polls. They actually seem to be paying less attention to the election than the average American, according to a poll released this week conducted by CBS News, UWIRE and The Chronicle.

In Tennessee, John McCain's strong 15 point lead over Barack Obama lands the state comfortably in the red, according to pollster.com. But in a state like Colorado, where the difference between candidates is less than 7 points, young voters have more potential influence.

"If I lived in a battleground state, (my vote) would make more of a difference," said University of Memphis freshman Jillian Carroll.

The Japanese major is going home to Arkansas on Saturday to early vote for the first time. She said she is only voting for herself, but if she lived in a battleground state, she would try to recruit her friends and family to her cause.

"If I knew my group could change an entire state, that would be more incentive," she said.

Over all, only one in three of the students polled had displayed a campaign sign or tried to recruit a friend or family member to a particular campaign. Despite that, an incredible 94 percent of students at four-year colleges in Colorado, North Carolina, Ohio and Pennsylvania said they were registered to vote.

"There have been extraordinary registration numbers," said Professor Henry Brady, a political science expert at U.C. Berkeley. "The question is, when you get these large groups, are they ultimately going to show up at the polls?"

About 86 percent of students who completed the poll and were registered said they definitely planned to vote. Those figures ranged from 82 percent in Ohio, to 91 percent in Colorado. Students favored Barack Obama over John McCain two votes to one.

"What matters is those young people are going to be democrats," said Brady, noting that Obama may do for the democratic party what Reagan did for Republicans in 1980.

It is true that the biggest influence for party identification for young people is their parents, said Brady, but the youth are simply more energized by Obama. Young people for Obama are more intense than those for McCain, and with all of the problems the republican campaign is facing, it is not surprising, he said. The maverick message missed the mark.

"He never quite figured out how to use the maverick message," said Brady," and chose not to be straight-talking John McCain young people could have related to."

Sixty-five percent of the students polled said McCain was a "typical Republican," while more than half said Obama was a "different kind of Democrat." Only 29 percent of registered voters in the poll thought McCain would bring real change to Washington, while 70 percent thought Obama would.

"Shut up, come up with something different," said Carroll, referring to McCain. "It's just not effective, and I wanted him to put up a good argument."

Students also side with Obama when it comes to the issues. Ultimately, young people are worried about jobs and the economy, said Brady. He also said students were watching for the candidates' stands on financial aid and gay rights. In the battleground states, the poll revealed the economy and education were the two most important issues for students.

Antavious Dorsey is a communications major at The U of M who accredited social issues as his main concerns for each candidate. He is registered to vote and said he is about 80 percent sure that he will.

"I am concerned with abortion issues," said Dorsey. "I'm gay, and Obama, I like his (political stance) on gay-rights issues," he said.

Whether the students stood on the left or the right, everyone agreed that voting made a difference. More than four of five said the outcome of the presidential election will make a real difference.

The CBS News/UWIRE/Chronicle of Higher Education Poll was based on a Web questionnaire completed by 24,848 undergraduate students at 49 four-year colleges in four battleground states: Colorado, North Carolina, Ohio, and Pennsylvania. The colleges were selected on the basis of criteria meant to represent all four-year institutions in each state. Students took the poll from Oct. 6 to Oct. 19.