Election 'mania' missing on college campuses

Students reach out to President Barack Obama at a campaign event at Bowling Green State University Wednesday, Sept. 26, 2012, in Bowling Green, Ohio. Obama is making a big push to drum up enthusiasm among college students and young adults in Ohio, a group he won by a wide margin four years ago and will need again in November. However, this year, it's more difficult on many campuses to find a college student who's truly excited about the presidential race. Photo by The Associated Press.

MARTHA IRVINE, AP National Writer

Friday, September 28, 2012

ELMHURST, Ill. (AP) — What a difference four years can make.

In 2008, college campuses were filled with campaign posters and political rallies — and frenzy. Remember "Obamamania?" This year, it's difficult to find a college student who's truly excited about the presidential race.

"Politics has gone back to that thing you don't want to bring up," says Abraham Mulberry. He's a freshman at Elmhurst College in suburban Chicago who's trying to start a club for young Democrats.

Last election, his campus had an active Students for Obama chapter, organized well before the election. But this time, there's nary a campaign placard, for either President Barack Obama or Republican candidate Mitt Romney.

"I wouldn't say the election is the No. 1 hot-button issue here," Mulberry says, disappointedly.

Granted, you don't see many signs of campaign enthusiasm in the neighborhoods that surround his campus, or elsewhere for that matter. But it's telling that, on many college campuses across the country — where, in 2008, then-candidate Obama's messages of "hope" and "change" easily took hold — the mood is markedly more subdued.

"Certainly, some (young people) have stopped believing," says Molly Andolina, a political scientist at DePaul University in Chicago who tracks young voters. "Maybe that's inevitable. For structural reasons, it's easier to offer hope and change as a candidate, than as a president."

Excitement was so high, it really had nowhere to go but down, she says. This time, there's also no obvious chance to make history, as there was when students helped elect the country's first African-American president.

"For young voters, it was like going to Woodstock in 1968," says John Della Volpe, the polling director at Harvard University's Institute of Politics.

Now like a lot of Americans, they're more worried about the economy and finding jobs. Voter ID laws in some states, which ban or restrict the use of student IDs at the polls, also are causing confusion on campuses — at a time when students are already weary and cynical about political bickering in Washington.

"Lots of people thought President Obama could go in and break gridlock and that didn't happen," says Ethan Weber, a senior at Miami University in Ohio, who'll be graduating in December. "That's the scariest thing to a lot of young people — that nothing is going to happen."

In 2008, Weber cast a half-hearted vote for Republican John McCain, certain Obama would win. This time, he's voting for Romney and sees the election as a "toss-up."

He is still in the minority in the 18- to 29-year-old age group, according to polls. Young people are leaning strongly Democratic, as they traditionally do, and favor Obama by a wide margin — though some pollsters say the youngest new voters are showing signs that they may buck that trend.

An Associated Press-GfK poll conducted earlier this month found that 61 percent of registered voters in the 18-to-29 bracket support the president, compared with 30 percent for Romney.

In 2008, young people ended up voting for Obama by a 2-to-1 margin, with just over half of U.S. citizens, ages 18 to 29, casting a ballot in 2008. Though older generations are still more likely to vote — about two-thirds of citizens older than 30 did so in 2008, for instance — youth turnout was larger than it had been in recent years, and was particularly notable because their wide margin of support helped lift Obama into office.

It remains to be seen, however, whether they'll show up at the polls this time.

A Gallup poll taken Aug. 27-Sept. 16 found that 63 percent of registered voters, ages 18 to 29, said they "definitely" plan to vote. That compares with at least 80 percent of registered voters in older age brackets who said the same.

By comparison, before the election in 2008, 79 percent of young registered voters said they definitely planned to cast a ballot, according to a Time/Abt SRBI poll, taken in later September of that year. Older voters were about as committed to vote then as they are this time. (Among self-reported registered voters, turnout in 2008 was 84 percent for 18- to 29-year-olds, according to the U.S. Census, compared with 91 percent for older voters. Those percentages are higher than the overall vote percentages above because they don't include citizens who never registered to vote.)

After that banner turnout, Allison Byers, a 25-year-old in San Francisco, finds young Americans' waning commitment to vote in this election frustrating.

"It kind of breaks my heart," says Byers, who works in communications at an arts college and was an active organizer for the Obama campaign in 2008, when she was a junior at Virginia Tech.

Even she concedes that she's feeling more "realistic" than excited about this election — her optimism tempered by the difficulties the nation and the president have faced in the last four years. But she remains committed to him.

"There are always reasons to be disenchanted and unenthusiastic," she says. "But you have to keep fighting the good fight."

It's important to note, though, that for a whole new crop of eligible voters — those who weren't yet 18 in November 2008 — this will be the first time they're able to cast a ballot.

And that has Della Volpe at Harvard wondering if the enthusiasm gap may be, at least partly, the result of a "growing schism" between older and younger millennials, the age group so named because they've reached adulthood in the new millennium.

Older millennials came of age amid the terror attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, and Hurricane Katrina, sparking some to become more civically and politically engaged. Meanwhile, "the political awakening of the younger millennials is happening during the recession," Della Volpe says.

How that will affect them, or influence this election, remains to be seen.

But already, Della Volpe and his staff have found that Obama holds a wider margin of support among older twentysomethings than with potential voters who are 18 to 24 — especially 18- and 19-year-olds.

Whether Republicans know that, or whether they simply noted young voters' influence on the last election, they have been spending more time courting college students lately.

Republican Paul Ryan, being framed as the "younger" vice presidential candidate, has spent time on campuses recently. George P. Bush, son of former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, also has been making the rounds at colleges and universities in his state, to try to generate interest in Republicans.

That is "a very, very astute move" by Republicans, Della Volpe says.

They won't win the youth vote, he predicts. "But they might win the white 18- to 24-year-old vote — and they could block some additional gains that Obama might make."

It means a lot depends on these next few weeks, especially since studies have shown that young voters are often late to engage in an election, even in a presidential year.

"Young voters tend to make up their minds about whether they will vote — and for whom — much later than older voters," says Brian Harward, a political scientist who heads the Center for Political Participation at Allegheny College in Pennsylvania.

So voter registration drives are continuing in earnest, as are education campaigns to try to allay the confusion over which IDs students can use when voting. In states such as Pennsylvania, where a voter ID law remains in limbo, colleges and universities are issuing expiration stickers for student IDs, so they can be used at the polls.

In the absence of as many student-driven campaign activities, schools such as Elmhurst College also have created a calendar of fall political events — debate viewing parties and forums for congressional candidates, among them.

"I am still taken aback that students haven't really thought about the election that much," says Ian Crone, Elmhurst's associate dean of students.

He only hopes that, before Nov. 6, more of them will do so.

Online

Harvard Institute of Politics: http://www.iop.harvard.edu/

More like this story

PatsyDecline 8 months, 3 weeks ago

One could say that all that "Hope and Change" has changed their hope.

3336 8 months, 3 weeks ago

Well, seems moving forward is a good thing, let's find solutions to whatever needs to get done!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

RobHunterJohnson 8 months, 3 weeks ago

The Debates will tell, I am sorry but your Mitt is already doing damage control, better read some other sources. Rob

earlsmusic 8 months, 3 weeks ago

If only the Carters had employed a psychic, or if President Carter had had old movie lines to quote, he might have been the genius that Reagan was.

spelchek 8 months, 2 weeks ago

If only Reagan had doubled down on Carter's policies, he might have been the biggest failure of a POTUS rather than Carter (up to now).

3336 8 months, 3 weeks ago

Well, let's hope which ever party wins and America will be as great and strong as ever!!!!

eileen10 8 months, 3 weeks ago

America knows President Obama is the man for us and for the good of the United States of America. That's just the way it is.

wyriontair 8 months, 3 weeks ago

It's clear by some posts that some voters are not doing their homework on what's happened in this country and the type of person Obama really is, some think he's just so appealing, a rock star, a great speaker. Obama is a "snake oil" salesman. Quit watching the late night comedy shows and listening to "movie stars" and "pop stars" telling you who to vote for and research yourself. The last straw was the attack in Libya when he sent out the UN Ambassador and the WH Spokesperson to tell the world it was a "spontaneous" attack, blaming it on a movie trailer on the net that very few people had seen, decrying the "video" as an insult to a certain religious sect, yet, said not one word was said about the vile and disgusting video of our Ambassador Stevens being dragged from the consulate, his clothes torn and these sub-human disgusting persons laughing and enjoying themselves. The president still has not acknowledged the attack as a "terrorist" attack. His speech to the UN was another "apology" to the world for all that ails it and he seems to think he is president of the world and everyone should just do what he says. Wake up before our country is destroyed.

earlsmusic 8 months, 3 weeks ago

You really ought to cite the sources of some of this fascinating information!

RobHunterJohnson 8 months, 3 weeks ago

Not justifying what happened, but there is a good possibilty, that the pictures I saw on the internet were of people trying to help Ambassador Stevens, what I have read is that he was alive and died from smoke inhalation at the hospital. I do know that how bad this world is, it not the time to give the REPUBLICAN party the key to the hen house, so you better do your home work a little further, instead of being fueled by all the lies that are being circulated on the Internet as we post. The latest ones I have seen was Obama son, clearly photo shopped, and an old one of Obama at Ft Hood holding his crotch? The bldg is not at Ft Hood, need I go any further? Rob

John 8 months, 3 weeks ago

Which lies, the ones that tell us what a good job the POTUS has done? He hasn't fulfilled any of his campaign promises (even the health plan is nothing like he originally voiced it).

RobHunterJohnson 8 months, 3 weeks ago

The Congress has scr ew ed things up for the last 4 years, and I blame the Republicans for all of it. ROB

connor 8 months, 3 weeks ago

Of course the "Mania" is wavering. The Femocrats and their current Boy-Wonder can only play the class warfare and victim politics so long as everyday another target of their looting wakes up. Four years ago most people were content but the power and money grab finally moved down to them and they finally saw what was happening.

Despite all the flowery rhetoric the truth comes out in statements such as "Obama Phones" "Obama Cash" free gas and house payments etc. and as tuition fees increase and government subsidies seem to flow to only a few select groups those left in the cold begin to question the actual motive.

The time for celebrating yourselves at the expense of others is ending. This election is the dawn of a new type of struggle and we will see who can take it for the long haul.

asb 8 months, 3 weeks ago

A few select groups indeed. billions in taxes that should be coming from the wealthy are staying in private and foriegn banks, and it's not for the poor. The greates number, and disgusting collection of lies is coming from the FRight Wing controlled major media such as Fox 'n Fiends. There is no contest for all but the top few percent, Obama is the best, most honest, and most American choice for President

connor 8 months, 3 weeks ago

Ahhh the trap you have set for yourselves. Even if you took every dime of the so called "wealthy" you couldn't fund the behemoth of entitlement spending you have created. Education (the mainstay of wealth for most feminist) alone would break the few wealthy that are left within 6 months.

The time has come. Either enough have opened their eyes and may make a last grasp at keeping us from going over the cliff, which it is more than likely too late for anyway. Or there still are not enough and we go over it sooner and the tide changes then.

Either way a reset is in the works as you have finally ran out of other peoples money.

earlsmusic 8 months, 3 weeks ago

So let's hear it. What does your candidate offer? All I hear is that Obama is this and that. Can your candidate do the Hokey-Pokey?

connor 8 months, 3 weeks ago

Ryan's budget plan, reduced deficit spending, repealing Obamacare and no accidentally admitted collusion with foreign governments, gun control or Non-Constitutional power grabs.

RobHunterJohnson 8 months, 3 weeks ago

So your telling me Romney is going with RYANS Plan? He will never get elected if he sticks with what you are hoping and praying for. Thats called no plan at all from MR ROMONEY? Rob

Paroquet 8 months, 3 weeks ago

Connor, seriously? You wade in going there?

Better "Femocrat" than "Rebublicant".

Misshun akomplished.

eileen10 8 months, 3 weeks ago

fricken aye...yer rite.

connor 8 months, 3 weeks ago

Oh yes and much has been accomplished. A dollar that buys less than 5% of what it did 50 years ago. Trillion dollar deficits per year, real unemployment upwards of 20% with under employment far higher. Four year degrees costing more than most people can make in years. Suicide rates and racial mob violence at all time highs. Single parent households now the norm.

Ya you go Grrrrrl.

asb 8 months, 3 weeks ago

Racial mob violence? You been lynchin again there Mr. Clay?

connor 8 months, 3 weeks ago

Interestingly enough not one report of the racially charged flash mobs, brutal attacks or deaths seem to originate from my particular cultural or racial group. How weird is that?

But thanks for asking.

RobHunterJohnson 8 months, 3 weeks ago

The Debate will tell! I don't see how you can support someone who had 267 pgs listing 34 offsh or e corperations and partenerships? He took a foreign tax credit of $102,790., the US median income is $51,000.? Romeny had 379 pgs of taxes in 2011, 203 pgs in 2010, I sported less than 20 pgs? I paid 17% what did Romeny pay 14.1 %. He does not care about SS, MC, Health Care, or the 47% whom most off us will belong at some point in their lifetime? The price of things has always gone up Mr Conner, and it will never stop. Things are better than 4 years ago, I watched what Bush 2 almost DESTROYED, try to come back slowly, it has,and very slowly at the average Joe level? If you want someone who can work the books Romeny is your man! 379 pgs of fixing Taxes to be President? I do not need someone in the office of President to fix the books, I need someone to make things work for all Americans not just the upper percentile. Robin off Batman, and Ryan of Romeny are the only BOY WONDERS! Show me the TAXES ROMENY? Rob

connor 8 months, 3 weeks ago

Wow still with the "It's Bush's Fault" As well. Ya it was Bush's fault for pandering to the entitlement vote and giving in to the democrat Congress and Senate.

While Obama in what appears to be a standard Femocrat deception claimed to be Kenyan born so he could get foreign student aid and extra AA credit. I guess he couldn't pull off the American Indian angle like some others.

As for inflation it is an artificial construction based almost completely on the amount of FIAT currency placed into the system. Inflation was 0% until deficit spending was created. Your boy Obama has proven to be the master at spending whether you agree with what he is spending the money on or not is irrelevant in relation to what will happen.

Champagne spending on a beer budget and the only reservoir you guys can think to tap isn't enough to cover the bills for six months. Ya that's some plan.

asb 8 months, 3 weeks ago

Your post well represents why a President sitting in office through very tough economic times may get re-elected rather than being replaced by the opposition. If the GOP could've come up with a strong candidate, with rational policies, and avoided the PAC funded hate and smear stuff that makes the Swift Boat and Willie Horton stuff look like schoolyard taunts, well they could have had this election. The economy does that. But instead, the GOP puts up a loser with limited skills, less appeal and a poorly hidden agend in support of the very few who've put us in this situation. They are robbing the lesser classes and actually blaming them for the problems we're facing. They've transferred, through theft and policy, more money to fewer people than any time in American history. They've given in to the FRight Wing religious, race, and jingoist haters to such a degree that people like you can post their lies as facts with confidence, and still LOSE THIS ELECTION.

connor 8 months, 3 weeks ago

Your hate filled, derisive rhetoric shows the major flaw in the Liberal/Femocrat explanation. There is no single "elite" group with enough money or resources to even touch the entitlement spending of your so called "Lesser Classes".

If there was I might actually believe in some super secret, tyrannical robbing of the middle class by a few but there isn't. All the Millionaires and Billionaires wealth on earth cannot cover the money spent on education salaries and pensions.alone.

The only "elites" stealing from the poor are the multitude of government and public service employees who also channel a few tidbits down the ladder to pay for their underclass supporters.

Those are your "elite few" they are called union bosses, government cronies etc.

RobHunterJohnson 8 months, 3 weeks ago

"The Enviromental Protetion Agency by proulgating-- or causing to be promulgated--unnecessarily restrictive regulations, will block the burning of millions of tons of good American coal. Coal that is critical to Americas needs." 8/1974 or 8/2012? " They have decided that, in implementing the Clean Air Act, the only way to protect human health from stacks gas emission is to measure sulfer-oxides at the top of the stack--instead of at the ground level wher people live and breathe." Some things never change? Rob

os2hank 8 months, 3 weeks ago

Your showing your lack of knowledge he's name is Romney not Romeny, care to give us all the ref: you so quote?

RobHunterJohnson 8 months, 3 weeks ago

Since your so smart, why don't you go find it? I am just an out of work constuction worker, and I found it this morning on the internet. Read something instead of watching FOX. Rob

spelchek 8 months, 2 weeks ago

You surfing on your Obamaphone?

RobHunterJohnson 8 months, 3 weeks ago

You should figure out what Romneys plan is rather than checking grammer and spelling! Oh thats right ROMONEY don't have a plan. Rob

jcguy25 8 months, 3 weeks ago

It's rather funny to see all these posts from people that seem to think they know exactly what's wrong with this country and exactly what is needed to fix it. If you people are so smart and have all the answers then why aren't you in congress? the president? Simple fact is you don't have the answers. Most people tend to focus on how they feel policies should be from their personal situation, but as president or a member of congress they have to step outside that and do what's best for ALL Americans. It really doesn't matter if there is a Dem or Repub president or whose in charge of Congress, until both sides starting coming to the middle more nothing is ever going to get done. If Romney wins as President and the Dems still control the Senate, they will block everything the Repubs will try to put out, just as the Repubs in the House have blocked practically everything from the Senate and Obama. They will continue to play the party game and we're all going to be the ones that suffer.

connor 8 months, 3 weeks ago

If Only that were true Jcguy. Yet the so called Repub Congress did not stop Obama's spending and Obama has made end run power grabs around the Constitution bypassing them anyway. The Senate on the other hand completely blocked everything Congress sent them.

The real truth is we the people are to blame. We have allowed the victim coalition to take wealth redistribution and class warfare to the point that no one can stand their ground politically without sparking a flame somewhere. If or When the fiscal or Social Conservatives finally throw out a candidate that will stand his or her ground the shooting war will start and to date no one has had the guts to do it.

eileen10 8 months, 3 weeks ago

Okay. mass confusion has set in. Both of you make sense. I think I'll just drink more coffee and bounce off the walls. This is to far above me to grasp. I'm not stupid but right now I feel like it. Politics just isn't my thing but I refuse to quit trying to learn.

jcguy25 8 months, 2 weeks ago

It wasn't only the Senate blocking the House, the House did the same thing to the Senate. So enough already with blaming only the Democrats. They are all to blame, including the Republicans. The House wasted time attempting to repeal the Healthcare law numerous times knowing full well it wasn't getting through the Senate. Why didn't they use that time to work on a bipartisan jobs bill or something else useful? It was a political game, plain and simple. And yes, we the people carry just as much blame, for electing politicials that are too far to the left and right.

RobHunterJohnson 8 months, 2 weeks ago

What would any conservative cut? Lets just take a pick? Rob

eileen10 8 months, 3 weeks ago

I don't know frap from fric when it comes to running the country but i do know the dems and repubs shoot things down as you said jcguy25. Maybe they all need to get in a boxing ring and duke it out..winner take all.

spelchek 8 months, 2 weeks ago

Hard to get excited leaving college with $30K (plus) in student loans and no jobs in sight. Don't worry, Obamacare will let you live on mom and dads health insurance until you're 27, you can join the record number of Americans on food stamps, and then use your spare time being brainwashed into thinking successful people are the problem. FOUR MORE YEARS!

RobHunterJohnson 8 months, 2 weeks ago

No Spelck, I am surfing on Al Gores Internet! Rob

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