Circumstances affect student voting habits
Growing up, children are constantly cultured in how and what to believe. The world around is constantly changing and evolving, and it is their obligation to determine the ideals that best represent who they are.
These values most widely range from simple patterns, such as personal preferences, to the more complex issues, such as religion. But one topic that requires major simplification is politics. As young adults, we must decipher through questions such as what are the important issues, what influences the way students perceive politics and why it is important to vote?
Survey Says
In the weeks leading up to “Super Tuesday,” The Colonnade conducted a survey of GCSU students in order to get a better idea of what influences students when deciding what issues are important to them. Student apathy was a great concern before conducting the survey. Many people involved were convinced that a survey would be inconclusive because of the general lack of caring about politics on campus.
The results completely negated this idea. Even the least informed students still felt strongly about something, and not a single person surveyed disagreed that they were interested and followed political coverage. Everyone surveyed had an idea of the most important issues to students and, the state. In fact, 59 percent of the people surveyed were definitely planning on voting in Tuesday’s primary and only 24 percent of the people weren’t going to vote because of disinterest.
The three most important issues to students were education, the war and the economy. For the state of Georgia, 59 percent of students mentioned water and 65 percent mentioned education as the chief concerns for the state (a 2005 study done by the Center for American Progress found Georgia in the bottom 50 percent in nearly every education category besides Early Childhood Education).
The foremost influence on students was their families. Fifty nine percent of all students surveyed mentioned their family in one way or another in regards to influences on their stance on issues.
Family Roots
Sophomore political science major Daniel Shey, like the 59 percent mentioned above, established his moderate conservative views primarily through his family.
“Family was definitely the main source of my influence. Fox News was our main source of news,” Shey said. “My parents talk a lot about a belief in a culture war: the Christian right versus the atheist left. Their spin on every story put it in terms of liberals cause wrong and strip away moral purpose.”
Today Shey is a senator for SGA and regularly follows politics, especially with the primaries in full swing.
“I read a lot of online sources to get my news. I try to make sure to read unbiased sources like the ‘Drudge Report’ and ‘Rasmussen,’” Shey said. “I look at the scoop from multiple angles to maintain the whole picture. I check online pretty much everyday, especially with the primary. This is the most intriguing primary in the last decade.”
Shey also credits college as a major catalyst in his increased interest in politics.
“College was a big step in the way I perceived politics,” Shey said. “The amount of information really changes what you think. There are many different levels of positive and negative, especially with professors and the way they illustrate it.”
Many people feel threatened or overwhelmed by politics, but Shey ensures other students that it not something to be afraid of.
“Politics is a fairly complicated thing. It is a true conscious decision to determine whom to back. It can be hard to determine what you believe in and who feels the same as you,” Shey said. “It isn’t so complicated that the average Joe couldn’t get involved, but it does take a lot of sifting through candidates and terminology of policy. Each person must decide if it is worth the time and where they stand.”
Apathy not an option
In the realm of politicking, an unfortunate stigma has been attached to young people at home and abroad. Either it’s A: They don’t care, or B: They don’t know – and don’t really care to know. It’s a stigma that’s been earned, and one not to relish.
John Raymond, a GCSU sophomore philosophy major, is at a loss by what influences people the most or not at all.
“Most people are only concerned with what effects themselves,” Raymond said. “A proposed tax raise, intended to created funds to help less fortunate people, would be opposed by many people because they are more concerned with their personal desires than the needs of someone else.”
Not all GCSU students, or college students in general, think this way about everything. Many GCSU students give their time regularly to charitable causes, volunteer work, or other forms of constructive campus involvement.
For instance, the GIVE Center, GCSU’s headquarters for coordinating volunteer efforts for hundreds of GCSU students, consistently shows an annual increase in the number of students who donate their time to charitable causes around campus and in Milledgeville.
So what factors deter a student’s desire to get involved and potentially ‘rock the vote?’
“They (most college students) don’t think it effects them,” Raymond said. “People must see there is a world outside of their small sphere of contact and realize that there is more at hand than what’s immediately happening around them.”
That can be as simple as tuning in to the evening news each night. As the primaries pass and the election draws closer, the nation is inundated with information but we must be reminded; this is a good thing. The United States is “a government by the people.” This nation was built on the premise that it is the people’s decision – apathy is not a part of the picture.
“Voting is a valuable form of expression, even in minor elections,” Shey said. “The political system is not what it should be but when we let apathy control us we only hurt ourselves.”
Posted by Colonnade Archives
on Feb 8 2008. Filed under News.
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