Last week, among the stack of Glickman Library one student
picked up a copy of the New York Times, the paper of record. “I
couldn’t buy the Times today,” he said “Not with Bush on the cover.”
Two days before, the Times had endorsed Senator John Kerry.
Welcome to the 2004 election cycle.
For the past month, MTV has been interrupting their regular
programming with messages from Sean “P Diddy” Combs
encouraging young people to get out and vote. His pitch line? “Vote
or die.” Things on the University of Southern Maine campus don’t seem
nearly as urgent, but interest in the campaign has led to a politically
charged atmosphere, where nearly everyone is decided. Almost.
John Malloy is a senior and he’s voting next week. He’s just not
sure who he will be voting for. “I’m just a cynical kind of guy who’s
lost faith in the process. The current political state is messy. I don’t think
we have a strong candidate and with the current situation in the world
that’s troubling. I guess you could say I’m leaning towards Senator
Kerry, because I’m concerned about domestic issues as well.”
When asked about the possibility of voting for Independent
candidate Ralph Nader, Malloy lit up. “I like Ralph. He’s cool. I
like some of the messages that he brings, talking about living wages
and blue-collar workers. He seems real to me.”
Turnout among young people ages 18-24 could skew this hotly
contested election. According to Harvard University’s Kennedy
School of Government “The Vanishing Voter” project, in 2000,
32.3% of eligible voters aged 18-24 turned out for the election. That is
nearly 20% below turnout rates for all voters combined. It appears that
a confluence of events has made the possibility of large numbers
of young people turning out a likely scenario. According to the
same study, 46% of young people are said to be “thinking about the
campaign” as compared to 29% in 2000. The overriding factor on the
back of these voters minds is the war in Iraq.
Roger Randall is a senior media studies major who is planning on
voting for President George Bush. “I think that he’s gotten us into a
situation that he has to take care of and see through. Also, I think
Senator Kerry is a weak candidate.” Randall echoes the sentiments
of many Americans who seem unwilling to change leadership in
the middle of the war. Whether or not the “horses in midstream”
argument holds up is a question that will have to be answered on
election day.
The war is a driving force in the get-out-the-vote initiatives
among younger voters. Massive registrations such as the “Rock
the Vote” campaign which is nonpartisan, have used the younger
voters concerns with the war in Iraq as a way to get young people out
to polls. “Rock the Vote” recently mailed fake draft notices to nonregistered voters, encouraging
them to register. Despite Bush’s insistence that he would not bring
back a draft and the rousing defeat of two bills in Congress proposed
by Democrats Charles Rangel and Ernest Hollings, the “Rock the
Vote” website calls the draft “a real issue…not an internet hoax
or rumor.” Kerry said in the Des Moines Register on Friday that,
“With George Bush the plan for Iraq is more of the same and the great
potential of a draft. Because if we go it alone, I don’t know how you
do it with the current overextension of the military.”
At USM, the concerns of students seem much more tangible
than the hypothetical scenarios of election year politics. Jason
Melanson, a senior, said that he is voting for Kerry. “I think that Kerry
should be the choice for anyone whois ages 18-30. It doesn’t make sense
to vote for Bush, unless of course you’re making over $200,000 per
year.”
When asked whether or not he had any friends that were voting for
Bush, Melanson said that he did. “I know some people who are voting
for him, but it’s mainly because that is who their parents are voting
for.”
In battleground states such as Maine and New Hampshire, places
with relatively small populations but large universities, student
voting could play a major role in tipping the balance of the state. Marcy Ansley is one such student. She is a registered Massachusetts
voter, which is a mortal lock for Kerry. However, she plans on
switching her registration to Maine to cast a vote for Kerry. Like others,
foreign policy is at the top of her list. “I have concerns with domestic
issues as well, but foreign policy is my main concern. Something needs
to change.”
Will these college voters play a role in deciding the outcome
of the election? They seem to think so. The lessons of the 2000
campaign seem to have gotten through to young voters: your
vote matters. Most studies show a huge increase in this belief among
college voters. A major concern of the Bush campaign is that all of
these newly registered voters may be flying below the radar in polling
for a very simple reason: many of them do not have landline phones
and are not being polled. If these registered voters show up, it bodes
well for Kerry.
The consensus on campus is decidedly pro-Kerry, though most
think that he is a weak candidate. The Bush camp seems to be small
but vocal, a continuing trend of conservatives “outting” themselves
on college campuses since 9/11. The atmosphere seems civil. There’s no
dirty looks for Bush/Cheney pins,
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