Staff Editorial
College students hear from many different sources that they are apathetic to the political process.
U.S. citizens ages 18 to 25 are so indifferent that MTV had to get involved with “Choose or Lose.” Entertainment stars have also gotten involved with the effort: P. Diddy’s “Vote or Die” and Bruce Springsteen’s “Vote for Change” are specifically targeted at young people. CNN.com also features college student correspondents across the nation who follow the campaigns in the “Campus Vibe” section of the Web site.
However, based on the high turnout at Tuesday’s political debate among Pepperdine professors Chris Soper and Dan Caldwell backing Sen. John Kerry and Robert Lloyd and Doug Kmiec backing President Bush, Pepperdine students have proven this stereotype wrong. Smothers Theatre, which seats 500 people, was almost full. There were even chairs placed on the floor in front of the stage and people sat on the floor in the back of the auditorium
Pepperdine is not known for having an especially opinionated campus. Sit-ins, protests and picketing are foreign terms. But this election is about something an increasing number of students seem to care about.
Of course, some students who attended the debate were required by their professors to go. However, the large signs that they brought in support of the candidates, their enthusiastic clapping following the speakers’ impassioned comments, and the pertinent questions they asked are evidence that many students weren’t simply at the debate as unwilling participants. Their engagement in the process is an encouraging sign of our campus’ political involvement.
There was a feeling at the debate that everyone knew what the speakers were debating about. The event wasn’t primarily educational, but rather is was about putting the ideas together to form opinions.
Numbers from last year’s election demonstrate that young people have historically not taken a strong interest in politics. Of the entire U.S. population, 51 percent voted; however, only 37 percent of all people eligible to vote in the 18 to 24 population went to the voting booths in the last presidential election, according to The Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement (CIRCLE). Also, CIRCLE statistics report that while this age group makes up 13 percent of the U.S. population, it makes up only 8 percent of the voters.
Maybe the too close to call memories of hanging chads and Supreme Court rulings from four years ago still remain clear in the minds of students. Or possibly the war in Iraq — which involves many people in our age group — is contributing to this increase in awareness and interest in politics.
The too close to call events gave the public, including young people, an insight into the political process. After it, people knew about the Electoral College, and how each vote actually counts.
This election is again very close. After the most recent polls following last Thursday’s debates, the two candidates are once again neck and neck. Because of these close figures, politicians are trying to connect with younger voters who may not be planning to vote by publicly spending time with their own children to show they are in touch with the young people of the United States.
As Chris Soper said at the debate in his opening comments, there is nothing that makes a professor happier than seeing a full auditorium for an event where no Convocation credit is offered.
However, with this enthusiasm for politics comes the responsibility of going to the polls on Election Day. Out-of-state students should find out their state’s absentee voter policy as soon as possible.
We can’t let this interest in politics fizzle before Election Day, or for that matter after Election Day. With the array of pro-voting campaigns coming from the trendsetters of the pop world, voting is easily en vogue.
However, these same organizations won’t remind voters to remember to go to the polls for less-publicized issues on the ballot. Local, state and national races as well as propositions here in California and other states often have low voter turnout, but can influence citizens more directly.
The Pepperdine student body should be applauded for staying informed on the election and the issues the candidates stand for. Let’s listen to what they have to say, stay informed and get to the polls Tuesday, Nov. 2.
10-07-2004