Ninety percent of MSU students voted in the November presidential election - more than twice the national average for college-aged individuals, according to a study released Wednesday.
The online survey, conducted by the MSU Institute for Public Policy and Social Research, polled more than 1,200 undergraduate and graduate students at MSU.
Some political experts are surprised that the numbers were so high.
"That's pretty remarkable," said Mark Kornbluh, history department chairperson and author of the book "Why America Stopped Voting."
"Ninety percent turnout is striking for any group, but especially for college students, who have traditionally voted in lower numbers," he said.
The high turnout figures even amazed some campus groups that led get-out-the-vote drives before the election.
"Frankly, I was surprised by the results," said Landon Bartley, an urban planning graduate student and member of YouVote. "I think that's great - if these voting drives hadn't been going on, we wouldn't be seeing this result."
YouVote is a nonpartisan voter task force that ran voter registration and education campaigns on campus before the election.
Brian McGrain, co-author of the study, said the fact Michigan was a swing state probably had a substantial effect on the study's results.
"Being a battleground state, it's not a big surprise," McGrain said. "A lot of groups were involved in getting more students registered, informed and out to vote."
A separate study in November by the Center for Information & Research on Civic Learning & Engagement found 77 percent of all college students and 42 percent of all 18 to 24 year olds voted in the 2004 election.
Kornbluh said there wasn't a national increase in student turnout, but there was a dramatic increase in battleground states such as Michigan.
"This was an unusual election," Kornbluh said. "Students were mobilizable, and both parties put a lot of resources into encouraging students to vote in larger numbers."
As for the 10 percent of MSU students who didn't vote, more than two-thirds said they were either too busy or were uninformed about the issues.
"What we see is that it's not a lack of interest, but a lack of access to the political process," McGrain said. "Students think the issues aren't relevant to them."
He added that in order to keep college turnout high, an emphasis needs to be put on engaging students with the issues at hand.
"We need to get students to see why (voting) is important instead of just getting them registered and voting," McGrain said.
