Stereotyped to be uninformed and uninterested in political issues, college students are not usually considered important to an election. Campaign advertisements and debates are rarely aimed toward this age group, which traditionally votes in lower numbers than other age groups. This year, all of that changed.
A recent study shows 90 percent of MSU students voted in the November presidential election. This is more than twice the national average for college-age individuals. There wasn't an increase in student turnout overall, so MSU must have done something better this election.
With a wild, party-school reputation, this is a great thing for MSU. We aren't an Ivy League school like Harvard University that's expected to be politically active, yet 90 percent of us went out to the polls. Ever since the infamous riots of 1999 and 2003, MSU's reputation has been less than flattering in some people's eyes. By proving that we are more politically active than expected, this high voter turnout is definitely a step in the right direction.
The intense efforts to inform students about the issues of the election obviously paid off. Students living in the dorms were frequently visited by members of the different political groups on campus. They came to discuss the main topics, help get everyone registered to vote and hand out bumper stickers and posters supporting the different candidates. For the months leading up to the election, The State News was filled with information on the election and on the arguments at hand. All of these sources did a successful job making the crucial information of the election available to students.
Well before the election, campus was full of posters supporting President Bush or Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry. It's great that students cared enough to show their view and put up these posters, but it's much better they actually went out to vote.
Besides simply informing students of issues, different organizations also worked to show that voting is a cool thing to do. MTV constantly showed celebrities wearing T-shirts sporting the slogan "Vote or Die," and Votergasm.org sold T-shirts with the message that voting is the sexy thing to do, and if you vote, you will "get screwed." Although these messages were sometimes off-the-wall, they were aimed toward young voters and obviously were effective.
Because these ploys were so in-your-face, we could see a higher voter turnout coming. But even with high expectations, 90 percent is a lot. This shows that MSU students really are listening and really do care.
Maybe everyone will now see that, if they have a message they want to send out, they can get students to listen. Come out with a silly slogan, go door-to-door and talk to young people, make T-shirts. Whether or not they will agree with you isn't certain, but the fact that they are listening is.
