What Impact Could Arkansas College Students Have in Election?
By: Jonathan Athens, KARK 4 News
Updated: October 24, 2012
With the presidential election just days away, both candidates are pushing hard to win voters in battleground states, but one voting block might not be heading to the polls like they did in 2008.
Barack Obama got a solid boost from college-aged voters in 2008.
Will college students in Arkansas stay home this time around or head to the polls?
Henderson State University students Ashley Loftin and Alexandra Bush are not happy with what they're hearing from their classmates.
"I guess just absolutely no reaction to what's going on, or the assumption that 'this election really doesn't affect me so I don't care,'" says Bush.
"They don't feel like that their vote is significant in the great scheme of things," Loftin remarks.
Ashley and Alexandra are paying attention to politics and they're going to vote in this election, but what's also bothering them is a recent poll that says less than 50 percent of college-aged voters will head to the polls, down from more than 60 percent in 2008.
But that may not be the case among some Arkansas students.
"This year has to be important to me because of a specific topic is the Pell Grant, and I'm more tuned in with that than anything else right now," says student Michael Day.
What stands out, is they don't put a lot of stock on the two major political parties.
"I'm not really one or the other, because my beliefs are half and half with them," says another student.
But for Ashley and Alexandra, this election is about more than the two major candidates: it's about their classmates exercising their right to vote.
The Harvard poll also says that voters under 30 prefer President Obama over former Governor Mitt Romney, but it also says young voters who favor Romney are the ones most likely to vote.
Barack Obama got a solid boost from college-aged voters in 2008.
Will college students in Arkansas stay home this time around or head to the polls?
Henderson State University students Ashley Loftin and Alexandra Bush are not happy with what they're hearing from their classmates.
"I guess just absolutely no reaction to what's going on, or the assumption that 'this election really doesn't affect me so I don't care,'" says Bush.
"They don't feel like that their vote is significant in the great scheme of things," Loftin remarks.
Ashley and Alexandra are paying attention to politics and they're going to vote in this election, but what's also bothering them is a recent poll that says less than 50 percent of college-aged voters will head to the polls, down from more than 60 percent in 2008.
But that may not be the case among some Arkansas students.
"This year has to be important to me because of a specific topic is the Pell Grant, and I'm more tuned in with that than anything else right now," says student Michael Day.
What stands out, is they don't put a lot of stock on the two major political parties.
"I'm not really one or the other, because my beliefs are half and half with them," says another student.
But for Ashley and Alexandra, this election is about more than the two major candidates: it's about their classmates exercising their right to vote.
The Harvard poll also says that voters under 30 prefer President Obama over former Governor Mitt Romney, but it also says young voters who favor Romney are the ones most likely to vote.
