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Students get ready for election day
By Michael Canfield
On October 24, 2012
With the presidential election less than two weeks away, Buffalo State students are making up their
minds on who they're voting for.
President Obama and Mitt Romney finished their last debate Monday night, and all that's left is last
minute campaigning in battleground states like Ohio and Florida. While Obama enjoyed a large lead in
national polls through September, Romney has pulled much closer and is leading in some recent polls,
possibly due to a strong showing in the first presidential debate.
Jon Lines, a professor in the political science department, said the polls would have tightened up either
way.
"Historically the debates don't move the election," he said.
Although some students were uncomfortable talking about the election, the majority of students The
Record spoke with identified the economy, education and student loans as the major issues they were
concerned about.
"The important issues for me are education and the economy," said April Benitez, a senior biology
major. "I'm leaving college soon and I want to be able to get a job when I leave."
Obama, the Democrat, and Romney, the Republican, have different ways of achieving economic stability
and reforming education.
According to the Campus Election Engagement Project, a non-partisan website working with colleges
and universities around the country to get students involved in the election process, Obama favors
federal spending to stimulate the economy, while Romney does not. Both candidates agree that tax
incentives are needed to help with job creation, and both agree that spending money on infrastructure
to create jobs is important, although Romney would not spend as much as Obama.
In terms of education, Obama favors giving college students more federal student aid, while Romney
does not. Obama also favors federal involvement in schools, requiring schools to meet certain
requirements to be eligible for federal money.
Romney, on the other hand, would like to see the states reform their schools without the federal
government becoming involved.
Overwhelmingly, students The Record spoke with said they were going to vote for Obama in the
upcoming election. Students cited several reasons, from not seeing a plan for the country from Romney
to giving Obama more time to fix the economy.
"Mr. Romney has not given any specifics on how he would run the country any different than Mr.
Obama," said Josh Obeng, a sophomore chemistry major voting for Obama. "Mr. Obama cannot fix in 4
years what took us 10 years to do."
Lines isn't surprised to see support for Obama on campus. In unscientific "raise your hands" polls he's
conducted in his classes, students seem to favor Obama by a two-to-one margin. Students are able to
relate to Obama, he said.
"Obama is more attuned to this generation in terms of social issues," Lines said. "Even some students
who identify as conservative reject social conservatism."
According to Lines, another reason for the support may be the main issues in the election. Students
aren't necessarily worried about paying taxes; they're worried about getting jobs.
"Romney has been harping on the jobs issue," he said, "but there's no real confidence he can change
things. It's seen as political rhetoric."
Stacy Camp, a senior individualized studies major voting for Obama, agrees that jobs are an important
issue for students. She sees Obama as moving in the right direction.
"I don't just want to get a job, I want a good paying job," she said. "Obama is on the right track to get
the economy growing again, and I think he deserves a second term."
While a large contingent of young voters helped Obama with the 2008 election, Lines expects less
enthusiasm for this cycle. Part of that is a lot of the enthusiasm Obama brought to the table in 2008 has
been diminished.
"It might be a problem for Obama," he said. "He won behind a huge amount of optimism, and hasn't
accomplished a lot of what people expected. It could lead to cynicism. You were going to fix all of this
and didn't."
More and more students seem to be disillusioned with the political process, and turn to more concrete
things, like volunteerism to make a difference in their communities, Lines said. This could also lead to
low voter turnout among younger voters.
"It's not a matter of apathy," he said. "Students feel like the political process is irrelevant to their lives."
Michael Canfield can be reached by email at canfield.record@live.com.
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