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Campus Political Awareness: Does it Exist?
By Emily Clifton '08
STAFF WRITER

It’s that time again—everywhere we look, there are campaign posters, and politicians are shaking hands and kissing babies. We all know about election time, whether it’s simply because we see the obvious signs or just finished our absentee ballots.

Sweet Briar does boast two clubs that are political in nature, supporting both major parties, Democrat and Republican. But how politically aware are we as a whole campus? The Voice staff decided to take a closer look at just how politically aware our campus is.

We conducted an anonymous survey covering everything from ‘who is our president’ down to the individual congressmen and women for each state. We also assessed the political issues that make our students tick. The results might surprise you.

All students polled knew that our President is George W. Bush, which is good, because nobody at a respectable institute of higher education should be ignorant of that.

The numbers were still promising for Vice President: 90% of first years, 92% of sophomores, 100% of juniors and 91% of seniors were able to name Dick Cheney. But from there, political awareness level begins to decline.

The Speaker of the House of Representatives, who symbolizes the power and authority of the House, administers the proceedings on the House floor and also leads the majority party conference. He is often the chief defender of the majority party’s legislative agenda.

Only 10% of both seniors and first years knew who this was: Dennis Hastert. None of the juniors polled knew him, and only 9% of sophomores knew his name. It should be noted, however, that had this study been conducted a week later, those numbers might have gone up. Many people have probably seen Hastert on CNN, defending himself against charges that he allowed Florida Rep. Mark Foley (R) to continue his position, despite evidence that he was propositioning pages.

Who cares, you say. After all, ultimately it is the entire Congress that really makes things happen. How many of us know our Congressional leaders? 30% of seniors and first years knew at least one of their Senators. 10% of those two classes could name both. The sophomores and juniors did even better—60% knew at least one, and 30% of sophomores could name both.

When asked to identify their respective Congressman or woman, the trend was opposite; only one junior polled could name her Congressman, and only 20% of sophomores could name theirs. Seniors were blissfully unaware: only 18% could name their Congressman. First years were the most informed, with 30% who knew their Congressman’s name.

Another major question we asked was whether everyone who was over 18 was registered to vote. Out of the first years, 50% were registered to vote. Many have only been 18 for a year or less, but compared to 58% of sophomores, 86% of juniors and 73% of seniors, we think that is impressive.

30% of first years knew their state governor, while 33% of the sophomores polled knew theirs. 43% percent of juniors could name their governor. Seniors finished dead last with only 27%. Perhaps they have been away from home for too long?

Whatever the reason, it is clear that political awareness is not a strong suit within the Sweet Briar population.

Political issues are an integral part of the process of voting. We had Sweet Briar students rank the three issues that they felt were most important. Homeland Security topped the list of key issues, with the following breakdown among the classes: 50% of first years, 70% of sophomores and 20% for both juniors and seniors.

The War on Terror was another important political issue: 50% of first years and seniors and 60% of juniors and sophomores counted this on their list. Surprisingly, considering that it is an issue less relevant to those in the college age-group, Social Security came in third, with 70% of first years, 40% of sophomores and 50% of juniors counting it among their top 3 issues of concern. However, only 10% of seniors were concerned about Social Security. Both gay marriage and abortion were issues that were possibilities, and were broken into categories.