John Baer: Pa. voting students could test election wisdom
GETTYSBURG - So I'm in this journalism class with 13 Gettysburg College students, here in the middle of rural, white, working-class Adams County in south-central Pennsylvania, a county roughly 2-to-1 Republican.
GETTYSBURG - So I'm in this journalism class with 13 Gettysburg College students, here in the middle of rural, white, working-class Adams County in south-central Pennsylvania, a county roughly 2-to-1 Republican.
(And no wisecracks about: Oh,
you're finally taking a j-class?)
I ask how many are voting for Hillary Clinton.
No hands go up.
How many are voting for Barack Obama?
Ten hands go up (I think a kid from Philly raised both hands.)
The others are with John McCain or not voting.
Interesting.
The conventional wisdom that Obama owns the youth vote and that younger women feel no special gender attraction to Hillary because she's of another generation seems borne out.
At least there's some evidence.
Only Obama has an on-campus group here.
Sebastian DiNatale, 20, a political-science major and publisher of the school's independent online newspaper, Gburg Forum, tells me that a campus poll showed 77 percent of Democrats supporting Obama.
Political science prof Shirley Anne Warshaw, a recognized expert and author on the presidency, says that among her students, "Obama is by far the favorite, nobody's for Hillary and some are for McCain."
Warshaw says that the very things that make Clinton strong in PA's April 22 primary - health care, economic issues, appeal to older voters and labor - simply don't apply to most college students.
Obviously my sample's small, and this isn't a typical PA college. Tuition, room and board are $46,700, which is Ivy League level.
The 2,600 students are from 40 states and 35 countries.
Ethnic diversity actually exists: About 13 percent are students of color (Adams County is 96 percent white). And more than 90 percent of the students live on campus, a beautiful, sprawling, historic (founded in 1832) site within the town limits.
As a matter of full disclosure, I love the place. For its history and serenity (which is odd, given what happened here).
Also, my younger son is a graduate, and I serve as an unpaid member of the alumni-magazine advisory board.
I found a mix of feelings among students.
Katie Eissler, a sophomore French major from Langhorne, Bucks County, is voting Obama because "our country is ready for a big change, even if it's somebody not deemed experienced by the rest of the country."
Kevin Schaeffer, a junior history major from Oley, Berks County, is "probably" voting Obama but really isn't sure and generally not all that moved by politics.
A senior from Bethlehem tells me she's not registered, not voting and never has. Another student says she's so tired of TV's nonstop, biased talking heads, she only listens to campaign coverage by the BBC.
And Tom Hills, 22, an English major, is a registered Democrat unhappy with both Democratic candidates: "This election is moving me away from the two-party system" because candidates are "too passive" and tend to operate too much "like focus groups."
Hills likes Republican (Gettysburg grad) Ron Paul and Ralph Nader, demonstrating quite a range in political tastes.
Point is, there's a variety of thinking and attitudes, precisely what one would expect to find on a liberal arts campus.
But almost all students I meet say they'll vote.
If they actually do, and are at all representative, they'd help break a history of voters 18 to 24 voting least of all age groups.
And that could have impact. PA has more than 250 colleges and universities (triple the average among states) attended by 680,000 students, more than 75 percent of whom live in PA.
If what I found at Gettysburg exists across the state and translates to votes, Clinton's double-digit PA lead might get taken to school.
Send e-mail to baerj@phillynews.com.
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