In a recent poll, senior students were asked questions regarding the upcoming presidential election between Democratic incumbent Barack Obama and Republican challenger Willard “Mitt” Romney. Each senior was asked three of four different questions regarding their personal involvement in the election.
The first question asked about one’s personal involvement in the preceding before the election, and whether they had followed it. Of the 50 polled seniors, slightly over 50% of the seniors admitted they had not followed the election. The following question asked whether they would be of age in time for the election. Less then 20% of the senior class will be 18 before the election on November 6th.
The third question was determined by their status regarding the upcoming election. If they were going to be of age in time for the election, they were asked if they planned on voting. In spite of the low amount of seniors that will be able to vote, and the general disinterest in the election, over 75% of said seniors stated they had plans to vote on election day.
If they were not going to be of age in time for the election, the students final question asked whether or not they would vote if they had the opportunity. These findings correlated to a surprising degree with the answers provided by seniors that could actually vote, with 87% stating that they would vote given the chance.
What this data reveals about the election is that although seniors may not have, on the whole, great interest in the presidential candidates themselves, they do seem to value their right to vote.