College students are a powerful voting bloc

Senator John Kerry, D-Massachusetts, announced his candidacy for the Democratic nomination for… Senator John Kerry, D-Massachusetts, announced his candidacy for the Democratic nomination for president yesterday.

Concurrently, the Associated Press reported a poll that found only 5 percent of registered voters recognized Kerry’s name. When polled about other Democratic candidates, 10 percent of the voters could identify Vermont Gov. Howard Dean, while 11 percent recognized Missouri Rep. Richard Gephardt and 14 percent had heard of Connecticut Sen. Joseph Lieberman.

Dean, unlike Gephardt and Lieberman, had virtually no name recognition before the nomination race began. Now he exceeds Kerry, who was considered the favorite, and his success is mostly due to Dean’s campaign strategy, which targets the youngest voter demographic – 18- to 25-year-olds.

This strategy is clearly working, because Dean now enjoys twice the recognition Kerry does, and recognition leads to votes.

But if college students are such a lucrative market, why aren’t more candidates pitching to us? And furthermore, why aren’t more students finding out about candidates?

As one of the major population and voting demographics, we can expect to be wined and dined by other candidates, and not just Democratic ones. Now that Dean has shown the force of marketing to us, others will follow.

Therefore, as voters – and if you’re not registered, it’s time to get on the big, red party wagon – we have a responsibility to be informed about candidates and the issues they espouse.

This especially applies if a single issue is your litmus test for candidates. For instance, if you can’t imagine voting for someone with a pro-life or pro-gun control platform, don’t.

But that doesn’t preclude learning about each candidate’s complete agenda, because several candidates might support what you do. Highlight each candidate’s platform using a series of bullet-points, if you must.

It’s time that we, as college students, started doing our political homework. This race looks to be a hot one. The decisions we make now set the course, not only for one presidential term, but also in other arenas. The next president will probably appoint several Supreme Court judges. What we choose will echo in history.

This is not a choice to be taken lightly. The drama surrounding the primaries should be seen as a call to action. Learn what people have to say, decide based on issues – not just superficialities – and prove that we, as a voting bloc and a generation, have something to say.