By Eve Attermann, Asst News Editor, and David Brown, Staff Reporter
College-age voters are ready to reject the status quo this November, according to a new poll by the Institute of Politics at Harvard University.
Young people prefer Illinois Senator Barack Obama and former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani as their top choices for president and are most concerned about the war in Iraq, the poll found.
About 65 percent of Vanderbilt students felt the war in Iraq was either strongly or somewhat not worth fighting, and an equal number of students feel terrorism still remains a very or fairly serious issue, according to a Vanderbilt Student Government/Vanderbilt Hustler poll conducted in October.
The poll also found almost 75 percent of the undergraduate student body either strongly or somewhat disapproves of the job performance of President Bush.
"Obama clearly has tapped into something in the younger generation," said political science professor John Geer. "For one thing, he himself is younger than the other candidates, but more importantly, he has the dynamic of change."
Political involvement this year has not been restricted to the student body, however. According to Federal Election Commission filings, political contributions from Vanderbilt employees have increased 25 percent from the last donation cycle even though the election is still 10 months away.
Leading contributors are Interim Chancellor Nicholas Zeppos and Colleen Conway-Welch, a dean in the School of Nursing, who have both given $2,300 - the maximum legal amount - to Barack Obama and Mitt Romney, respectively.
Students, such as senior Rachael Geisler and junior Miriam Assadian, said they support presidential nominees who desire change.
"Obama just has something different about him," Geisler said. "He is charismatic and intelligent - two attributes that have been missing in this president."
"I'm supporting Hillary Clinton because she's a female Democrat," Assadian said. "Or Obama, because he's black. I'm a minority female myself, so I support minority politicians."
Senior Cassia Beltran said she hoped to make history this election by voting for a minority nominee but was disappointed she cannot, as she disagrees with both Clinton's and Obama's platforms.
"I'm voting for Romney because I think he's better than Hillary or Obama," Beltran said. "I think it's sad, too, because I really wanted a female or a black man to be president, but I feel that their policies would be unsuccessful."
