Tuesday, 4/8/97
Student-voter turnout expected to be low
Ambivalence, lack of political interests cause of record low
numbers
By Hiro Kuchida
Daily Bruin Contributor
Today marks an important date for Los Angeles. At the voting
booths, Angelenos will have the opportunity to decide on the city’s
next mayor and the future of Los Angeles’ charter. The outcome of
Tuesday’s vote will affect the entire city’s population, including
the UCLA community.
But despite the hefty issues at stake, public interest in the
elections has been unusually low. The problem is especially acute
among college students. Student voter turn-out both locally and
nationally has reached record lows in recent years.
During the ’96 presidential campaign, 18- to 24-year-olds
comprised 13 percent of the electorate. Of those eligible to vote,
only 20 percent ended up going to polls, according to MTV Rock the
Vote.
"Unfortunately, I think most of the UCLA community doesn’t vote
because they don’t believe local elections will affect their own
future," said fourth-year marine biology student Joshua
Schneider.
Bruin Republican Chairman Jason Steele believes that anticipated
low voter turnout in today’s election is due to Mayor Richard
Riordan’s large 20-point lead in the polls over challenger Sen. Tom
Hayden.
Steele argues that students will therefore not vote because they
may believe their vote will not make an impact on the outcome of
the election.
"It is difficult to get enthusiastic about an election when you
don’t feel that it will directly affect you," agreed Bruin
Democrats President Angela Foster. Like Schneider, Foster has
noticed that students feel their lives will not be affected by who
becomes mayor.
"I don’t feel that the candidates have really addressed issues
that are important to students," Foster said.
Other students concurred with Foster.
"I think college students have been neglected," said Cheng-Wei
Peng, a political science student.
A detachment with local government appears to be a recurring
theme among students when explaining low voter turnout. Yet some
UCLA students still engage in politics with fervor.
Luis De Alba, a fourth-year political science student is an
enthusiastic voter who has seen his vote make a difference in his
immediate community.
A Riordan supporter, De Alba has seen a notable difference in
his neighborhood since Riordan was voted in as Los Angeles mayor
four years ago. De Alba said that an increase in police presence as
well as a general "better" feeling (in Los Angeles) is directly
attributable to his vote and the vote of many other Angelenos in
1993.
Yet UCLA students are only part of a national pattern of college
students’ involvement with politics in general.
According to a recent UCLA study conducted by the Higher
Education Research Institute, political interest among college
students nationwide remains extremely low, even in election
years.
The study, which was conducted by the Graduate School of
Education reported that 29.4 percent of college students felt that
keeping up with political affairs was very important or an
essential life goal.
This number is relatively low when compared to 1966, when a
reported 57.8 percent of college freshman had a strong interest in
politics.
Participation in the political process has also steadily
declined since th late 1960s, when a whopping 16.4 percent of
college freshman students reported having worked on a local state
or national political campaign.
Linda J. Sax, the associate director of the Graduate School of
Education poll explains the sharp decrease in political interest is
a sign of changing times.
"The fact is students today don’t have a strong connection (to
politics) the (way) students did in the ’60s," Sax said.
"Students cared more about political issues and were more
interested in issues (in the ’60s)," Sax said.
Sax cites other factors as to why political interest has waned
over the years.
"Politics have taken an increasingly negative tone, and students
have become negatively influenced by the cynicism of campaigns,"
Sax said.
The influence of the cynical tone of campaigning is evident
among local political groups. Bruin Republican Vice Chairman Mike
MacNeil remarked "most students are extremely left-wing and out of
touch with reality" when asked on how the local community will
vote.
Another reason Sax believes students have lost interest in
politics is the lack of political information available to the
general public.
"Students today are educated by sound bytes not issues," Sax
said. She believes this contributes to the lack of political
participation.
A feeling of disillusionment and a sense of distance from the
political arena appear to be repercussions of Sax’s
observations.
"I think people have forgotten the meaning of the vote," Peng
said. He feels individuals have lost the notion that they must tell
government what they want. "People assume that the local existing
government can continue without their (citizens’) help and
participation."
It’s "sad that people have taken it (voting) for granted," said
De Alba.