College Newspapers On The Presidential Race

We vote, and the young live with the future we choose.  With just days to Election Day – we ask college newspaper editors from across the country what they want – who they want – for America’s future.

The 2008 election that put Barack Obama in the white House was like Woodstock for a generation of young voters in America.  They turned out in droves, and they made history.

2012 may be a different story.  There’s no historic first this time.  And no tsunami youth vote coming, if the polls are right.  But every vote counts in the tight Obama/Romney race.  And the young will live with the longest consequences of the future we all choose.

This hour, On Point:  the youth vote, the campus vote, in 2012.  What the youngest voters are thinking about the choice on Election Day.
-Tom Ashbrook

Caleb Bissinger, senior at Kenyon College in Gambier, Ohio and editor-in-chief of The Kenyon Collegian.

Katherine Klingseis, junior at Iowa State University and editor-in-chief of the Iowa State Daily.

Nicole Bailey, junior at the University of Virginia and editor-in-chief of The Virginia Advocate.

Stephanie Parra, junior at the University of Miami and news editor of The Miami Hurricane.

New York Times "Students were a swing vote in the previous election and are likely to be a swing vote in the current election. The student vote matters not just for the presidential election, but also for the Congressional races. Students tend to vote when they are personally affected by the outcome of an election."

USA Today "This year’s electorate differs from the one that propelled Obama to the White House in 2008. AGallup poll found 44% of those in the 18-29 age range, the demographic that supported the president almost 2-1 over Sen. John McCain in 2008, may not make an effort to cast a ballot this year."