The Young & Disenchanted

Peter D. Hart Research Associates has conducted a poll for the Panetta Institute, tracking the opinions of college students (the Institute has done this since 2001). You can read the Herald's summary of the report here. The report concludes that

The mood among college students has darkened considerably over the past 12 months.

And that

[w]hen it comes to assessing the country’s future, a large majority of college students (67%) feel uncertain and concerned about the country’s future and just 26% feel confident and secure. Students’ optimism has declined from last year’s survey and also differs widely by party, as just 15% of Democrats and 23% of independents feel more confident and secure, compared to a plurality (49%) of Republicans.

Herald writer Jim Johnson reports:

Panetta said today's political leaders should be doing a better job of reaching out to young people. He said he remembers being inspired to public service, and a long political career, while he was in law school in the early 1960s by President Kennedy's challenge to all Americans to think first of what they could do for their country.

He contrasted that with what he said was the unwillingness of either major political party to do any meaningful outreach on college campuses.

A few comments: I can't speak to the DNC's and RNC's outreach efforts, but since the 80s I have never found college students to be particularly inclined toward politics or public service - and I write this from the experience of student, graduate student, campus representative for a large testing organization, and instructor. Perhaps the disinclination began after Watergate and the end of the Vietnam War, when the optimism and tumult of the Sixties began to fade and a larger wave of cyncism took over. That students tend to view elected officials as crooks and liars mirrors the national view. The Hart/Panetta report notes that

In this year’s congressional elections, college students plan to vote for the Democratic candidate over the Republican candidate by 46% to 20%, which marks a significant shift from 2002 when the spread was only 34% to 27%.

But there's the rub: they won't vote, or at least not in significant numbers compared to older demographics. What would it take for politicians to pay greater heed to the particular wants of college students: college students voting in numbers great enough to move elections. What else would waken college students to political activity? Ah, the draft. If I recollect correctly, less than 1% of the country serves in the military. If military service were imminent, you can bet more students would take notice. Now, by no means I am advocating reinstituting the draft . . . only suggesting another reason why students are not so restless. I fall somewhere between college students and the generation which came of age in the Sixties. What will it take to get college students more involved in the public process? What will it take to get the general public more involved, as participation there has also fallen significantly? Was Hamilton right - leave the ruling to the select few! Will there be a leader to re-issue and re-inspire national service a la Kennedy? Statistically, more Americans know the names of all Three Stooges than know the names of the Supreme Court. There's got to be a good old- fashioned college drinking game in there somewhere! brog