A recent survey of 1,004 college students finds that students are dissatisfied with America’s leadership and tuned in to the presidential election. The poll was conducted by the Panetta Institute, a non-partisan public policy group in California.
A comparison of this year’s results with previous survey results shows that students’ attitudes have changed significantly. In 2001, the survey’s first year, 68 percent of students said they were either very or fairly satisfied with their country’s leadership. This year, that number dropped to 38 percent.
Today’s students also say they are more invested in this year’s presidential election than those surveyed in 2004. During the George Bush/John Kerry match-up only 22 percent of students reported paying a lot of attention to the election. Amid this year’s contested primary, that number has shot up to 82 percent.
The survey also asked students which candidate they favor. Barack Obama led the results. When asked who they would vote for in a general election, Mr. Obama beat John McCain 59 percent to 27 percent, while Hillary Clinton beat Mr. McCain by a slimmer margin, 46 to 39 percent. Among those who identified themselves as Democratic primary voters, 66 percent backed Mr. Obama, while 20 percent preferred Mrs. Clinton. That number is up from a year ago, when Mr. Obama led Mrs. Clinton 50 percent to 27 percent, with 11 percent backing John Edwards.
The survey notes that the large student preference for Mr. Obama is in stark contrast to national polls, which show a more even split between the three major candidates.
“I don’t think we’ve seen a generational difference like this since the Vietnam era,” said institute director Leon Panetta, in a press release.
