So how many of you have been following the 2008 election?
What about the presidential debates? The vice presidential debate? If you answered "No" to any of these questions, perhaps you should consider yourself an "apolitical" Blue Devil.
Believe me, I nearly watched a regular season baseball game between the Milwaukee Brewers and Chicago Cubs instead of the first debate. Since I had no control over the remote, I was forced to give in to Obama-McCain round one and after a few Stellas and a cheeseburger at the Stock Car Café in the Charlotte airport, I was more than ready for the debate. But I digress.
Apoliticism-if that even is a word-seems to be a significant issue around campus as we come closer to the big day in November. Do Duke undergraduates care about politics in the least bit? Or is the image of the disinterested Dukie just a common misconception? Senior Jamie Friedland believes the latter is true.
An information junkie, news omnivore-call him what you will- Friedland updates his blog, "The Political Climate," when he feels the mass media have under-covered an issue or shortchanged his blog devotees.
"For example, I posted about the truths of offshore drilling because the Republican Party has been literally lying about its benefits, and I started hearing some of those lies from classmates," Friedland wrote in an e-mail. "I felt the [mainstream media] had been doing little to call out the lies."
He doesn't sound like your typical apolitical, apathetic Dukie, now does he? Like most young adults ages, Friedland retrieves nearly 100 percent of his political information online-I just may be the last of my kind to read an ink-on-paper version of The New York Times every morning.
Friedland's daily news diet comes from Politico, The Washington Post online and The Huffington Post, and he subscribes to 29 RSS feeds. Although he is more well-informed and well-read than most of the campus, he is hesitant to call Duke apolitical.
"Most of the people I talk to here do have opinions. The problem is they don't act on them.
"We're all smart and most people care.... The problem is that there is so much information out there that people have to choose what news they want to consume, and few people want to wade into that mess. That's part of the reason I blog."
Susan Tifft, Trinity '73 and a professor of the practice of journalism, public policy studies (full disclosure: She's my professor, too) agrees with Friedland's assessment: There is so much news and information out there that students as well as the general population find "shortcuts" to voting-this by no means defines someone as apolitical.
No matter the campus, there are always going to be students that are apolitical, Tifft suggests. According to a study she cites, voting for the undergraduate age group (18-24) has gone up every election since 1996. Although younger generation voters have cast their ballots in increasing numbers, she believes the vast majority of citizens do not spend enough time with the news diagnosing each candidate.
"Across the population people don't treat politics like sports events such as football or basketball. They don't get excited about it," Tifft explains. "They may get excited about one particular issue and as soon as they find the candidate that is, for instance, pro-choice or anti-choice, that's fine for them; that's their candidate."
Tifft notes that there are only a select few "news omnivores" in any age group, like Friedland and senior Rachel Wolf, who are "inhaling everything" that's out there.
Like Friedland, Wolf believes it is crucial to stay up-to-date on political issues. Although she doesn't blog, she reads The New York Times, Politico, The Huffington Post, Daily Kos, Talking Points Memo and the Hill, in addition to subscribing to Newsweek, leading one to wonder how she has enough time in her day.
After interning for Planned Parenthood this summer in Washington, D.C., Wolf began reading more blogs.
She believes they offer a different perspective from the mainstream media and though most blogs are fairly partisan, she finds them fascinating to read when looking for a more specific point of view.
Like Friedland, Wolf believes many of her fellow students care and are interested, but with the plethora of information out there, they are too busy with other things to get really involved.
"I think a lot of young people have a hard time connecting to politics since they see it as something that is far-removed from their lives," Wolf wrote in an e-mail. "It would be great to see more students actively participating in the political process, like they are on some other campuses, but if nothing else, it's been great to see an increase in political interest this election season."
Having taught at Duke for 10 years, Tifft believes this election is the most excited she has seen students, attributing this surge predominantly to Democratic hopeful Sen. Barack Obama.
Although she has met some students who are excited about Republican nominee Sen. John McCain, the majority of students have told her that Obama has really captured their imagination-he's young, black and represents a generational change.
"I see a very specialized sliver of the Duke community because I see people who come to the public policy institute," Tifft adds.
"By definition, I've got a group of people who, one would assume, are more interested in public policy and politics than the next guy. I do think that this particular year, there's a sense that students have a real stake in this election because it really is going to matter who occupies the White House come Jan. 20."
Freshman Arthur Leopold has already forged a stake in this election.
He's the youngest member of Obama's finance committee, and he is a partner in a political consulting firm, according to an Aug. 24 article from The (Raleigh) News & Observer.
Did I mention that he has raised nearly $1 million for Obama and that he was among the youngest delegates to attend the Democratic National Convention in Denver in August? Not a bad way to finish off the teenage years.
Leopold retrieves his news from the mainstream media-The New York Times and The Washington Post-as well as several left-leaning blogs including Ben Smith, Politico, The Huffington Post and Daily Kos. Although he doesn't blog, he finds them informative and helpful in strengthening his arguments and positions.
"They are a wealth of information with the perfect spin for an ardent liberal," Leopold wrote in an e-mail.
Leopold, however, isn't quite on board with Friedland's and Wolf's assessment of their classmates. He doesn't say apolitical, but he might as well have.
"During what is said to be the most exciting and important election of our generation, I expected there to be a much stronger political presence on campus, especially considering the fact that we're in a swing-state," Leopold says.
So the question remains: Is Duke apolitical or less politically inclined than other institutions of higher learning?
My heart says no. Just look at all the politically motivated students on campus. Something tells me that there are more of them out there... somewhere.
Josh Chapin is a Trinity senior.
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