Obama- Student Votes= Trouble

The members of the Obama campaign are trying to square down on their supporters from the 2008 campaign win that sent Obama to the White House. With a majority percentage of his supporters being Hispanic and African American, the second big part of his supporters came from young people- college and post college students. As many people in society are aware, the University student can be one of the most opinionated, and supportive person a politician, idea, or movement can have.

There was a recent article I discovered in the New York Times which interviewed students from several different American Colleges, and asked them if they still would vote for Obama in the upcoming election. The conclusion I drew from it is that Obama has lost some of his most powerful supporters.

I think back to when I was a freshmen in college and the election was taking place, and how the “Obama Boom” took over the entire college. It was almost as if you HAD to vote for Obama simply because you were in college. However, 4 years later, the generation of University students that originally voted for him are now in a very different place in their lives. In four years, 2008 student voters find themselves not in a classroom- but in the job field, not in a dorm room- but in a home, not in a school system- but THE system.

One of the students interviewed in the  NY Times discussed how she was an active volunteer for the Obama campaign, doing all sorts of jobs to help in any way she can. Now, students like her are skeptical on whether or not they got what they voted for. Now comes a time in their life where these things matter- where good health care matters- where having a job matters. And it is not just a commentary or opinion matter anymore. After graduating college, graduates can’t enjoy the comfort of forming opinions and taking stances on things that they don’t have to live through themselves.

Students need jobs. America needs jobs. Does Obama expect to keep a majority of his student supporters when now they are actually part of his unemployed pool of potential voters?

“Yet even Mr. Obama’s supporters say it seems unlikely that the president- given the difficulties of these past three years and mood of the electorate of all ages- will ever be able to replicate the youthful energy that became such a defining hallmark of his campaign.” Says the article written by Adam Nagourney.

I’m not sure how much this has hit my own University yet, but I do know that my own thoughts are squirreling around. How much longer do we need to wait in order for change to actually happen?