Students Speak Up About Election
Published 1-18-2008
The road to the White House has been a back-and-forth battle for the candidates this year. Two campus political groups are excited about the primaries and caucuses and are looking forward to the results.
David Valencia, the president of the UW College Republicans, is glad to see more conservative candidates such as Mike Huckabee still doing well in the ongoing primaries. He also agrees with Wyoming voters that Romney is a good candidate, and that Wyoming is gaining national influences because of the early caucus results.
“It’s nice to see such a diverse range of candidates that people are interested in, and to choose from,” said Valencia.
Reynaldo Fuentes, the president of the UW Rocky Mountain Democrats, said he believes the diversity of democratic candidates is bringing younger voters.
“There is so much energy and diversity of American culture in the Democratic party, which also shows how aggressive and diverse the Democratic party is,” Fuentes said.
The surge of young Democratic voters is “because of candidates like Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton who are changing the messages and reverberating with the youth,” Fuentes said.
Political science student Louis Lieb would like to see candidates focus on more student issues such as student loans and making tuition more affordable. Lieb said he believes that young people are stereotyped as apathetic about voting. He said this should come to an end because there are younger people who do care and are listening to candidates.
“Presidential candidates, legislators and congress members should all be focusing on more student issues to gain younger audiences’ attention, and get them more interested in the elections,” Lieb said.
Both Fuentes and Valencia are unable to endorse a specific candidate until after all primaries and caucuses are over in August. The on-campus student political organizations are all pleased with the energy and diversity that the current candidates have brought to this election.
To get more involved in on-campus politics and in the current presidential campaign, visit the Campus Activities Center’s Recognized Student Organizations Web site for meeting times of on-campus groups at www.uwyo.edu/RSO/atodirectory.asp.
The Wyoming Republican caucuses were held second in the nation this year. The Republican caucus resulted in Mitt Romney winning 67 percent of the votes, although Romney, Thompson and Hunter were the only candidates with votes. The Democratic caucus will be held on March 8.
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