Dan Glickman
By David Cook
Dan Glickman, director of the
Institute of Politics at Harvard University's Kennedy School of Government, was Wednesday's guest. He discussed a new poll the Institute conducted of US college students' political views. Here are excerpts from his remarks:
On the political views of college students:
"College students are highly independent ... but they slightly lean Republican: 31 percent Republican, 27 percent Democrat, 38 percent independent."
On student support for President Bush:
"Defying conventional political wisdom, college students support President Bush. His approval rating is about 10 points higher among college students than the general population. While the approval rating has declined nationally it has held pretty steady among ... students."
On measuring students' political activity:
"College students are not political slackers, as a lot of folks may think. These numbers indicate that people do care. They do involve themselves in public service activities. And they do plan to participate in the 2004 election."
On why only 28 percent of students consider iraq as a concern to them:
"Without any personal vulnerability ... they have disconnected a lot of what is happening with the war from what they think about politics, because it has not affected them."
On why politicians often fail to seek out college students:
"It ... is a [nuisance] to go after new groups and expand them - particularly a group that doesn't have any formed opinions yet."
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