Mock Primary a Mockery

The students of Rivier College should be ashamed of themselves.

On December 5th and 6th, the River College Republicans held a mock primary for the Republican candidates. Not only did we ask students to vote for their favorite candidate, but we also asked them to vote for political issues that mattered most to them. This was an opportunity for college students in the second largest city in New Hampshire, a politically-influential state, to voice their opinion. We had planned on announcing the results in local newspapers. The Granite State was invigorated with political excitement with the upcoming first-in-the-nation primary! New Hampshire has only been wrong three times when it comes to predicting the president. This year, we were hoping to capitalize on the seemingly increase in political activism in college students. After the votes were tallied, we realized the sad truth of political apathy in college students.

We had a .23% voter turnout. Simply pathetic and embarassing. These students don't realize the importance of politics and voting. We are the next generation of voters, and if we don't educate ourselves and embrace our right to vote, then our country is in serious trouble in the future. The students are all talk and no action. They like to join Facebook groups to support candidates or global issues, but when it comes time to actually take action, they become lazy and fail. Democracy is not a spectator sport! I do not want my generation to be known as an apathetic, physically and intellectually lazy group of selfish people. We plan on agressively educating and inspiring the students in the spring to get involved with politics.

Here are the results and some photos:

Mitt Romney - 11
Rudy Giuliani - 8
John McCain - 6
Mike Huckabee - 6
Ron Paul - 3
Duncan Hunter - 0
Fred Thompson - 0
Tom Tancredo - 0

Out of the 11 issues, here they are ranked from 1st to 11th in order of most important to least important:

War in Iraq
Terrorism
Illegal Immigration
Social Security reform
Lowering taxes
Improving education
Abortion
Health care
Economy
Environment
Gay marriage