Put it in. . .neutral?

"Haven't you ever noticed that when you want to go forward you put it (car) in D and when you go in reverse you put it in R. . .That's not a coincidence, folks"- President Barack Obama, speaking at the University of Wisconsin-Madison campus on Tuesday, September 28, 2010.

I was insanely jealous when my friends attending UW-Madison were able to see President Obama for free in the Library Mall.  He's already iconic, and though many, including myself, are not fans of his policies nor of some of his actions, the fact that he is, well, President of the United States is kind of a big deal.  Naturally my friends were ecstatic, and it's no surprise that he chose a campus such as Madison to go to.  With Democrats on the chopping block across the country and the House likely to fall into the hands of the Republicans, it makes sense to go to the base of the Democratic party: college campuses.  And he chose an appropriate one in the liberal bastion that is Madison.

Madison is as blue as they come, and a good choice for Obama to kick off his tour of college campuses in preparation for the mid-term election in November.  There is evidence that young voters, though still in generally in support of Democrats, are, ever so slightly, shifting to the right.

It's been shown in many polls that young voters are slowly but surely leaving the Democratic party.  They still receive the majority of young voter's support (54% according to a Pew Research Poll) but since 2008 the Democrats have been losing support dramatically.

Perhaps surprisingly, the big issue with young voters is the economy.  As college students, we realize that our education comes with a price.  We realize that each class we miss is money down the drain (a little over a hundred dollars here at St. Olaf).  Some of us are coming out of here with debt, thousands of dollars worth of it.  And it's a scary thought that when we're all done we won't have anywhere to go, and instead be shouldering an amount of money that, at the time, would seem impossible to get rid of.

Whether or not Democrats or Republicans can better handle the struggles that face our country is something I'm not sure about.  I know which way I'm voting this November, and I have faith that the party that will be receiving my votes.  Young voters have the power to decide an election.  This is our future now.

Article I got my information from: Democrats Bleeding Young Voters, But They're Still Liberal