Issues most important to students in election
The election may be over with the president in for another term, but the issues that divided the electorate are still of concern among students.
The deciding issue varies among students, but all said, it was the issues, and not necessarily the appeal of the candidates, that placed their vote where it did.
Aaron Johnson, a junior in biology, said the economy was the most important issue to him because it is the issue he said has the most direct impact on his life, and was the reason he chose to vote for George W. Bush.
“In one of the debates, [Sen. John] Kerry said he would raise minimum wage, and I didn’t want that,” he said.
“I’m going out in the job market soon, so I’d like it to be somewhat stable when I get there,” said Kathy Morgan, a junior in computer science.
Morgan said while the economy was also a main issue for her in this year’s election, she was also concerned about the war on terror and voted for Bush based on those two issues.
However, Morgan said, she wasn’t strongly in favor of one candidate over the other, and only voted for Bush because he was the closest representation of what she looks for in a president.
“He was the better of two evils, I guess,” she said. “It was good of Kerry to concede to Bush rather than drag it out for months like Gore did.”
The war in Iraq was a deciding issue in the election for many other students as well.
“My brother is actually fighting in Iraq,” said Landon Krefie, a junior in political science and sociology. Krefie said the poor living conditions, outdated equipment and questionable leadership his brother is experiencing is a direct result of Bush’s poor planning going into the war.
“I think the war was preemptive,” he said. “I figured Bush would win because of some the scare tactics he used late in the campaign.”
Krefie said another big issue he considered when making his choice for president was abortion rights.
“I am pro-choice,” he said. “I think it should be the right of the individual.”
Chelane Phillips, a senior in chemistry, said she voted for Kerry because she agreed with most of his policies.
“I really liked his stance on everything, except for abortion,” she said. “I liked that he was going into stem cell research. Overall, I liked his platform better.”
Education was one of her biggest concerns about the election, she said.
“I’m opposed to the whole ‘No Child Left Behind’ and Kerry was going to handle education better,” she said.
However, Phillips said she wasn’t surprised about the results of the election.
“I don’t think people are willing to change presidents during a war,” she said. “I work somewhere where I talk to people about it all the time and I got used to hearing everyone’s opinion on the fact that Bush was going to win.”
“I think the biggest issue for me would have to be our foreign affairs,” Mike Tolman, a freshman in aerospace engineering said. “I felt Bush had his plan set. Kerry had a plan set too, but Bush was further along.”
Megan Nelson, a senior in social work, said she was most concerned about the war in Iraq and was the reason she voted for Bush. However, Nelson said, she did vote Democratic on part of the ticket.
“I’ve also been concerned about the state of higher education in Utah. It’s probably going to be privatized because of the lack of funding from the state,” she said. “I didn’t like either of the candidates, but I felt like should vote for [Bush] because he was the lesser of two evils.”
Wyatt Garrett, a senior in biology, said moral character was the most important issue to him in the presidential election.
“John Kerry kept saying he had a plan but he never convinced me how it would work,” he said.
-bnelson@cc.usu.edu
Contributed to by Aaron Falk