With the College Democrats, College Republicans and student groups for particular candidates currently active, and with more than two-thirds of the campus voting, students do not need a poll to tell them that Washington University is politically involved.

Taking that into consideration, the Student Life poll from January 15 has some insights into the Washington University campus culture.

When asked what issues were the most important for this country in the coming election, students from Arts & Sciences, and the schools of Engineering and Law all responded with the same answer: the Iraq and Afghanistan wars. Twenty-five percent of students in the Olin School of Business who responded to the poll, however, believe that the economy’s performance was the biggest issue facing the United States.

Why the split? According to Professor of Political Science Steven Smith, students without jobs who are not yet a part of the working economy are not affected as much by the economy’s status as is the nation as a whole.

“Young people wouldn’t worry quite as much about the economy, as they are still in college not holding down jobs yet,” said Smith. “It makes sense they would worry about the war as it is largely being fought by people their age.”

Smith added that because business school students are studying the economy, it may concern them more.

The poll also weighed in on how students view the U.S. Congress and the President. Eighty-two percent of Democrats, 70 percent of Independents and 30 percent of Republicans believe that the country is going in the wrong direction.

Despite the fact that the University is a very Democratic-leaning campus, with 42 percent of the respondents affiliating with the Democratic party, 47 percent of Democrats, 58 percent of Independents and 60 percent of Republicans either disagree or strongly disagree with the job that the Democrat-controlled Congress is doing in Washington.

If the students disagree with Congress and with the president and most put the Iraq and Afghanistan wars as the most pressing issue facing our country, then it is no surprise that Senator Barack Obama, D-Ill., is the Democratic or Democratic-leaning students’ choice for a candidate. The poll indicates that Democrats want change-in their President, their Congress and the direction in which their country is going. Senator Clinton, D-N.Y., who came in second and is leading in national polls, is seen by Democrats as the candidate of the establishment.

Obama, on the other hand, is relatively new on the political scene with which students are not happy. Also, the Illinois senator has said regarding the war that “we have to be as careful getting out as we were careless getting in,” and has never supported the Iraq war.

“Hillary [Clinton] set up for the general election campaign,” said Smith. “The anti-establishment candidate is always more popular with younger voters.”

On the Republican side, Senator John McCain, R-Ariz., was the students’ choice, with 26.58 percent of respondents supporting him. Former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee, with 17.11 percent, was the students’ second choice. This is not surprising, since the leading issue among Republican voters at Washington University was the War on Terror. McCain’s “No Surrender” slogan regarding the Iraq war fits well with this concern. McCain’s popularity on campus was matched by the national New York Times/NBC poll on Jan. 15, which put McCain first, with 33 percent of the vote, followed by Huckabee with 18 percent.

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