With November’s presidential election fast approaching, an informal poll of ETSU students finds they are focusing on the war in Iraq as the primary issue of this election, but student opinion is largely divided.
Susan Woodring, an English major, stated that she likes to remain neutral on the war itself. “I don’t think we should be there, but I support the soldiers that are there,” she said.
Woodring also believes that two of the deciding factors in the election will be the gay marriage issue and the No Child Left Behind Act.
Taking a somewhat different stance on the war was Daniel Pennington, a social work and sociology major who said, “I do think we should be there, although I think we do need help from other countries.”
Pennington views the job market and the economy as the primary issues facing voters.
He based his opinions on the amount of money being sent to Iraq and the fact that people are worried about the future of the job markets.
Osama bin Laden and the government’s inability to locate him still has students pondering over what is being done.
The one point raised by most of the students interviewed is that our highly sophisticated and advanced technology doesn’t seem to be working.
“I don’t think you can find somebody who lives in the mountains unless you’re willing to track them down aggressively,” Pennington said.
Andrew Haselden believes that after 9/11 we were searching for him, but somewhere along the way our attention was re-directed toward Iraq, and we have lost the focus of our original intent.
With a little less than a month before the election, students seem to be honing in on the major issues and sharpening their thoughts as to what is really relevant.
The issues students see as most relevant are the war in Iraq, the economy, weapons of mass destruction and which candidate will have the greatest impact on the war against terrorism.
Heather Laurendeau felt combat service was important when asked about which of the candidates she would trust to make the right decision in an international crisis.
“Bush has had an amazing four years,” she said. “His presence has been a rallying point, especially after Sept. 11. He was there with the speeches, and this is what we needed, but I don’t necessarily believe that his foreign policy and his decisiveness about issues is what America needs now.
“I think that Kerry, especially having been in combat, would probably be the more reluctant of the two to go to war. Someone who has experienced war generally will try diplomacy first.
“I think in an international crisis, Kerry would try diplomacy first, and I think that would be safer for the American population, especially considering weapons of mass destruction.
“We need to be careful, and I think that the growing number of countries with weapon of mass destruction might eventually lead to a greater diplomatic age, because of the reluctance to actually use them.”
The economy is also becoming a major issue, and while both candidates are just now beginning to receive favorable comments, the United States’ involvement in Iraq and our justification for being there without locating the weapons of mass destruction is still running at a 75 percent disapproval rating.
In fact, 100 percent of the students surveyed believe that we need to be more aggressive in hunting down Osama bin Laden.
“I don’t see why they can’t catch him,” Woodring said. “His face is plastered all over national television nightly.”
This is the second in a series of articles designed to gauge the political climate on the campus of ETSU as the nation heads toward the November presidential election.
Students have been interviewed at random, and up until now have not been asked to disclose their political affiliations or which candidate they directly support.
Over the course of the next three weeks, students will be approached with a more direct line of questioning regarding their choices for the president.
A few local and state races will also be included in the questioning.
The East Tennessean and this reporter wish to thank the students who have agreed to be interviewed about the political climate on the campus of ETSU.
This says a lot about the students and their desire to be part of the political process.

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