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October 23, 2007
WIU begins Mock Presidential Election
The Road to the White House, a multi-day mock presidential election event is off to a tremendous start here at WIU. Tonight, students played the roles of primary and caucus voters from a selection of states. Other students played the roles of campaign workers trying to sway the voters. Broadcast students used it as a real-world training exercise and broadcast the proceedings on the college cable channel. Print journalism students were seen scribbling on notepads and taking photos. Our state senator was in attendance. Faculty supervised the ballot process, answered questions, and kept the process moving forward.
Students were given a taste of what it is like to vote in a primary or take part in a caucus. Having participated in the Iowa caucus once back in the day, I volunteered to coordinate a couple of the caucuses. What a rush! (That is not a phrase that I use often, and probably never have used on the blog to this point.) Before we started, the look on some students faces was one of apprehension and confusion. Many, if not most, have not participated in any "real" politics. Maybe some have voted in a state election, but not many in this bunch would have voted in 2004. Given that we are in a primary state, I doubt that many have caucused (though we do have many students from Iowa--some of whom I learned from conversations are planning to caucus in '08).
At the end of the session, I noticed a visible change in the facial expressions of those students. It was no longer apprehension and confusion, but a look of satisfaction. A look that said that this wasn't so bad after all, and maybe it was even interesting.
The best part of it is that this mock election event is spread out over a couple of weeks. The energy will continue to build. Many of the students are signed up to participate each night, giving it some real potential for creating a lasting impression.
Here's the main website for Road to the White House. You can read more about the events here and here.
The results of tonights polling of the students? On the Republican side, they like Giuliani. Romney was close behind, and Ron Paul was surprisingly strong. On the Democratic side, Obama was the clear favorite. Now of course, we are in Illinois, and there is obviously some home bias. It wasn't even close. This may be one area where the simulation is not quite in sync with reality. Obama clearly has the hearts of these students even as he has lost ground to Clinton in the larger population. Can he come back? I just saw a ballroom full of students who hope so. Whatever your political affiliation, it was quite a sight to see on our campus tonight.
Posted by William Polley at October 23, 2007 11:32 PM
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Comments
These results are somewhat different from national polls, but I would be interested to see how they compare to national polls of the same age group.
Posted by: spencer at October 24, 2007 9:43 AM