Editors' note: the following column contains language that some may find offensive.
Readers have been asking me for weeks to write about the voting patterns of college students. I think most of these readers know that Barack Obama was very popular among young people in this election cycle. But most of my readers don’t know why and they would like to hear my insights, if not incites.
In response to these requests, I decided to survey my 100 or so students right after Election Day. I asked them two simple questions: “Who did you vote for (for President)?” and “What was the principal reason for your decision?”
The results indicated that 58% of my voting students pulled the lever for John McCain, 42% for Barack Obama. The fact that this went in the opposite direction of the national trend is easy to explain: Students taking criminal justice classes, many of them criminal justice majors, tend to be more conservative.
I was disappointed to see that some McCain supporters - about 5% - justified supporting him with nothing more than ad hominem attacks on Barack Obama. Examples follow:
“I hate Obama and everything he stands for.”
“I just think Obama is a piece of shit.”
I was somewhat more disappointed to see that even more Obama supporters – about 28% - justified supporting him with nothing more than ad hominem attacks on McCain and Palin. Examples follow:
“McCain is old and senile.”
“Sarah Palin is a nut who scares me.”
“McCain is an idiot.”
“McCain is old, senile, ludicrous, and retarded.”
“Palin is an absolute idiot.”
“Palin is psychotic.”
“Sarah Palin is an idiot who burns books.”
“Sarah Palin is a fucking whack job.”
I was, however, heartened to see that a clear majority of McCain supporters, nearly 60%, gave specific policy reasons for supporting the Republican candidate. This figure did not include those who made vague statements like “I agreed with him on most issues.” The “nearly 60%” figure refers to those who named specific issues. Examples follow:
“I voted against the large scale intervention of government into private markets.”
“I voted for McCain because abortion is a serious issue for me