Gauging Winthrop's Political Culture

Presidential hopeful Mitt Romney greets Winthrop students during his visit to campus Jan. 18. Hundreds of students came out to the political event which took place just before the South Carolina primary. Photo by Claire Van OstenbridgeBy Alison Angel
angela@mytjnow.com

Mitt Romney’s stop to rally Winthrop’s support Jan. 18 brought out hundreds of Winthrop faculty and staff.  Yet with the 2012 election looming, interest is at its peak.  The real commitment to the cause can be found in the off-season, when the student political culture finds out who the truly passionate about politics are.  

Hampton Ballowe is a politcal science major and year-round active member of the recently created College Democrats.  When it comes to student political interest as a whole, however, Ballowe laid it out: active involvement year round is pretty rare.

“I think it is clear that most people only get involved in politics, voting and campaigning wise, during big elections,” Ballowe said.  “Student political involvement in the political world as a whole is quite poor.”

Ballowe said that while it is sad, it is to be expected: most American citizens, let alone students, either hate politics or “don’t see the point in getting involved.”  

Ballowe and the College Democrats, as well as the Republicans and other political student clubs, work to make politics a more essential part of campus life.  But as with the rest of the country, they kick into high gear when a national election is at stake.  They spend time canvassing for Obama and planning events that illustrate his great successes to the students on campus.

Though Ballowe said there’s no getting around the fact that politics is a love-it-or-leave-it kind of culture, he said there’s every reason to be involved regardless.

“When I hear that people hate politics I don’t get angry because politics is one of those things that you either love or you hate,” Ballowe said.  “But when people don’t see the point in getting involved, whether its in voting or campaigning, I get upset. Politics affects every American’s life, and for them to not care makes me extremely upset because it just shows the withering spirit of American success and perseverance.”

After the 2008 presidential election, USA Today reported that college freshman, in a survey, rose to such a high level of political involvement that hadn’t been seen since 1968.  A large part of the political interest came directly from the running of Barack Obama, who captured the youth vote.  Whether the 2012 election and Obama’s reelection process will continue to elevate that involvement remains to be seen, but on average most political interest is only a result of an issue directly affecting citizens.

Timothy Kroboth, senior and president of the College Republicans, agrees that most students, as with the average American, just aren’t interested unless the topic hits close to home.

“Students are much more likely to pay attention to political debate if the controversy is confined to a simple, personally relevant issue, such as tuition hikes,” Kroboth said.

The problem he said is that they tend to overlook all of the details that directly   affect their daily lives:  “…very few Winthrop students care about more abstract, complex political debates such as ‘education policy,’ even though that obviously includes tuition hikes.”

Kroboth agrees with Ballowe that overall, student political involvement on campus is at a low unless an event spurs it.  

“The point is that the average Winthrop student is generally uninterested and uninformed regarding politics, and it takes something such as a presidential election or threatened tuition hike to motivate student interest and participation,” Kroboth said.

If there’s one thing the College Democrats and Republicans agree on it is that this problem is not confined simply to college students.  As a whole, political involvement and interest nationwide is lacking, to say the least. National elections certainly spur student involvement nationwide, but so too do they call the average American to take an interest once every four years in what will affect their well-being for the next four.

“Honestly, I would not describe Winthrop students as any more politically apathetic than any other typical political group,” Kroboth concluded.  “The average U.S. citizen is often too overwhelmed with other events in daily life to stay informed about politics or has been driven to political apathy due to mounting frustration with politicians.”