Political Awareness and Activism on Campus information collected by Sarah Wilkes and Catherine Herdlick

As a Freshman, I came to Wesleyan infused with the stereotype that this place is (or was, depending on who I asked) a hotbed of political activism. But how so, I wondered. Just how "active" are we? Are our political hearts in Middletown or in our home states? How do we find out what we're supposed to be concerned about? And finally, what exactly are we concerned about? Curious to find out the truth, or at least some notion of it, I conducted this poll:

Out of 150 polled Wesleyan students

86.6% are registered voters (as of 9/21/96). Of those, 36% are registered here in Connecticut (includes those students who already reside in CT), 63% are registered in their home states. Only 30.66% feel well-informed of the policies of their representatives, but 57.33% feel well-informed of the policies of the presidential candidates. When asked if they considered themselves "politically active," 33.3% said "yes," 62.6% said no, and 4% said "maybe." 27.33% have participated in a political or social protest in the past year (again, as of 9/21/96), 72.66% have not. 40.6% do not associate themselves with any particular political parties. Of those that do: 50% are Democrats 4% are Republicans 2% are Green Party members/supporters 2% are Libertarians 0.66% are Socialist 0.66% are Communist 36% have, in the past year, written letters to politicians who represent them; 64% have not. 33.3% do not check on the news regularly. Of those who do (includes those who check occasionally): 61.8% prefer newspapers as their main source of information 18.6% prefer TV news 7.6% prefer radio 6.7% prefer newsmagazines 4.2% prefer Internet news services 0.85% prefer newsletters

This information represents about 5% of the Wesleyan student population and is not necessarily a definitive measure of the political energy of the whole student body. But from this randomly-selected sample, one can see a few notable trends. You can see that a majority of the students, 86.6%, are registered voters, and of those, 63% are registered outside Connecticut, suggesting that their political concerns lie elsewhere. Despite this, only 30.6% know enough about the people who represent them. Interestingly, quite a few students have participated in protests and/or have written letters to politicians, and a majority identify with a certain political party, yet a majority of those polled did not consider themselves "politically active." Perhaps merely a redefinition of the term is in order, rather than a complete reexamination of the student body's behavior.

Not concerned with any social or political issues: 8.6%
Welfare reform: 24.66%
Education: 18.66%
Abortion rights: 16.66%
Environment: 16%
Health care: 11.33%
Gender issues: 8%
Affirmative Action/other racial issues: 8%
Queer rights/issues: 7.33%
U.S. economic policy/deficit: 6%
Poverty: 6%
International relations/issues: 4.66%
Campus Issues (including financial aid): 4.6%
Human/Individual Rights: 3.33%
Social security/ social services: 3.33%
U.S. Military Action/ Spending: 2.66 %
AIDS: 1.33%
Other (including crime, overpopulation, marijuana legalization, and immigration): 8.6%