The Excitement of the 2008 Campaign

The presentation about persuadable voters with Dr. Sunshine Hillygus was great. First of all, she began with the fact that academics had come to the conclusion (using only non-campaign factors) that Obama will be our next president. That’s fine by me! I just had so much interest in this presentation because it is happening all around us. I loved previous speakers on historical issues, but this election is so different and new, it is incredibly exciting.
I appreciated that Dr. Hillygus explained exactly what is so different about this election, like the candidates and their “firsts” for sex, age, and race, the huge amount of money spent, the desire for radical change, and the huge mobilization of voters. Going into the presentation, I believed that the campaign played an incredibly huge role in the actual election. I had not even really thought that people can choose who they want to vote for without it being shoved in their face.
Dr. Hillygus said that there are two camps in the debate of whether campaigns matter. Those who say yes are pundits, candidates and journalists. Those who say no are academics and political science forecasters. In terms of pre election polls, I really thought the idea of the Bradley Effect was fascinating. The Bradley Effect is when people overstate their support of black candidates to appear more socially desirable.
I will be voting on November 4th so like Graham, I found it fascinating that some people just vote for the president by who is first on the ballot. It made me sad that young people vote in such smaller numbers than adults. Do we think the government doesn’t truly affect our lives? Do we think our vote doesn’t really matter? Do we just not care? Because I am from California, I have never seen so many campaign ads until I came to Colorado. California is seen as pretty much a lost cause for McCain, so I love being able to vote in Colorado and possibly help that push for Obama. Being in a so-called “purple” state, I am getting a much more charged and nerve wracking experience of the election.