Survey shows college students -- often ignored in polls -- are engaged in the election

College students in the battleground states of Pennsylvania, Ohio, North Carolina and Colorado are following this election campaign almost as closely as older voters, according to a new survey administered by Cornell.

And Cornell students, the only school surveyed that is not in a swing state, are paying almost as much attention to the campaign as students in the swing states, finds the survey. The poll showed that 94 percent of the students surveyed in the four swing states are registered to vote, compared with 85 percent of Cornell's students.

The poll of nearly 25,000 students, conducted via e-mail by Cornell's Survey Research Institute for CBS News, UWire (a student-journalist news service) and the Chronicle of Higher Education, asked the young adults about their political views.

"We found that students in these four swing states are more alike than they are different, and not just in the fact that 60 percent of them prefer Barack Obama," said Yasamin Miller, director of the Survey Research Institute.

They are not only keenly interested in the election -- with about half paying a lot of attention to it, compared with 62 percent of adults voters -- but also report that the outcome of the election is important to them. If Obama becomes president, the students report, it will make a difference in their lives, Miller said.

Other findings show that Cornell students have been less encouraged to vote than students in the four swing states. And even though voter turnout and registration are high for Cornell students, they are not as high as for the college students surveyed in the four battleground states.

"Cornell students show a strong liking for Obama and his running mate. They do not participate in political activities as much as students from the four battleground states, with the exception of watching videos on YouTube," Miller reported. In addition, "A majority of Cornell students believe that the campaign has focused too much on race and gender. They also believe that the country is ready for a black president or woman president."

Among the survey's other findings:

"This study is important because undergraduate students are often underrepresented in polls. In telephone surveys, students are typically not included in political polling, as dorm rooms and cell phones are often excluded from conventional polls, thereby underrepresenting the student voice," said Miller.

The full report as well as the CBS News final report are at http://www.sri.cornell.edu.

Media Contact

Media Relations Office