(BGviews) President Barack Obama’s slipping national approval rating has not resulted in negative esteem amongst surveyed University students.

According to Pollster.com, a Web site containing information related to various polls across the nation, the most recent Gallup poll places Obama’s approval rating at 53 percent nationally. This is a 14 percent slide from their first post-inauguration poll, which showed a 67 percent approval rating. Pre-inauguration polls showed approval ratings as high as 83 percent two weeks before taking office.

David Jackson, an associate political science professor at the University, said sliding approval ratings of presidents upon taking office is typical, and to be expected.

“It’s really easy for people to support the president right after getting elected,” he said. “As the president takes office and begins sending proposals to Congress and actually passing legislation, every time [the president] takes a specific position, no matter even if it is really popular, there is a percentage who don’t agree with it.”

While specific reasons for increased national disapproval will likely remain scattered, senior political science major Nathan MacGregor believes that in general, it is due to frustrations over the time and difficulties that arise in enacting promised legislations.

“Everybody wanted change, that’s why we voted for him, and I think most people expected it to be a dramatic change that was going to happen over-night,” he said. “It hasn’t even been quite a year yet since Obama took office and with all the turmoil left to him by the previous administration, it’s been kind of hard for him to turn things around all of a sudden … I’m not expecting immediate change, I’m expecting progressive change.”

A survey administered to 100 University students, meant to measure their attitudes on Obama’s performance and directions, showed a higher propensity to mark his performance as “Average”, receiving 50 percent of responses. Of the outliers to this response, 30 percent graded his performance more positively as either having performed “Very Well” or “Excellent,” compared with 20 percent judging the president more negatively, describing his performance as either “Not Well” or “Poor”.

This higher percentage of positive responses as opposed to negative in the fringe population, suggest a general trend of approval at the University. The majority of students also responded positively with respect to the president’s attunement to issues important to college students as a whole, with 60 percent answering either “Fairly Well” or “Very Well.”

The survey additionally showed more students believed Obama’s greatest accomplishment relevant to them is passing the economic stimulus/recovery act, receiving 40 percent of the vote. Second was his leading the charge for health care reform with 24 percent, and increased federal government tuition assistance was the most commonly reported issue students would like to see the president address while in office to assist them, again followed closely by healthcare reform.

“The economy needs to go up,” MacGregor said. “Students need more money for education and schools need to stop taking so much money from the students because they are not getting enough help from the government.”

However, not all students feel Obama has truly accomplished anything – 8 percent responded the President has accomplished “Nothing” and the economic stimulus/recovery act, according to sophomore Tom Cunningham, has not benefited all students.

“[The stimulus] hasn’t really affected me,” he said, “and if it has, I haven’t seen it.”
Cunningham said he is opposed to most of Obama’s economic policies, believing his spending to be too liberal.
“I find it ironic that he did an interview and he said that we can’t keep spending because it will ruin our economy and our confidence,” he said, “People have been saying that for a year and a half. Get with the program.”

The opinions of the college student demographic could carry significant weight in presidential affairs and future campaign strategies, research suggests.

According to estimates posted on Civicyouth.org by the Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement (CIRCLE), the 2008 election rendered the highest participation rate of the 18-29-year-old demographic since 1972. Participation among young voters that year increased for the third consecutive election, narrowly surpassing a fluke spike of participation in 1992 when levels for this demographic reached 52 percent. The rate in 2008 was somewhere between 52 percent and 53 percent compared to 55.4 percent in 1972. Young voters tended to favor Obama 2:1 in that election, making them a significant player in the president’s electing force.

Jackson, MacGregor and Cunningham all cited increased political intertwinement with pop-culture as a likely culprit for increased voting numbers among the nation’s youth.

“I would say it’s probably due to more advertising about campaigns and elections,” MacGregor said, “Even things like MTV, to The Daily Show and The Colbert Report are getting the youth more involved in politics through making it more entertaining.”

Whether youth’s current political enthusiasm will continue is hard to say. Jackson said that while presidential elections are effectively drawing in young voters, mid-term elections have not been so fortunate. This is curious, he said, because the smaller midterm elections are those in which an individual’s vote has a more significant impact due to a reduced total voter population.

MacGregor expressed hope for his group’s continued involvement, but admitted this is likely to be largely dependent on which issues are at the forefront at the time and the degree to which they pertain to said demographic.

Survey Stated:
1. How well has Obama performed his duties as President of the United States?
Excellent – 4 %
Very Good – 26 %
Average – 50 %
Not Well – 14 %
Poor – 6 %

2. What has been the biggest accomplishment President Obama has achieved that will affect students the most?
Passing the stimulus/economic recovery bill – 40 %
Leading the charge for universal health care – 24 %
Pulling troops out of Iraq/Initiative to end war in Iraq – 16 %
Other – 24 % (Isolated mentions, insults toward president, other fruitless responses)

3. How in touch do you feel Obama is with issues important to college students?
Very Well – 20 %
Fairly Well – 50 %
Not Well – 32 %
Very Poor – 8 %

4. How much have you kept up with news coverage on the president/politics since last year’s elections?
More than last year – 28 %
About the same – 52 %
Less than last year – 20 %

5. What piece of legislation/law would you like to see passed under Obama to specifically help students?
Increased gov tuition assistance – 36%
Health care reform – 28%
Education reform (generally) – 12%
Other (wide range of single or double mention) -24%

*Total students surveyed: 100. Question five surveyed 50 students. Only half of the students surveyed provided responses.

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