August 29, 2012
by Julie Pace and Ken Thomas
As
college students return to campus, President Barack Obama's campaign will be
there waiting for them.
Obama
aides sees college campuses as fertile ground for registering and recruiting
some of the more than 15 million young people who have become eligible to vote
since the 2008 election. As Republicans hold their party convention in Florida
this week, the president will make a personal appeal to college voters in three
university towns: Ames, Iowa; Fort Collins, Colo.; and Charlottesville, Va.
Obama's
victory four years ago was propelled in part by his overwhelming support among
college-aged voters, and polls show him leading Republican rival Mitt Romney
with that group in this year's race.
But
the president faces an undeniable challenge as he seeks to convince young
people that he is the right steward for the economy as they eye a shaky
postgraduation job market.
Seeking
to overcome that economic uncertainty, Obama's campus staffers and volunteers
are touting the president's positions on social issues, like gay rights, that
garner significant support among young people. Obama has stressed his effort to
freeze the interest rates on new federal student loans, a pitch he personalizes
by reminding voters that he and the first lady were once buried under a
"mountain" of student loan debt after law school.
They
also see a fresh opportunity to court students and their parents following
Romney's pick of Paul Ryan as his running mate. Democrats say Ryan's budget
would cut funding for Pell Grants, the federal need-based program for students,
and Obama's campaign is running television advertisements in battleground
states trying to link Romney to that plan.
Campaigning
last week at Capital University in Ohio, Obama told students that Romney's
economic plan "makes one thing clear: He does not think investing in your
future is worth it. He doesn't think that's a good investment. I do."
Obama
was scheduled to speak Tuesday at Iowa State University and Colorado State
University. The University of Virginia rejected his campaign's request to hold
an event on campus Wednesday, saying it would cause the cancellation or
disruption of classes on the second day of the semester. The event was instead
being held at an off-campus pavilion in Charlottesville.
White
House and campaign officials were closely monitoring Tropical Storm Isaac as it
barreled toward the Gulf Coast, but as of late Monday, there were no plans to
cancel the president's trip.
Romney's
campaign sees an opportunity to cut into the president's support among young
people by pushing a three-pronged economic argument focusing on the nation's
high unemployment rate, the soaring cost of college and the national debt.
"These
kids haven't even entered the workforce and they already owe the government a
bill for the debt Obama has rung up," said Joshua Baca, the Romney
campaign's national coalitions director.
Obama
campaign officials say the start of the new school year is a particularly
crucial time to ramp up college registration and make sure those new voters get
to the polls. In many of the battleground states, about 50 percent of the
college students register to vote on campus after Labor Day, according to the
campaign. And even those who are already registered may need to change their
address or other personal details after moving to new dorms.
At
the University of Dayton, Daniel Rajaiah encourages his fellow Democrats to
carry voter registration forms to class, to parties and around campus in case
they find someone who hasn't yet registered. Members of the College Democrats
set up tables in the middle of campus a few days a week to catch students
walking to class or to the cafeteria.
"Our
game plan this fall is to hit voter registration very hard," said Rajaiah,
who is president of the College Democrats of Ohio.
Obama's
campaign said it registered 10,000 voters on college campuses in Ohio last week
and signed up 300 new volunteers at colleges in Iowa.
Four
years ago, Obama won two-thirds of the vote among 18- to 29-year-olds, compared
with just 32 percent for his Republican opponent, Sen. John McCain, according
to exit polls.
An
Associated Press-GfK poll released last week showed Obama again holding a broad
advantage among younger voters, with 54 percent of registered voters under 35
saying they would vote for Obama and 38 percent backing Romney.
Diverse Issues in Higher Education: Obama Courts College Students Returning to Campus
