SHOUT OUT: How Interested are Students in Presidential Race?

Election Chief Tony McCravy stood in the calm election room on Tuesday at the Stamp Student Union on the campus, where most—if not all of the voters—were students, he said.

“This is one of the slowest,” McCravy said of presidential primary day, noting a major drop in participation from four years ago at the same precinct.

Fewer than 150 voters showed up by the end of the day at the Stamp Student Union, McCravy said. According to county election results from the 2008 national primary, there were 540 votes cast for a Democratic presidential candidate alone at the Stamp Student Union.

The drop is consistent with a recent report by NPR: Most young people today aren’t as interested in the presidential race as they were four years ago, according to the Pew Research Center.

Forty-nine percent of eligible voters between the ages 18 and 24 turned out to vote in 2008, but it’s too early to know how many will show up this November, NPR reported.

Excitement on campus for the presidential race was high last week, when Texas Congressman and Republican candidate to Ritchie Coliseum.

So what do you think? Are you a University of Maryland student? How excited do you think students are about this year’s presidential race? Listen to the NPR report here, where they interview a handful of UMd. students, and tell Patch what you think in the comments.