Poll shows college students more invested in primary elections

A newly released Panetta Institute poll shows a record level of students expressed concern with the direction of the country and its tie to their personal finances.

For the 20th year, the Panetta institute’s “Youth Civic Engagement Survey” was conducted among college students across the country.

And the results are a bit different than anything the institute has seen before.

“We’re seeing high level of financial distress that’s going on among people in college. A third of them are skipping meals, a third of them aren’t getting the medical attention they need and a third are trying to work in order to cover the expenses of education,” says Leon Panetta.

Along with that financial stress comes worry about the future of our country from more than half of those surveyed.

“A lot of like negative things happening , so it’s always good just to keep going without hesitation,” says one CSUMB student.

But because of that worry, the poll showed a higher level of interest in this year’s election primaries.

“Good news is it makes them a lot more interested in politics and in the midterms and so there’s a potential here that young people may be very involved in terms of the midterm election. I think that’s a good sign for our democracy,” says Panetta.

We heard mixed thoughts when we took to the CSUMB campus today. Some say they are anxiously awaiting June 5th.

“Yes I plan on voting because i feel like we all need to use our voice especially as college students, they don’t really expect us to vote, so we need to change that norm and prove them wrong,” says one student.

Others say they are happy and comfortable with the direction our country is headed.

“I think people are just being very unfair towards what he has accomplished because of some mistakes that he made in the past and they’re just like undermining all of the goals that he’s actually achieved.”

Whatever your stance, this year’s survey of college students shows a dramatic increase in those paying attention to what’s happening at the polls…from 38 percent in 2014, to 61 percent today.

And in just a few weeks we will see if that amplified attention will actually mean more votes.

In 2014, turnout was just 25 percent in the California primary. That was a non-presidential election year.

These stats from the Panetta poll are just scratching the surface. You can read it in full by clicking here.