By Josh Fitzgerald
During the first day of WIU’s Mock Presidential Election, there was a surprisingly large turnout. The Union Grand Ballroom was full of students who apparently were interested in who the new President of the United States would be.
However, once the convention got started and the speakers presented the candidates they were representing, it soon became apparent that many students were not as interested as they originally seemed. Even though most of these candidate surrogate and campaign presenters were very interesting and informative, many of the student delegates did not respond the way observers anticipated them to do.
Granted, a handful of speakers seemed unprepared or uncomfortable with public speaking, but most presentations were very professional.
Even Illinois State Treasurer Dan Rutherford made an appearance to speak on behalf of Mitt Romney, which is why I believe Romney received so many votes.
One presenter asked, “Who is here because they have to be for class?” The response made it more obvious why there was such a large attendance with so little interest. This should come as no surprise because there is only a small number of college students who truly care about politics at this stage in their lives.
Nevertheless, the Mock Presidential election seemed to exceed expectations in professionalism and legitimacy.
Further, four nights remain, and interest and engagement may increase.
[Pictured above: two of the MPE's coordinators, John Hemingway (left) and Rick Hardy.]
No comments:
Post a Comment