Campus political organizations have seen an increase in their memberships and noticed higher political awareness among students with the upcoming national elections.
T.J. Harvey, president of College Republicans, said there has been a push on college campuses to get young people involved in politics and make them realize their voices and votes count.
“The level of activism is usually up around time of national elections,” said political science professor Hannah Britton.
Britton said she felt involvement would increase as the election draws closer. She said she has noticed a growing excitement in students, particularly the Democratic candidates, as the election approaches.
Clare Bass, a junior in political science, recently traveled to South Carolina to campaign for N.C. Sen. John Edwards. Bass said she became interested in politics when she was a senior in high school and her uncle ran for mayor, but did not show too much interest again until the recent state gubernatorial race and now during the national election year.
Bass said the membership of the Stennis Montgomery Association has increased from about 50 members to about 100.
Harvey said the College Republicans have grown over the past semester and now have about 550 members.
“I was surprised to see as many freshmen involved,” Harvey said of the approximate 100 new freshmen members of the party.
Clay Green, president of the College Democrats, said his group saw an increase in activism over last semester’s gubernatorial campaign. The core group of almost 30 members grew to around 50 or 60 during last semester’s campaign.
Janet Rafferty, anthropology professor and head of the university Green Party, said she has also seen an increase in Green Party numbers.
Rafferty said one reason for her party’s growth to their new listserv, which has made it easier for the members to join and keep in contact. Membership is almost 100 supporters.
On a national level, a recent University of California Los Angeles study found that the nation’s entering freshmen are exhibiting increased levels of political awareness.
The study showed that approximately one-third of college freshmen believe it is important to keep up with current affairs. This number rose from a record low in 2000, where 28 percent of freshmen thought politics were important.
While the numbers were much lower than the generation of the freshmen’s parents, the increase broke an almost three decade trend of decreasing political awareness in entering freshmen, said the director of the study, Linda Cox.