With the re-election of Democratic Party candidate and incumbent President Barack Obama, response to the initial results of the grueling and long-awaited Presidential race appears indecisive.
Polling done prior to the election by Gallup showed Gov. Romney holding 49 percent with “likely voters,” while the President followed with 48 percent, ultimately branding the race a tie.
“One of the things I thought was unusual this time around was that the polls varied so much,” said History and Political Science Department Head, Dr. William Robison. “Normally they’re pretty much in-line. This time around there was a lot of variation.”
Robison claimed many polls were skewed to benefit one particular party but says even the credited pollsters were mixed.
“A poll run by the democrats is probably going to show the democrats doing better, and a poll run by the republicans is probably going to show republicans doing better,” said Robison. “But even the Pew and Gallup polls, which are pretty respectable, were all over the place. So that was kind of surprising to me.”
As results came in, History and Political Science professor, Dr. Ronald Traylor, said he had an idea as to who would be the commander in chief come 2013.
“When we got the news that Romney had not carried Wisconsin, which was the state of his running mate (Congressman Paul Ryan), or Massachusetts, which was his state, I knew the news was going to be bad for the Romney ticket,” said Traylor. “It does not surprise me that President Obama won. It is very difficult to defeat an incumbent President.”
Passing the 270 electoral votes needed to win, President Obama carried 60 percent of youth, down 6 percent from his 2008 run, but far superior to Gov. Romney’s dismal 36 percent.
Traylor explained his confusion with the overwhelming support for the President among youth, even with unemployment among youth at 16 percent, according to the Bureau of Labor and Statistics, and a report conducted by the Census Bureau in conjunction with the Department of Labor which concluded, “About 1.5 million, or 53.6 percent, of bachelor’s degree-holders under the age of 25 last year were jobless or underemployed, the highest share in at least 11 years.”
“Usually Americans vote their own self-interest. We think that we, and sometimes we even say, we vote for what’s best for the country, but I think that’s rare,” said Traylor. “If that’s true, then it makes no sense for young people to have supported President Obama in an economy where young people, especially college graduates, are having more problems finding jobs than any other segment of the population.”
Ahead of the election, polling firm Rasmussen Reports released data that concluded that 54 percent of those polled believed the country was going down the “wrong track” while the other 43 percent thought it was headed in the “right direction.”
While polls coextensive to this directly conflict with the outcome of the election, communications major Melissa Daigle says she happily voted for four more years of the incumbent President because Gov. Romney would have been unpredictable.
“I’m actually happy that Obama was re-elected because it [was] almost like a fear of the uncertain with Romney,” said Daigle. “It was familiarity versus [the unknown] with Romney and also hoping that [Obama] will follow through.”
Dr. Traylor doubled-down on the point saying, “I think a lot of people are very comfortable with the status quo. I think that Americans are like that to a large degree. We are comfortable with familiar things.”
Other students such as Meghan Matherne, a sophomore nursing major, shared her dismay with the results saying President Obama’s re-election was “a little disappointing.”
As for the response and turnout amidst republicans, Gov. Romney brought out less GOP voters than Sen. John McCain did in 2008. Critics within the party, soon after the Romney loss, were hounding Republican insiders for their lack of ability to lead and interpret their ideas to a wide audience.
“I would like to see the Republicans get away from trying to be Democrats in Republican clothing,” said Traylor when asked what the Republican Party needed most. “Democrats had the advantage because they have the strength of their convictions whether you agree with them or not. It’s not that the Republicans are wishy-washy, but it’s just that they have been unsuccessful in having a leader.”
Moreover, Traylor says he most wants to see reform in the amplifying size of government saying, “Our government is grown to the point where we are never going to be able to return to the point of small government. I would like to rein in, however, at least the growth of government.”
Under the leadership of President Obama, a Senate controlled by the Democrats and a Republican majority in the House of Representatives, bipartisanship is seen as being crucial to applying solutions and salvaging American jobs in what some claim a stalemate economy.
“There’s going to have to be some compromise between the two,” said Robison. “I want to see people go back to work. We have too much unemployment, regardless of what you want to blame for it.”