McCain supporters are boosting their efforts to capture the youth vote, writes Rebecca Knightin Massachusetts
JENNIFER HUDDLESTON jokingly refers to the Wellesley College Republicans as her "support group".
Huddleston, a political science student, presides over the small but dedicated band of young women who meet once a week to organise events for the McCain campaign and plan socials with other college Republican clubs.
"People [on campus] will assume you're an Obama supporter until you tell them otherwise," says Huddleston, who will graduate from the Massachusetts liberal arts college next year.
"If the election were just held at Wellesley, Obama would win in a landslide."
These are lonely days for many young conservatives. At a time when John McCain is slipping behind in the polls and university students overwhelmingly favour Barack Obama, college Republicans are boosting their efforts across campuses and beyond to help their candidate capture more of the youth vote. According to a recent poll of 18- to 24-year-old voters conducted by Harvard University, Obama holds a 23-percentage-point lead over McCain of 55 per cent to 32 per cent, with 13 per cent undecided.
Yet in spite of Obama's popularity, the College Republican National Committee has seen its national membership increase significantly in recent weeks.
"We set a goal of 100,000 new recruits by the end of the year, and already this semester we've had over 45,000 [new members] sign up. We've never seen anything like it," says Zach Howell (23), a student at the University of Utah.
"It's a natural backlash against Obama-mania."
Howell says the committee is deploying hundreds of student volunteers over the next few weeks to states such as Oregon and Colorado to knock on doors and staff phone banks.
Trevor Lair, a student at Boston College, who chairs the Massachusetts Alliance of College Republicans, is undeterred by McCain's recent drop in the polls.
"It's a natural tendency in presidential politics, there are ups and downs every day, and you just hope it comes out our way in the end," he says. "In the past, it has. And we've got to keep the faith."
College-age Republicans admit that Obama's charisma and oratory have captivated young voters. But they maintain that McCain's image as a maverick is just as appealing.
College students are among the most heavily courted voters in this year's presidential election.
A record 6.5 million voters under the age of 30 participated in the 2008 primaries and caucuses, according to the Centre for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement. Obama won the support of 60 per cent of young Democrats and a majority in 32 of the 40 states, while the young Republican vote was split between McCain and two other candidates.
Despite the perception that college students tend to be more liberal than the voting public, data indicates they are just as divided as the rest of the US. According to 2004 research, 37 per cent of 18- to 24-year-olds identified themselves as Democrat and 33 per cent identified as Republican. - ( Financial Timesservice)