As the recent election fades away, it seems many political pundits are focusing on the various voting blocs that played a role in ensuring President Obama’s victory in the battleground states, blocs such as the Gray Panthers and the Lunchbox Democrats.
With all this talk about voting blocs, it’s interesting to take a look at the Jesuit Dallas student voting bloc. Admittedly, no such Jesuit student voting bloc exists, and although Texas wasn’t even considered a battleground state, it’s still worthwhile to take a look at how the students who were eligible to vote—approximately 90 students from the Class of 2013—viewed the election.
Of the 90 Jesuit seniors who were eligible to vote this past November, the general consensus is that nearly 60 to 70 of them actually voted, a percentage of nearly 75%, which is much better than the national average.
One of the seniors who did indeed vote, Chris Koskovich’13, said he voted because “It was the first election I was eligible for. I view it as my civic and patriotic duty to play a part in deciding the next leaders of my country, which is why I voted to re-elect President Obama—the clear choice in my eyes.”
Dan Keenan’13, was of a different opinion. He said, “I cast my vote for the Romney/Ryan ticket because I thought they were better suited to handle the economy,” adding, “Obviously I was a little disappointed when they lost, but now it’s time to move on and see if Obama can pull our country out of the mess it is in.”
Not all Jesuit seniors voted for one of the two main candidates. JD Waggoner’13 voted instead for the Libertarian candidate Gary Johnson. “I didn’t think either Obama or Romney was adequately suited to lead our country so I refused to vote for either of them. I picked Gary Johnson because, although he was pretty extreme, he seemed like the only one who actually believed what he was saying,” said Waggoner.
Whether they voted for Obama, Romney, or even an independent, the Jesuit seniors were very active in this election cycle. Hopefully this active political participation is a sign of good things to come for future generations of Americans, and represents not just the Jesuit seniors, but this particular generation of young adults.
