thefiscaltimes.com
Krisis: Looking at all the headlines, it seems the campaign trail has shifted from the GOP race for the nominee to the general election. Once again, the Democrats and Republicans will be dueling for the presidential seat this November in the 2012 election.
Gopportunity: Though the GOP has had a rough time selecting a clear nominee, it seems Romney has fared the best and will be the nominee for the election. Most of the other candidates have already dropped out of the race, including Newt Gingrich, Rick Perry, Michelle Bachmann, and Rick Santorum. Even though Ron Paul is still in the running against him, Romney and Obama will most likely be duking it out in the campaign ring in the months to come.
K: Let’s talk about Obama and Romney’s stances on some of the hot topics for the election. Surprisingly, for a Republican, Romney is actually agreeing with some of Obama’s plans.
G: In terms of education reform, both Romney and Obama support the development and expansion of charter schools, which they say help underprivileged children. They also want to hold teachers accountable for their students’ standardized test scores, like judging teacher performance based on test scores.
K: I think Obama has the upper hand in gaining support because Romney has taken a lot of fire for previously supporting Bush’s No Child Left Behind Act.
G: The elections will definitely have a big effect on MSJ students because both Romney and Obama are in favor of extending low interest rates on student federal loans, something our graduates will be worrying about soon enough. This means lower interests rates for federal college loans unless they continue to disagree on how to fill the $6 billion funding gap that results.
K: Obama doesn’t support a Republican measure that extends low interest rates on student loans by taking money from a health care fund that benefits women. This has been an extremely controversial topic; I’ve seen widespread protests all over the news. Obama suggests other methods such as raising taxes on the extremely wealthy to fund this measure.
G: I hope they come to an agreement soon because if one is not reached, the federal student loan interest rate will double from 3.4 percent to 6.8 percent in July.
125 seniors were interviewed for this survey. They were asked the following questions: Who will address the student loan/debt crisis more effectively?; Who has better plans for education reform/funding?; Whose advertising have you seen more of on social networking sites?; Who will be the better president for the next four years? (Who will/would you vote for?)
K: I read in the news recently that Obama has started to really focus on getting support from young voters, visiting three college campuses in Iowa, Ohio, and North Carolina in two days. He’s counting on the younger generation to get him elected, just like he did in 2008.
G: Romney is most certainly trailing behind Obama in terms of appeal to the younger generation. It seems those interviewed at MSJ are also in favor of Obama.
K: Nonetheless, Romney did recently visit a college in Ohio, meeting with a small group of students and speaking before a larger group. He sympathized with the state of the job market that they will be graduating into. He promised to create more jobs, and used his corporate experience as a reason for students to vote for him.
G: Though he’s never been in the same boat as struggling students, it seems like Romney can still put up a good front of understanding!
K: Let’s just wait and see how the presidential race plays out. I’m sure we’ll see plenty of headline-worthy debates between Republicans and Democrats.
G: Stay tuned for the next update on the 2012 presidential election!
