Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Live Today

Campus Viewpoints

Aired January 27, 2004 - 11:15   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


CAROL LIN, CNN ANCHOR: A "Newsweek" poll shows some unexpected results perhaps among young voters in the 18 to 29 age group. Almost two-thirds say President Bush made the right decision to go to war in Iraq. Half say abortion should be banned, except in the case of rape or incest, or when the life of the mother is at risk, and half say same-sex marriages should be legal. That is higher than polls that question voters across a wider age spectrum. "Newsweek" magazine is devoted a column to young voters during the 2004 campaign, and five college journalists will write for the magazine and newsweek.com.
We've got two of them with us this morning. Beccah Watson is a senior at Harvard University, and a columnist for "The Harvard Crimson." She joins us in Cambridge, Massachusetts. And in Manchester, New Hampshire, Ryan Gorsche. He's a Dartmouth senior and editor-in-chief of "The Darthmouth Review."

Good morning to both of you.

Did -- I'm going to just open this up to either of you.

Becca, let's start with you on this -- I mean, did the results of this "Newsweek" poll surprise you, that young people seem to be a lot more conservative than either one might assume, or the way they have been in the past?

BECCAH WATSON, HARVARD SENIOR: Right. Well, you know, I think about the average college student, and I think that they're thinking, well, you know, Bush -- you know, he looks like a fighter pilot, dressed up like a fighter pilot. He found weapons of mass destruction, and you know, he's a cool guy.

LIN: He didn't find weapons of mass destruction though.

WATSON: Right, exactly. So my point exactly is that I think that there's a lot of propaganda, and I think those kinds of illusions aren't going to last forever, and I think it's just going to take a strong Democratic candidate to kind of point that out.

LIN: Which, Ryan, according to the polling, doesn't seem like a lot of young people, at least at Dartmouth or at Harvard, don't think there is a strong Democratic candidate.

RYAN GORSCHE, DARTMOUTH SENIOR: I don't think a lot do. You know, at Dartmouth, I think there a lot of people who are supporting the Democratic candidates. But Dartmouth, and I think even Beccah would agree with me, Harvard is a very special situation. These students don't represent the broad spectrum of America. There was a poll conducted by "The Daily Dartmouth," where only 22 percent of Dartmouth students supported President Bush. Three percent of professors supported President Bush. And I think that's where the Dartmouth students are sort of getting their left leanings, and I think when you go nationally, you know, you're going to see a lot of people going for Bush.

LIN: You know, they're not only going for Bush, but they are going more conservative on a lot of these social issues, like being split on abortion, being split on gay marriage. What explains that?

GORSCHE: Well, think one thing that explains it is September 11th. I have a lot of friends who went to bed on September 10th liberal, woke up September 11 conservative. Generally that started out with the national policy, foreign policy, how we should, you know, be perhaps be more hawkish with some of these rogue nations. And then I think that, you know, starts dripping down into their social leanings. People start looking more into these things.

With September 11, I think a lot of people looked towards religion. They start wondering, you know, how can such atrocities happen? As you become more conservative in religion, issues like abortion. You know, obviously, if you're conservative in your religion, if your Christian, you know, Islamic, abortion's not the way to go.

LIN: Beccah, so what is it going to take for the Democratic candidates then to break through?

WATSON: Well, I think they're look for someone who speaks their mind. I think we're looking for someone who is going to show kind of students that Bush is a liar, and it's going to take someone who can stand up and say that.

LIN: So are you saying that the 60 percent who do support, say, Bush's decision in Iraq, they are supporting him, because they just don't feel that there is any other choice and they just love a winner?

WATSON: Yes, well, it's actually funny you say that, because I think Harvard students like winners, and I think that a lot of them are out there canvassing right now, but I think a lot of them are also standing back. I think they're kind of waiting for a winner. And I think, you know, we may see that to be true nationwide as well.

LIN: How do you compare the generation under 30 with your parent's generation?

WATSON: Oh, god, that's a great question. I think -- I mean, what I see now is -- I see -- I mean, think September 11 did -- you know, might have an impact here. But I see students standing back. I see them kind of not -- not going for what they really believe, maybe following their parent's footsteps a little too much.

LIN: Really? Following in their parents footsteps a little too much? That's what you're saying. WATSON: Well, right. I would say parents now kind of still think that Bush found weapons of mass destruction, parents who are, you know, are anti-gay marriage.

LIN: Ryan, are you finding the same thing?

GORSCHE: Well, one thing I'd like to address is what Rebecca said about Bush being a liar.

WATSON: Uh-oh.

LIN: Oh, here we go, at the end of the segment, we get going.

GORSCHE: No, this intelligence failure crossed multiple presidential administrations, you know, it's crossed senators on both sides of the political field. I don't think people are going to find that, and I think for a lot of people, it doesn't matter if we find what WMD stockpiles -- you know, that was the buzzword that went around. The programs existed. Saddam Hussein was not just some political person who was there, and it became a matter of an imminent threat. You know, we had an opportunity to get Osama bin Laden -- we had an opportunity to get Osama bin Laden in the Sudan, but it was deemed that it wasn't an imminent threat, and I think a lot of people woke up on September 11th and said, boy, I wish somebody had decided that was imminent threat.

WATSON: I think college students --

GORSCHE: Thanks to President Bush, no one will wake up a year or two years now from now and say, hey, why didn't we consider an imminent threat? Whether or not these weapons were found, there was an opportunity to get them, and that could have been disastrous.

WATSON: What's very clear is that Harvard students -- sorry, Harvard students and college students worldwide, all across the country, they're looking for a president who's going to tell them what's going on, tell them straight. And I think that's the problem. Right, sure, doesn't matter we found weapons of mass destruction, it matters whether the president tell us whether they're there or not.

LIN: Well, Beccah, he did. He said -- his administration said that there were weapons of mass destruction.

WATSON: Right, and that's kind of my point, he's not telling us straight.

LIN: All right, well, the two of you, thank you very much for giving us view in what's happening on college campuses. It's pretty interesting. And, Ryan, I think you make a good point, the world did change after September 11th, in obviously a lot of young people's minds.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com







Aired January 27, 2004 - 11:15   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL LIN, CNN ANCHOR: A "Newsweek" poll shows some unexpected results perhaps among young voters in the 18 to 29 age group. Almost two-thirds say President Bush made the right decision to go to war in Iraq. Half say abortion should be banned, except in the case of rape or incest, or when the life of the mother is at risk, and half say same-sex marriages should be legal. That is higher than polls that question voters across a wider age spectrum. "Newsweek" magazine is devoted a column to young voters during the 2004 campaign, and five college journalists will write for the magazine and newsweek.com.
We've got two of them with us this morning. Beccah Watson is a senior at Harvard University, and a columnist for "The Harvard Crimson." She joins us in Cambridge, Massachusetts. And in Manchester, New Hampshire, Ryan Gorsche. He's a Dartmouth senior and editor-in-chief of "The Darthmouth Review."

Good morning to both of you.

Did -- I'm going to just open this up to either of you.

Becca, let's start with you on this -- I mean, did the results of this "Newsweek" poll surprise you, that young people seem to be a lot more conservative than either one might assume, or the way they have been in the past?

BECCAH WATSON, HARVARD SENIOR: Right. Well, you know, I think about the average college student, and I think that they're thinking, well, you know, Bush -- you know, he looks like a fighter pilot, dressed up like a fighter pilot. He found weapons of mass destruction, and you know, he's a cool guy.

LIN: He didn't find weapons of mass destruction though.

WATSON: Right, exactly. So my point exactly is that I think that there's a lot of propaganda, and I think those kinds of illusions aren't going to last forever, and I think it's just going to take a strong Democratic candidate to kind of point that out.

LIN: Which, Ryan, according to the polling, doesn't seem like a lot of young people, at least at Dartmouth or at Harvard, don't think there is a strong Democratic candidate.

RYAN GORSCHE, DARTMOUTH SENIOR: I don't think a lot do. You know, at Dartmouth, I think there a lot of people who are supporting the Democratic candidates. But Dartmouth, and I think even Beccah would agree with me, Harvard is a very special situation. These students don't represent the broad spectrum of America. There was a poll conducted by "The Daily Dartmouth," where only 22 percent of Dartmouth students supported President Bush. Three percent of professors supported President Bush. And I think that's where the Dartmouth students are sort of getting their left leanings, and I think when you go nationally, you know, you're going to see a lot of people going for Bush.

LIN: You know, they're not only going for Bush, but they are going more conservative on a lot of these social issues, like being split on abortion, being split on gay marriage. What explains that?

GORSCHE: Well, think one thing that explains it is September 11th. I have a lot of friends who went to bed on September 10th liberal, woke up September 11 conservative. Generally that started out with the national policy, foreign policy, how we should, you know, be perhaps be more hawkish with some of these rogue nations. And then I think that, you know, starts dripping down into their social leanings. People start looking more into these things.

With September 11, I think a lot of people looked towards religion. They start wondering, you know, how can such atrocities happen? As you become more conservative in religion, issues like abortion. You know, obviously, if you're conservative in your religion, if your Christian, you know, Islamic, abortion's not the way to go.

LIN: Beccah, so what is it going to take for the Democratic candidates then to break through?

WATSON: Well, I think they're look for someone who speaks their mind. I think we're looking for someone who is going to show kind of students that Bush is a liar, and it's going to take someone who can stand up and say that.

LIN: So are you saying that the 60 percent who do support, say, Bush's decision in Iraq, they are supporting him, because they just don't feel that there is any other choice and they just love a winner?

WATSON: Yes, well, it's actually funny you say that, because I think Harvard students like winners, and I think that a lot of them are out there canvassing right now, but I think a lot of them are also standing back. I think they're kind of waiting for a winner. And I think, you know, we may see that to be true nationwide as well.

LIN: How do you compare the generation under 30 with your parent's generation?

WATSON: Oh, god, that's a great question. I think -- I mean, what I see now is -- I see -- I mean, think September 11 did -- you know, might have an impact here. But I see students standing back. I see them kind of not -- not going for what they really believe, maybe following their parent's footsteps a little too much.

LIN: Really? Following in their parents footsteps a little too much? That's what you're saying. WATSON: Well, right. I would say parents now kind of still think that Bush found weapons of mass destruction, parents who are, you know, are anti-gay marriage.

LIN: Ryan, are you finding the same thing?

GORSCHE: Well, one thing I'd like to address is what Rebecca said about Bush being a liar.

WATSON: Uh-oh.

LIN: Oh, here we go, at the end of the segment, we get going.

GORSCHE: No, this intelligence failure crossed multiple presidential administrations, you know, it's crossed senators on both sides of the political field. I don't think people are going to find that, and I think for a lot of people, it doesn't matter if we find what WMD stockpiles -- you know, that was the buzzword that went around. The programs existed. Saddam Hussein was not just some political person who was there, and it became a matter of an imminent threat. You know, we had an opportunity to get Osama bin Laden -- we had an opportunity to get Osama bin Laden in the Sudan, but it was deemed that it wasn't an imminent threat, and I think a lot of people woke up on September 11th and said, boy, I wish somebody had decided that was imminent threat.

WATSON: I think college students --

GORSCHE: Thanks to President Bush, no one will wake up a year or two years now from now and say, hey, why didn't we consider an imminent threat? Whether or not these weapons were found, there was an opportunity to get them, and that could have been disastrous.

WATSON: What's very clear is that Harvard students -- sorry, Harvard students and college students worldwide, all across the country, they're looking for a president who's going to tell them what's going on, tell them straight. And I think that's the problem. Right, sure, doesn't matter we found weapons of mass destruction, it matters whether the president tell us whether they're there or not.

LIN: Well, Beccah, he did. He said -- his administration said that there were weapons of mass destruction.

WATSON: Right, and that's kind of my point, he's not telling us straight.

LIN: All right, well, the two of you, thank you very much for giving us view in what's happening on college campuses. It's pretty interesting. And, Ryan, I think you make a good point, the world did change after September 11th, in obviously a lot of young people's minds.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com