Second-time voters discuss political support

Campaign season nears its end on Tuesday, and second-time voters are weighing in on their support for candidates. Concerns lie with whether or not President Barack Obama’s promises of change have progressed the country, and voters’ opinions for why or why not they continue to support the president or have changed their votes bring new political viewpoints in the minds of young voters.
Issues such as employment, student loans and equality are some topics of interests with college voters.

“I voted for Obama in his first term, but I was in high school the first time I voted,” Lynnette Simpson, an elementary music teacher, said. “I wasn’t well-informed, but now that I’m a teacher I will vote Obama again. I think he cares more about education.”
While republican voters largely dominate Kentucky, most young Obama supporters still look to vote for him in a second term.
“I voted for [Obama] because he seemed like the better candidate to fix what Bush broke,” University of Louisville senior Gabriel Morton said. “I’m voting for him again because if Bush had eight years to create a mess, Obama should have eight to clean up after him. I think he’s already to a good start. He should be able to finish.”
But party affiliation still remains true on the right side. Second-time conservative republican voters still look to support the GOP candidate Mitt Romney after first voting for presidential candidate John McCain in 2008.

“My family votes republican, so I vote republican,” University of Kentucky senior Cassandra Martin said. “I don’t know much about the issues.”
Regardless of how knowledgeable young voters are on the issues, there is still a lot to learn when expanding political opinions.
“Of course I support the republican candidate in the same way I supported John McCain,” Murray State University senior Dylan Gerlach said. “But whoever wins, it’s not like I’m leaving the country or anything.”