BY JAMES DONNELLY
Tuesday, March 6th was truly a Super Tuesday for many seniors at Mariemont: they voted. It was the fateful day of the Ohio Primaries, when the state’s Republicans (or anyone looking to vote Republican) could choose who they wanted to be the party’s nominee for President.
Right in that mix were many seniors at Mariemont, some of them exercising their voting rights for the first time in this race. The voters, as most of us know, chose the moderate Mitt Romney. However, the race was close until the finish, with conservative challenger Rick Santorum nearly taking it. In the end, the primary turned out like this:
Mitt Romney– 38%
Rick Santorum– 37%
Newt Gingrich– 15%
Ron Paul– 9%
Rick Perry (campaign suspended)– <1%
Jon Huntsman (campaign suspended)– <1%
(Source: Fox News)
But what those results don’t show, obviously, is how Mariemont’s senior class voted. Would they, like the general public, split evenly between Romney and Santorum? Or, would they mostly fall for front-runner Romney? Would Libertarian Ron Paul’s wild youth support win him the day?
To find this out, the Warpath asked senior government teacher David Wolfford to hand out a survey to his classes. The results, from a group of 80 possible voters, turned out like this:
Mitt Romney obviously won a strong victory among Mariemont’s seniors. As many Mariemont students come from white-collar families, where Romney enjoys his strongest support, this is not altogether surprising.
What is surprising, however, is Santorum’s nearly nonexistent following. He only garnered three votes, and at least one from an admitted crossover voter looking to nominate a person they believe President Obama can defeat in the general election.
Ron Paul, however, found a source of support at Mariemont. His percentage of voters at Mariemont was more than three times his share in the general election: sure evidence of the Libertarian’s youth support that has, in part, made up for his languid draw among those who call themselves staunch conservatives.
Also surprising are Jon Huntsman’s two votes, although he is no longer in the running. He seems to have gained votes from those who still support his ideas and want to show that enthusiasm. No support, however, found its way to Newt Gingrich, still in the running, and whose support from older, conservative voters doesn’t seem to have trickled down to the high school level.
Statewide, 25% of registered voters turned out on Tuesday: surprisingly low. Compared to this statistic, however, Mariemont’s seniors are quite enthusiastic: a full 40% of them went to the polls, and thanks to Mr. Wolfford’s efforts to register his students beforehand, we can assume that the seniors’ enthusiasm about the election is above average.
This could be a result of both their daily involvement in a class about government, and the opportunity–the first for many–to have a say in how the government should be run and who should run it.
