The facts: The May 8 North Carolina Primary is quickly approaching, and with it republican candidates are racing to gather support.
Our opinion: Student support is key to winning any type of election, so we must be prepared to deal with the influx of political mumbo-jumbo in the next few weeks and support the best candidate for us.
If April showers bring May flowers, then April’s campaigning brings a May nomination for the GOP. We can’t go a day without hearing about the Republican candidates. Which nation Gingrich insulted today, what current issue has Romney flipped on, which hippie group is backing Paul now or which reporter has Santorum cursed out? These questions are common water cooler talk for voters this campaign season; however, we in North Carolina should be prepared for it to get a whole lot worse.
Issues ranging from Amendment One to the Republican Primary are on the ballot during North Carolina’s primary on May 8. With all these issues voters are facing, and it currently being anyone’s game in the GOP candidacy race, citizens should keep updated on what the elephants are up to.
Candidates will be coming to North Carolina, promoting their platform and ideologies to garner support. The forerunner for the race is looking more and more like Mitt Romney. However, as Steven Green explained in a Technician interview, “the long struggle is starting to show the weakness in Romney.”
As the largest public university in North Carolina and one of the most prominent engineering schools in the nation, candidates will be appealing to our students in hopes for endorsement, because we have such a strong voice in North Carolina. We can already see this taking effect.
Ron Paul is known for his grassroots movement with younger generations and has a strong college presence. Supporters on campus can be seen lobbying for him to come speak at N.C . State. Those with clipboards in the Brickyard are offering to register you to vote in attempts to further Paul’s support. As voting citizens of the younger generations, it is important we are aware of these various outreaches. We want to ensure we are knowledgeable about the candidate we think is best.
Research can be done by looking at our candidate of choice’s previous voting record, or even staying tuned in on their speeches to see if there are common promises made we can expect to see made into a reality. As the future leaders of this nation, we want to ensure those before us don’t get us further in debt or cause tense international relations we may eventually have to work our way out of.
Stay informed, keep up-to-date, question your sources of information and above all else don’t be persuaded too easily by slick smiles. Stay aware, be prepared.