The IOP conducts a poll of 1,200 undergraduates nationwide which explores youth civic engagement and student views toward politics and public service.
While Chavez said the IOP poll does not ask exactly the same questions as the Shorenstein poll, he said the Shorenstein results are “definitely in line with what we’ve gotten.”
Chavez said that IOP surveys since 2000 have shown “an increase in interest in politics, public service and all forms of political involvement.”
“Negative views towards government have been going down—students don’t view politicians as being self-interested as much anymore,” he said.
But while the latest IOP poll results won’t come out until April, IOP President Ilan T. Graff ’05 said that even without looking at numbers, the participation at recent IOP events speaks for itself.
“Any event we have done on campus that has been election related has generated a phenomenal amount of interest,” he said, citing election-related IOP study groups as well as Tuesday night campaign-related roundtable discussions.
“For the [MSNBC] Hardball series, for example, we had to lottery every single event,” Graff said.
IOP fellow and political journalist Lynn Sweet said she has noticed the political fervor of the undergraduate students in her study group, “Reality Politics.”
“Everything I’ve seen since I started at the IOP this semester seems to be in line with that analysis,” she said. “The students I work with at the IOP are very informed and even excited about the election. The students I have met this semester, seem to me, students that will end up voting in the fall.”
Harvard College Democrats President Andy J. Frank ’05 said he has also noticed increased political energy this year.
“Its going to be crazy come the fall!” Frank said.
And he said heightened interest isn’t only restricted to IOP regulars.
“What I find really interesting is that my friends that aren’t as interested in politics are talking about the presidential election in a way that I’ve never really heard them talk about politics before,” Frank said.
—Staff writer Faryl W. Ury can be reached at ury@fas.harvard.edu.