Students Surveying Outside University Hall | Photo provided by Lee Hannah
By Dean Anagnostou, Preston Holton, and Ethan Retzinger
Dr. Lee Hannah, a professor of political science, and his Campaigns and Elections class surveyed 384 students at Wright State University. The survey offers a glimpse into students' political leanings and intentions ahead of the 2024 presidential election.
This article, written by Students Dean Anagnostou, Preston Holton, and Ethan Retzinger, explores
The Survey
As Wright State students are preparing to head to the polls, our Campaigns and Elections class performed a survey to get an idea of what was on their minds as they chose their next Commander-in-Chief.
We conducted our survey using both paper and online forms, offering them to passing students at various locations around Wright State University’s campus.
Although the survey was limited in scope, it included key questions on demographics, vote choice, media consumption, and issue priorities, with this column focusing on the priority question.
The survey listed thirteen major topics and asked people to identify the three biggest issues for them.
Building the Survey
We listed major political issues with concern across partisan and demographic divides. The topics ranged from the economy and immigration to abortion and healthcare. In the survey, students ranked these current hot-button issues.
Given the current political climate, we predicted the most important issues for Students would be the economy, abortion, and the War in Gaza.
According to the Pew Research Center, the economy consistently ranks as the top issue for voters, with a significant 81% of registered voters stating it will be an important factor in their vote.
We predicted that younger voters, who have an even larger stake in America’s economic future, would express a similar sentiment.
Additionally, reproductive rights are a top concern for young voters, especially given the high turnout of this demographic in the 2022 midterm elections, where abortion was a hotly contested issue due to the recent overturning of Roe v. Wade.
According to Harvard University’s Institute of Politics, almost half of registered young voters said they would “definitely” vote if abortion related referendums were on the ballot in their state.
Given that abortion rights are still not codified at the national level, they are likely to impact the electorate to a similar extent as in 2022.
The War in Gaza is another issue that seems to have attracted the attention of younger voters.
National polls suggest that the War in Gaza will have minimal influence. However, we saw the protests on college campuses after the war’s escalation as a sign that younger voters, particularly university students, are paying close attention to the situation in the Middle East.
According to Vox Media, a poll from the University of Chicago found that 1 in 4 respondents prioritized the War in Gaza when voting in November. Therefore, we included it in the survey.
Our results
Our survey presented thirteen major topics and asked participants to identify the three issues most important to them.
However, enough people marked less or more than three topics that we decided to read the question as open-ended with respondents picking their top issues, irrespective of how many were chosen.
The survey indicates that the two largest issues for students are abortion and the economy. These were the only two that were chosen by a majority of respondents, receiving 53.14% and 52.20% respectively.
The third top issue of immigration trailed behind at just 36.48%. Gaza ranked as number ten, at only 13.84%. Table 1 provides a full list of issues ranked, including approximate numbers from the survey and calculated percentages.
We also listed the most frequently identified priorities among respondents who indicated their vote choice for President.
72.11% of the students who plan to vote for Harris choose abortion as their biggest issue. The second and third largest issues were the states of equality at 36.73% and democracy at 35.37%.
82.11% of students planning to vote for Trump choose the economy as the biggest issue. Immigration followed at 63.16%, and abortion fell in a distant third at 37.89%.
Limitations
A large number of students who completed paper surveys did not answer any of the questions on the back.
Although respondents had the freedom to answer or skip any questions, it appears that some simply did not realize there was a back page and missed it.
This explains the consistently high number of non-respondents, which is slightly over sixty. Consequently, we marked these non-respondents accordingly and excluded them from the calculated percentages to provide a clear measure of those who answered the question.
This shows that the priorities and anxieties of students here align closely with those of the general populace.
Our expectations regarding Gaza demonstrates how pollsters can form assumptions about data based on anecdotal evidence that may not align with reality. While there are certainly individuals passionate about the situation in the Middle East, the responses we received did not match our expectations, as they were not even close to those regarding the other three issues.
However, the top three issues, abortion, economy and immigration, are not surprising and are consistent with other polls at the national level, and with voters of all age ranges.
Gallup recently polled American voters, and the priorities identified by respondents were very similar to those of our student body.
These issues were the first three mentioned in the Presidential debates, so it is definitely something that voters are going to consider when they cast their ballots and Wright State students are no exception.
Table 1. Priorities of the sample population, listed in ranked order of yes respondents
| Issue | Yes % | No % |
| Abortion | 53.14 | 46.86 |
| Economy/inflation | 52.20 | 47.99 |
| Immigration | 36.48 | 63.52 |
| State of democracy/corruption | 33.65 | 66.35 |
| Gun policies | 25.00 | 75.00 |
| Health care | 24.29 | 75.71 |
| Equality/inequality | 23.27 | 76.73 |
| Climate change/environmental policy | 17.92 | 82.08 |
| Racism/racial issues | 16.67 | 83.33 |
| War in Gaza | 13.84 | 86.16 |
| Student loans | 12.30 | 87.70 |
| Election integrity | 8.81 | 91.19 |
| Russia/The War in Ukraine | 7.55 | 92.45 |
Table 2. Top three priorities of Harris voters in the sample
| Issue | Yes % | No % |
| Abortion | 72.11 | 27.89 |
| Equality/inequality | 36.73 | 63.27 |
| State of democracy/corruption | 35.37 | 64.63 |
Table 3. Top three priorities of Trump voters in the sample
| Issue | Yes % | No % |
| Economy/inflation | 82.11 | 17.89 |
| Immigration | 63.16 | 36.84 |
| Abortion | 37.89 | 62.11 |
