Ches McDowell (’11), chairman, NC State College Republicans

The presidency, the Senate races and the governorship are the most important. Although they might have the least impact on me personally, compared to local races, they have the most impact on the nation as a whole. However, politics are incredibly important to the local microeconomy, and just as important to you, if not necessarily to the state. It’s important because all of the candidates on your ballot will make decisions that will affect you somehow, from the local commissioners, to the secretary of labor and all the way up to the presidency.

 

Brett Little (’09): Students for Barack Obama

I am enthusiastic to a certain extent. I think a lot of what goes on at either the state and local level wouldn’t be good for the national level. For example, I’m supporting Pat McCrory for governor – a Republican – while I am in support of Barack Obama for president. To a certain extent, I care about local and state-level races, but what the president has the ability to do in office is shape so many different things across the board, across the map and in a lot of state-level policies, where the president’s agenda can help influence what happens. I am enthusiastic about the North Carolina governor’s race, but other than that, I don’t think students are engaged enough to really first of all, know who’s running in the races for offices like the district court judges and the treasurer. I think positions like that are certainly important, but the presidential race and governor’s race are so much more important in people’s eyes.

 

Eli Harman (’09): Secretary, NC State College Libertarians

My primary focus is not on the presidential election. I’m more excited about Mike Munger running for governor of North Carolina, as well as some of the other local elections. There’s really not a whole lot of good that a president can actually do. It’s not clear to me that even if Bob Barr won – and that’s an extreme long shot – what good that would do us. I think there is a lot more good to be done on the local level, so I don’t see the presidential election as being of overriding importance.

Local governments can play a more positive role than even state governments – and especially the national government. The Libertarian Party is really strong on the issue of federalism. We don’t believe the one-size-fits-all solution implemented down from Washington is really good for anybody, even if we accidentally do get something right every now and then. Smaller units of government can’t really get away with as many shenanigans. At the local level, it’s easy for businesses and individuals to get out from under the thumb of government officials who are abusive or exploitative. It’s much easier for someone to move down the street to a new community, or for a business to relocate a few towns away than to pack up and go to another country like Canada. It’s easier for people to moderate the abuses and actions of local governments by voting with their feet, if they have no other recourse, than it is in regards to national government. You have all these smaller units competing with each other, and what we’ve learned from economics is that competition leads to better products and better prices. It’s not any less true in regards to the kinds of services that government provides on any level.

 

Dr. Andrew J. Taylor, professor and chair of the Department of Political Science at NC State University:

I think this year we see a lot more focus at the presidential level but generally, in the off year elections, students will be engaged as well. There may be the odd local or state race that captures people’s attention – of course, in North Carolina, we’ve got an extremely interesting and competitive U.S. Senate race and a governor’s race as well. We have Raleigh city elections in the odd-numbered years, and we have students engaged in those races. But certainly, I think the energy and enthusiasm from the students who are only marginally engaged in politics does increase during the presidential election year.

 

NC State Presidential Experts

North Carolina State University experts can provide clear insights into the pending general election and a host of key issues that will face the presidential contenders.