The University's Hoos for Obama movement participated Tuesday in a conference call with First Lady Michelle Obama after the Republican Party of Virginia this week announced the dates for its three U.S. Senate Primary debates.
Hoos for Obama co-president Alysha Tierney took part in the call with student leaders from other Virginia colleges and selected high school students.
"The purpose of the conference call is to connect people throughout Virginia with the campaign and with the first lady; talking about why it's important for students to get involved and to get feedback," Tierney wrote in an email.
She said the talk was an attempt by the Obama Campaign to "create a dialogue" between students and political leaders. Press was not permitted to join the call.
During the call, Tierney asked the first lady to speak about the actions the president had taken during his term to aid college graduates who were entering the current economic climate. Tierney said Michelle Obama referenced the "continued job growth" which had taken place since Barack Obama's inauguration.
"[The fact] that we can stay on our parents' health care until we are 26 years old takes some of the stress off of our shoulders," Tierney said.
The current Hoos for Obama organization was re-founded at the start of the year by Tierney and Sahar Rizvi, but originally started during the 2008 campaign as the quickly approaching 2012 November presidential election has set both Republican and Democrat campaigners in motion.
"This semester our goal is to create support so next semester we'll hit the ground running," Tierney wrote. "In 2008, Obama had a great turnout [of student support] and we want to make sure he gets elected again."
Obama won 66 percent of the 18-to-29 age demographic during the 2008 election, which translated into 18 percent of the overall vote.
Kyle Kondik, University Center for Politics spokesperson, said the conference call is likely just one of the many actions the president's campaign is taking to establish support.
"I'm sure [the Obama campaign is] doing things like this conference call to recapture the same enthusiasm in 2008, to the extent that the bigger youth vote is, the better for Obama," he said.
Kondik said Obama's current approval rating for 18 to 29 year olds is 55 percent, while his approval rating with voters 65 and older is 42 percent.
"His overall approval is 49 percent so again we see that younger people are more likely to approve of the president and seem more likely to vote for Obama, and that will probably [still] be true in 2012," he said.
During the conference call, Michelle Obama emphasized the importance of student voters during the upcoming election, Tierney said.
"The First Lady remarked on how important students were in the 2008 election and how we turned out in record numbers," Tierney said. "Our voices, our efforts and our votes are critical in this election to keep the country on the right path."
Students can become involved with the campaign in many ways, Tierney said, including volunteering to become an organizing fellow, joining the Obama group on campus and talking to voters themselves.
Student voting rates and participation in political campaigns can often be low, but Tierney said students should recognize the many ways in which the election results could impact their futures.
"We try and tell people that every issue is a huge issue, since we'll enter the job market in a few years, and though you might not care about Social Security and Medicaid now, you will care about it," she said. "Most people think that these aren't youth issues but they are issues for us because this is a country we'll be inheriting"
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