According to data researchers from the University of Connecticut’s Department of Public Policy for the Intercollegiate Studies Institute collected, statistics show that when college students ages 18-24 receive formal education in history, government and economics, they are more likely to vote.

Mike Desshaies, director of marketing for ISI, said researchers surveyed 14,000 students on 50 campuses for the study.

“We have statistical scientific evidence that civic participation goes hand-in-hand with civic learning,” Desshaies said.

The survey indicated students who attend universities that provide classes in the core curriculums in America’s history and institutions are 5.5 percent more likely to vote than students who attend those that don’t.

Michael Vasu, director of the leadership in the public sector online degree program and political science professor, said he suggests a University-sponsored educational week on voting because students are not necessarily unwilling to vote but are not educated enough about the process.

“We have all these weeks designated to specific topics,” he said. “It might be wise to have a week for the practicalities of voting — not trying to switch anyone’s opinion in any way [in terms of political party preference].”

According to Vasu, students take their right to vote for granted and in college — students have different priorities — and added college is like a “suspended animation.”

“When you’re in college, you’re focused on getting good grades, what you’re going to do on the weekend, how you’re going to spend your spring break,” he said. “Those are different pressures and motives on you.”

However, he said the survey was about the average college student and, as with everything, there are exceptions to general results.

“Some do start voting at 18 and stay with it consistently,” he said. “But you’d be surprised at how many kids don’t bother to vote.”

Desshai echoed Vasu’s sentiment and said there is research that shows that people don’t vote because they do not have enough knowledge on the subject.

“Certainly for students majoring in political science, [history and economics], it means you’re taking more courses in those subject areas which leads to better citizenship,” he said.

Vasu said if professors integrate more civic studies into their courses, students would be more likely to vote.

Michael Cobb, associate professor in political science, said he is skeptical that anything will encourage more young Americans to vote.

“It’s really going to have to come from the political environment itself,” he said. “There’s really very little you can do to increase turnout.”

Cobb said it is possible that a course may influence a person to vote, but it’s mostly about self-selection and whether or not students are interested in the topic.

He said, as is the case with adults, a higher percentage of voters will make it to the polls if the way the media covers politics changes, if the structure of the political system changes and if the behavior of candidates changes.

“College students for the most part fail to connect their interest with politics, so they just don’t see the importance of it,” Cobb said.

Steven Greene, an associate political science professor, said younger demographics will never see an increase in voting numbers.

“It would be great if young people vote … but they never will,” he said. “Young people are always going to vote less and I don’t know for sure, but I pretty much suspect it’s the same in every democracy.”

Greene said one thing that may change is making it easier for students to vote, such as having voter registration drives in the Brickyard.

He also said there are legal issues in giving people incentives to vote, but giving students incentives to volunteer at the polls, as Alton Banks, a Chemistry 100 professor, is doing, is a great idea.

“[Students don’t always vote] because they’re young, which means they don’t have mortgages, they don’t have full-time jobs and they generally don’t have spouses and children,” Greene said. “And when you’re 18-24, for the most part, people are lacking those things.”

According to Desshaies, evidence shows that young people have been less likely to vote for a number of years.

“All trends are going back to 1972 that voter turnouts among young people have been consistently treading downwards,” he said.

Another statistic the survey provided is that women are 3 percent more likely to register and vote than men.

“It’s not by a lot,” Greene said. “My guess would be women, generally-speaking, are more tied in to their local communities than men.”

Vasu indicated he is also unsure of the reasoning for this trend.

“I could only speculate and it may have to do with the fact that young ladies are more mature,” he said. “A lot of the young men that aren’t voting now will vote in the future when they enter the taskforce.”

In terms of today’s election, Cobb said he is not sure if voter turnout will increase in North Carolina.

“I thought Iraq would mobilize people more, but it hasn’t much,” he said.

Cobb said he predicts a slightly higher voter turnout than normal for North Carolina during the midterm election because of the closeness of some congressional races and a fair amount of local issues, such as the school bond issue — one that many locals care about.

However, Vasu indicated voter expectations for this election are not great, especially since it is a midterm election.

“There’s a kind of political overload,” he said. “There’s been some real reaction to all the class and the politicizing and the very negative campaign rhetoric that’s been spewed out by both sides, and that’s been turning people off.”