Students and Reform

One of the main goals of reforming California is to create a better state for the next generation. So what are the concerns of the next generation, and how do their opinions compare to responses of Californians as uncovered in the recent Field Poll? To answer these questions, I took a survey and a video camera to San Diego State, University of California, Berkeley, and back to Stanford University. Check out the home page of californiachoices.org to see the videos.

Students were asked about the issues that mattered to them concerning the future of California. Not surprisingly, education was the primary concern of students at state sponsored schools (64% of students at Berkeley and 53% of students at San Diego State selected education as one of their top two concerns). At Stanford, education was second to concerns about the budget and taxes. In fact, Stanford students were twice as likely to select the budget and taxes as a primary concern than students at Berkeley and San Diego. Students at San Diego were almost twice as concerned with healthcare as Stanford and Berkeley students (34% compared to 18% and 19%). One consistent finding across campuses is that social issues (the environment, abortion, and marriage) were of the least concern to college students.

Concerns over education spending could help explain why students differ from the California voting population in terms of closing the deficit. Students were less likely to suggest cutting spending and preferred an equal mix of balancing tax increases and spending cuts. As an aside, Stanford students were more likely than students from Berkeley and San Diego to suggest spending cuts.

While the Field Poll showed that the oversampled minority groups (except African-Americans) were more satisfied than the rest of Californians with how the California government responds to their needs, the 250 students surveyed at the three universities yielded results similar to Californians at large (around 27%). However, 32% of Caucasian students surveyed felt that the government responded to their needs while only 23% of other students agreed. There were no noteworthy differences across campuses.

This survey and Field Poll asked voters if they would approve of changing the two-thirds requirement to pass the budget to a simple majority requirement. While students did not differ dramatically from Californians at large, the survey was designed with a knowledge question as well. Voters in California approved of changing the measure at 44% and disapproved at 47%. Students on average turned in results of 52% approval and 47% disapproval. The results were different when analyzed based on knowledge. Students who got the knowledge question right were 60% for the change as opposed to students who missed the knowledge question who were only 42% for the change. Further, 78% of students who identified themselves as caring a great deal about California politics answered this question correctly while each of the students who said they didn’t care at all got it wrong. Maybe knowledge leads to change after all.

Making issues of reform relevant to students who are more concerned with picking classes and turning in homework is not easy. However, armed with information about what makes students interested, we hope to bring questions of reform to the next generation of leaders.