Most at NYU say their vote has a price

[hydrometeor]

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1107/6892.html

Two-thirds say they'll do it for a year's tuition. And for a few, even an iPod touch will do.

That's what NYU students said they'd take in exchange for their right to vote in the next presidential election, a recent survey by an NYU journalism class found.

Only 20 percent said they'd exchange their vote for an iPod touch.

But 66 percent said they'd forfeit their vote for a free ride to NYU. And half said they'd give up the right to vote forever for $1 million.

But, they also overwhelmingly lauded the importance of voting.

Ninety percent of the students who said they'd give up their vote for the money also said they consider voting "very important" or "somewhat important"; only 10 percent said it was "not important."

Also, 70.5 percent said they believe that one vote can make a difference ? including 70 percent of the students who said they'd give up their vote for free tuition.

The class ? "Foundations of Journalism," taught by journalism department chairwoman Brooke Kroeger ? polled more than 3,000 undergraduates between Oct. 24 and 26 to assess student attitudes toward voting.

"The part that I find amazing is that so many folks think one vote can make a difference," Dalton Conley, sociology department chairman, said. He added, "If we take them at their word, then perhaps they really think votes matter, and that's why someone might pay a year's tuition to buy theirs."

Sixty percent of the students who said they'd give up their vote for tuition also described their families' income as upper-middle or high.

Their reasons for giving up their votes varied.

"At the moment, no candidate who truly represents my political beliefs has a chance of winning a presidential election," one male junior studying film and television at the Tisch School of the Arts wrote on the survey.

"It is very easy to convince myself that my vote is not essential," wrote a female CAS sophomore. "After all, I'm from New York, which will always be a Blue State."

Other students wrote that they were disgusted by the thought.

"I would be reversing history ? a lot of people fought so that every citizen could be enfranchised," said a female in her second year at the Stern School of Business.

One CAS junior went even further, writing that "anyone who'd sell his lifelong right to vote should be deported."

I would give up my vote for an ipod. *shrug* Also my family's income is "high" on a standard scale.

 

[Pesmerga]

Voting is futile!?

IN MY AMERICAS?!

 

[Absinthe]

Never mind.

 

[No Limit]

Hell. I'd do it.

 

[Ridge]

I'd give up my vote for a year of tuition...

 

[Icarusintel]

Yeah, they'd give up their votes and then whine when the person they wanted to be elected didn't get elected.


F*ck those dumb c*nts.

 

[No Limit]

Yeah, they'd give up their votes and then whine when the person they wanted to be elected didn't get elected.


F*ck those dumb c*nts.

Because one vote really makes a difference.

 

[delusional]

Because one vote really makes a difference.

yes it does, a minuscule difference. I wouldn't give up my vote, on second thought i would for 1 million.

 

[Icarusintel]

Because one vote really makes a difference.

I think the 2000 Election showed us that it can. Even if you disagree with the results, it arguably came down to a very small number of votes. The stance that one vote doesn't really matter is what kills a lot of votes which do actually matter.

I can't stand when people use that lame excuse. It's a cop-out.

 

[Raziaar]

Because one vote really makes a difference.

If everybody thought one vote didn't make a difference, nobody would vote. But we all know one vote is the backbone of any number of votes. Without one vote, you can't have two votes.

Therefore, every vote counts.

 

[Ennui]

lol. I can't hardly blame them, the reason I didn't go to NYU (I did get in) is because it's upwards of $50,000 a year for out of state students, and even with $20,000 in financial aid and scholarships that's an unbelievable sum of money.

 

[No Limit]

I think the 2000 Election showed us that it can. Even if you disagree with the results, it arguably came down to a very small number of votes. The stance that one vote doesn't really matter is what kills a lot of votes which do actually matter.

I can't stand when people use that lame excuse. It's a cop-out.

The 2000 elections were decided in Florida by around 1000 votes, yes. But even if I voted against Bush Bush would still have won by around 999 (I dont want to get into semantics about the recount). So no, one vote does not count. In most other states the votes were off by thousands if not hundreds of thousands in some cases. I happen to live in a battle ground state, last election a democrat got beat to the senate by only about 500 votes, so as small of a margin as that is my vote didn't really make a difference. So my point here is that if someone is offering you a free education at a good university for exchange of you not voting you would be stupid not to accept it, assuming such a proposition was legal in the first place. Anyone that says they wouldnt trade 1 million dollars for their vote is full of shit. Just my humble opinion.

 

[Kula Meenur]

Gives you an idea about how far people will go for cash

 

[Raziaar]

They'll go even further for a Klondike bar. :O

 

[kirovman]

Gives you an idea about how far people will go for cash

Come on, selling your vote is nowhere near as reprehensible as blowing a hobo off to earn a free drink.