College political parties experience membership wane

Article, CNN, Dec. 16
http://www.cnn.com/2004/EDUCATION/12/16/
college.political.burnout.ap/index.html

This year's presidential election was about as hard-fought as political pundits can remember. Both the democrats and republicans pulled out every stop in trying to push their candidates over the top. This year, one of those stops included bumping up the voting rates among young people.

College students from campuses across the country worked around the clock to increase voter turnout among their peers, and voter participation did increase among college students. Many college democrat and republic organizations tripled or even quadrupled their membership rosters around this time, as students became excited about the election.

These organizations held frequent meetings to organize grass roots efforts, such as literature drives, rallies, and other get-out-the-vote initiatives. As a result of this ferocious effort, many of these same students experienced burnout after the election was over.

In a recent CNN report, membership in college democrat and republican groups has dwindled significantly since the election. The large membership swells that occurred before the election have dropped off, as many students who decided to work on campaigns during the election chose to go back to their normal daily schedules. This is no surprise to anyone, because burnout generally occurs after the extreme effort put forth in the last days of a campaign.

Even very politically active students needed to take a break from politics after this exhausting election. For those that weren't politically active, the post-election club activities were not compelling enough to sustain attendance. Many students are politically motivated enough to work on campaigns, but aren't as interested in hashing out public policy on a weekly basis.

As a result of dwindling memberships, college democrat and republican organizations have tried to spruce up their images with more social gatherings designed to further the friendships made throughout the campaign.