Former Senator Margaret Chase Smith's fear of unexercised freedom becoming freedom forfeited does not seem to intimidate many students on campus, or many Americans in general.

In an unscientific poll of 50 random undergraduates conducted Wednesday by the Tribune, one student could name all seven remaining candidates, 13 students could name two or more of the candidates. Of those surveyed, 31 could not name any of the Democratic candidates and 5 students could name one candidate.

Director of University Communication Ben Tracy did not believe the findings of the poll conducted by the Tribune were necessarily accurate.

"Statistically when you have a campus of 11,000 you need to do a poll of hundreds of students to get an accurate account of the students feelings."

Tracy then described the privilege of hosting such an event.

"We were asked to host the event by the Journal Communications," he said. "It is a huge national event and we feel very honored to host this huge national event. As we would be honored to host a Republican debate."

University students seem to be following a nationwide trend of apathy towards voting in the United States. In the Presidential election of 2000, only 67.5 percent of registered voters turned out for the balloting according to the Federal Elections Commission database.

In another unscientific sample poll of 100 students, comprised of 25 freshmen, 25 sophomores, 25 juniors and 25 seniors, only 63 students planned to vote in the upcoming presidential election. This unscientific number comes up 4.5 percent short of the national turnout in the last presidential election.

Professor of political science Christopher Wolfe, however, was not shocked by the trend.

"It has been true for a long time that younger people tend to be less active politically than older people," Wolfe said. "When the voting age was lowered to 18 in this country, it did not have the same effect that the powers that were thought it would. The truth of it is that most young people today are not in the real world paying taxes or working so they tend to be a little less politically active."

Wolfe then elaborated on some of the reasons he felt the voter turnout has been so low in the recent years.

"Scholars have two conflicting theories as to why there is a disenchantment with voting," Wolfe said. "The first theory is that people do not like the people they are voting for, that is to say the candidates do not handle their personal lives well and people do not care for that. The second theory is that people, by and large, are satisfied with their lives and therefore are not motivated to vote."

Wolfe then said he sees it as a danger that there is little interest in the upcoming elections.

"I believe people should get more involved," Wolfe said. "As people get older their level of political interest does rise, but we need to get younger people more interested."

Professor of political science John McAdams does not see the lack of interest as a bad thing.

"I would have to say I respectfully disagree with my colleague," McAdams said. "If a lack of interest was a danger to the voting system, it would have imploded long ago."

McAdams also believes that interest will pick up beginning at the Wisconsin primaries.

"Wisconsin is going to be an important battleground for the primaries, and when (Wisconsin) comes into play, then interest will pick up here," he said.