Obama leads presidential hopefuls among Brown students
Christian Martell
Issue date: 11/28/07 Section: Campus News
But Marc Frank '09, president of the College Republicans, disputed the poll's accuracy.
"Brown is not a random sample of the population as a whole," he said. "(The Herald poll) didn't seem like random sampling. It was bias right off the bat and should have read 'not a scientific poll' up on top just as CNN announces theirs on their Web site."
Frank, who said he plans to vote for former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney in 2008, said he felt the Republican voice on campus was muffled in the poll.
"I don't think (the poll) represents Republicans here at all," he said.
Under national guidelines, according to Frank, the Brown GOP chapter cannot endorse any particular candidate until after the primaries. But, Frank said, based on his conversations with group members, Romney, Sen. John McCain of Arizona and former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani are the top picks.
In The Herald's poll, Romney ranked second among Republican candidates, with 2.7 percent of students saying they think he would make the best president. Giuliani came in third, with 1.8 percent, and McCain garnered only one percent of students' vote for best presidential candidate.
Blancarte said he thinks the poll results only reflected campus opinion, not that of the entire country.
"I personally feel that Senator Clinton is currently viewed as the number one candidate. However, as the primaries get near, the spot for the number one candidate within the Democratic Party will fluctuate greatly," Blancarte said.
Clinton has continually ranked first in most national opinion polls of Democratic voters. In a NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll conducted Nov. 1-5, she had the support of 47 percent of Democrats.
The Herald poll found that 16.6 percent of the undergraduate student body had not yet chosen a candidate to support.
"There are things about all of the candidates in the race that I really love and support, and things that I don't find so endearing. Hopefully as the primaries approach, I will know who I support," wrote Gabriel Kussin '09, president of the Brown Democrats, in an e-mail to The Herald.
The Brown Democrats, like their Republican counterpart, will not endorse a specific candidate until after the primaries. But, through student groups such as those supporting Obama and Clinton, students have been making weekly trips to New Hampshire to campaign for their candidates.
"While I believe The Herald's poll to be accurate, I think Brown students shouldn't be afraid to stand up and support the candidate of their choice simply because they are polling in smaller numbers," Kussin said.
"Brown is not a random sample of the population as a whole," he said. "(The Herald poll) didn't seem like random sampling. It was bias right off the bat and should have read 'not a scientific poll' up on top just as CNN announces theirs on their Web site."
Frank, who said he plans to vote for former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney in 2008, said he felt the Republican voice on campus was muffled in the poll.
"I don't think (the poll) represents Republicans here at all," he said.
Under national guidelines, according to Frank, the Brown GOP chapter cannot endorse any particular candidate until after the primaries. But, Frank said, based on his conversations with group members, Romney, Sen. John McCain of Arizona and former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani are the top picks.
In The Herald's poll, Romney ranked second among Republican candidates, with 2.7 percent of students saying they think he would make the best president. Giuliani came in third, with 1.8 percent, and McCain garnered only one percent of students' vote for best presidential candidate.
Blancarte said he thinks the poll results only reflected campus opinion, not that of the entire country.
"I personally feel that Senator Clinton is currently viewed as the number one candidate. However, as the primaries get near, the spot for the number one candidate within the Democratic Party will fluctuate greatly," Blancarte said.
Clinton has continually ranked first in most national opinion polls of Democratic voters. In a NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll conducted Nov. 1-5, she had the support of 47 percent of Democrats.
The Herald poll found that 16.6 percent of the undergraduate student body had not yet chosen a candidate to support.
"There are things about all of the candidates in the race that I really love and support, and things that I don't find so endearing. Hopefully as the primaries approach, I will know who I support," wrote Gabriel Kussin '09, president of the Brown Democrats, in an e-mail to The Herald.
The Brown Democrats, like their Republican counterpart, will not endorse a specific candidate until after the primaries. But, through student groups such as those supporting Obama and Clinton, students have been making weekly trips to New Hampshire to campaign for their candidates.
"While I believe The Herald's poll to be accurate, I think Brown students shouldn't be afraid to stand up and support the candidate of their choice simply because they are polling in smaller numbers," Kussin said.