No matter how the pundits spin it, the recent Rock the Vote poll that depicts Americans between the ages of 18 and 30 as more concerned about the economy than the Iraq war is both unsurprising and insignificant.
Although we'd be remiss to admit that the economy is in serious trouble, the poll's results are largely contaminated by its timing. Taken before the five-year anniversary of the Iraq war - and long before the United States hit the 4,000-casualty mark - the survey barely reflects Americans' renewed dissatisfaction toward the war and the surge, both of which the media has covered rather uncritically for the past few months.
Even more importantly, the survey merely reflects current political discourse. No matter how poorly the United States is doing in Iraq, the media take a majority of its cues from politicians. And as the 2008 Democratic presidential candidates direct the national conversation away from Iraq - ironically because faulty exit polls suggest they do so - it is no wonder that more Americans in February chose the economy as the most pressing issue they face: It's what the media were saying all along.
We cannot reiterate enough that America's economic slowdown is immensely troublesome for students. As jobs begin to disappear, it is more difficult for college students to enter the workplace after graduation. Worse, the United States' current credit crisis makes private student loans more difficult to procure, jeopardizing many students' access to higher education. And for the students who do manage to solicit alternative funding, the situation is equally worrisome; eventually, students must repay their high-interest loans, regardless of whether the economy is contracting or not.
As such, the Rock the Vote poll provides weary Americans little, if any, insight about the trajectory of the American economy and the future of America's war effort. Instead, it offers a reiteration of what the media are currently reporting, a sample of how strongly a pundit's remarks resonate in a given week. And by that logic, you could ask Americans of any age the same question multiple times a day, only to find that the nation's conscience changes about as rapidly as the economy does. And there's nothing newsworthy about that.
