Politically Active UW-Madison Students Gear Up For Next Week’s Primary

There is no shortage of organizations to join at the University of Wisconsin-Madison: guitar club, Bollywood dancing and even a cheese club.

And while some students prefer to spend their time tasting gouda, members of UW Madison’s College Republicans and College Democrats talk politics.

“Even in kindergarten, a kid told me (former Vice President) Al Gore was a liar and I retorted, ‘(Former President George W.) Bush was a drunk,” said Danny Levandoski, a UW College Democrat member.

Levandoski said that he will be voting for U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders in next week’s primary election.

“He just seemed like a candidate I could really get behind. He comes from a working-class background the same as myself,” he said. “Just the stuff he was saying right off the bat. It spoke to me personally.”

Political scientist Barry Burden said Levandoski’s opinion is representative of many Democratic students at UW-Madison.

“The majority of them resonate with his message and are excited by him in a way they were excited by (President Barack) Obama in 2008 and 2012. Not that they’re hostile to Hillary Clinton, but she’s not connecting with them in the same way,” he said.

The latest Emerson polls show Sanders leading Clinton 67 percent to 29 percent among young voters in Wisconsin. Sophomore August McGinnity-Wake is among that 29 percent supporting Clinton. He said he thinks Sanders’ plans are too ambitious.

“We’ve seen this with Obama even. He had a lot of really great plans and the Obama years have been marked by excitement, lots of good policy gains, but lots of frustration from people,” he said. “As opposed to Hillary, whose been there for 20-plus years. She knows a lot of people. She, I think, would be much more effective in pushing forward her legislative agenda.”

Chet Agni, chair of the UW College Democrats, said he’s undecided who to vote for and said he’ll probably make the decision at the polls.

“The real dialgoue is choosing idealism that sends a really storng message and is important versus Secretary Clinton is going to be the presumptive nominee and we should start rallying behind her now. And I don’t think either side is wrong,” he said.

While many College Democrats members are fine with either Clinton or Sanders getting nomination, the decision isn’t as easy on the Republican side.

Sophomore Elizabeth Steckel and junior Cate Dillon are members of College Republicans. They said they were disappointed to see U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio leave the GOP race in early March.

“He was a strong conservative. He had a strong record, but he wasn’t a die hard. He wouldn’t sacrifice the way of progress for his own stance and I think he would really advance the country because he was willing to compromise,” said Steckel.

“Now, I’m leaning more toward Sen. Cruz. He’s been very consistent with his opinions. I would not like to see Donald Trump be the nominee so I think it would be better for Sen. Cruz to be our nominee,” said Dillon.

UW sophomore Taylor Palmby has supported Ohio Gov. John Kasich since the summer. She said backing GOP frontrunner Donald Trump is out of the question.

“Trump terrifies me. I think he’s misogynistic, racist. I don’t think he has any of the necessary skills to be president. He’s not even a good business man,” she said.

Burden said Trump doesn’t have much of a shot with college-aged voters. He does best amongst older white men who don’t have college degrees.

“There are a lot of Republican students on campus who would not accept Trump as the nominee. They would have to figure out what alternative plans they want to follow in the general election if he does end up being the person,” he said.

Sophomore Elizabeth Steckel said finding an alternative won’t be easy.

“I think I would really have to take stock and see what the Democrats offer and what Trump offers and honestly make a decision to see who would do the least amount of damage,” she said.

Current polls show a neck-and-neck race in Wisconsin between Cruz and Trump.