With the election only a day away, the political excitement on campus has many people wondering how Washington students will vote this year, and whether or not they will live up to the expectation that more students will vote than have in the past.

“I’ve talked to a lot of people who are usually non-political that are watching the debates and following the election closely,” said Auggie Eck, president of College Republicans. “I think there will be more voter participation with students. Even if its only a 10 percent increase, that will make a significant impact.”

While it seems clear that students of all political affiliations are more interested and active than usual, the UW campus — being in a generally liberal city and consistently blue state — is more vocally liberal.

“This campus is very clearly pro-Obama,” said Veryl Pow, a UW senior majoring in political science and international studies. “That’s evidenced by the number of students wearing Obama T-shirts, handing out buttons and otherwise showing their support.”

To some students, the highly visible Obama campaigning is frustrating because it takes focus away from the ballot issues.

“I think in some respects, the election has shifted to a popularity contest,” said College Republicans member Justin Bryant, a junior majoring in business and political science. “People feel like voting for Barack is the cool thing to do, but for how much talk there is of the election, I rarely hear pro-Obama arguments that are about political issues. I think that college kids at UW are sort of trapped in a bubble on campus, so they don’t realize that Washington is around 48 percent Republican and that there are a lot of Republicans in this state, they just don’t go to UW.”

When asked whether or not more students will vote democrat than in the past, Pow cited the negative response to McCain’s selection of Gov. Sarah Palin as his running mate.

“This may cause moderate conservatives and even conservatives to vote Obama,” Pow said. “We’re in a university environment that emphasizes issues and intellect over emotional appeal and that’s a stark contrast to what Palin is representing.”

Pow himself is an example of a student who does not especially support either the Democratic or Republican Party but is choosing to support Obama for various reasons this year.

“I don’t support either candidate, but if i had to support one it would be Obama,” said Pow. “The reason for that is not necessarily because I think Obama is going to cause change. What’s important is that people perceive him to be change. It’s kind of like how Franklin D. Roosevelt was not particularly pro-union himself, but he was perceived to represent the working class and this inspired people to join unions and the Congress of Industrial Organizations by the millions. Moreover, a lot of people of color may believe they can be more militant and voice their concerns. It’s the perception of him that is going to cause changes. And if Obama doesn’t live up to his radical rhetoric, I would hope to see massive social change, at the scale of something like the civil rights movement.”

UW student Alex Lark of the Young Democrats also shared his belief that Obama will draw voters other than traditional democrats.

“I think Obama is appealing to independents and even Republicans because he is a trustful and unifying figure,” Lark said.

Will the excitement around the presidential election spill over onto other issues, increasing the number of students voting for local positions and initiatives on the current ballot? It is difficult to say whether students will focus more on issues, party affiliation or other factors.

As for other ballot measures, the presidential and gubernatorial races are drawing the most attention.

“Proportionally, the increase in voting for those other positions will not be as significant as the presidential election,” said Eck. “Many people will just fill out the presidential section, or go down as far as governor, but not want to take the time to do the research it takes to know about other issues.”

Reach reporter Annie Atherton at news@dailyuw.com.