By Chris Kwiecinski<\/p>\n
This story takes a look into political party organizations on college campuses, and what they strive to accomplish come election time. The story not\u00a0only looks at what they hope to accomplish, but also how they go about studying politics in intricate ways.<\/p>\n
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Political awareness rises through campus political party groups\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n In Bradley Hall, room 126 on a Tuesday evening, the Bradley University College Republicans gather to discuss the latest G.O.P. debate which occurred the previous Saturday. This room, which normally operates as a classroom, is transformed into what Bradley College Republican president Jason Blumenthal calls a \u201csafe room.\u201d<\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u201cYou\u2019re safe to say what you want,\u201d Blumenthal, a senior political science major, said. \u201cDon\u2019t expect somebody to attack you because that\u2019s not what we\u2019re about. We want to discuss values.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0With 2016 being an election year, Blumenthal and his Bradley College Republicans have already discussed plenty regarding the Republican Party. However, the Bradley College Republicans are a little different than most university political groups.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u201cMost of the groups don\u2019t talk about politics, they talk about how they can get involved,\u201d Blumenthal said. \u201cI get it\u2019s important to get involved, but if you don\u2019t understand what you believe in, why does it matter if you\u2019re getting involved.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0While Blumenthal is focusing on teaching college Republicans about how to understand what they believe in, it might sound like a futile action, as the perception of millennials is generally that they lean more Democratic than Republican.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Although the perception may be that millennials lean more to the left, Blumenthal said that might result because of how Republican views may be looked down upon by some.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u201cA lot of younger generation republicans are typically in a left leaning, education society,\u201d Blumenthal said. \u201cA lot of them don\u2019t like to disagree with their teacher out of fear, so I think the numbers are highly underrated than you\u2019d anticipate.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Blumenthal maybe correct in that assumption. In a poll<\/a> conducted in 2014 by Harvard\u2019s Institute of Politics, the numbers reported that in adults aged between 18-24 35 percent identified as Democrats and 25 percent identified as Republicans. Those percentages have narrowed closer than what they were four years ago, as there was a 15 percentage advantage in Democrat to Republican in 2010 compared 10 percentage Democrat to Republican in 2014.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0While millennials only make up a certain number of voters, senior Sports Communication major Anthony Sperando said the younger generation makes up a crucial part of the constituency.<\/span><\/p>\n