Molly Stutzman '02 is the clear favorite in the Student Assembly presidential election this year, while Michael Newton '04 is leading a close vice-presidential race, according to a poll conducted by The Dartmouth this weekend.
Stutzman, who garnered the approval of 57.9 percent of those who said they planned to vote in the upcoming election is winning by a substantial margin over her closest competitor, Michael Sevi '02, who gained 18.1 percent of votes according to the poll. Approximately 6.9 percent of the students who responded said they plan to vote for Ted Smith; the remaining 17.1 percent said that they have not yet decided whom they plan to vote for, or that they plan to write in a candidate not currently on the ballot.
The vice-presidential race is less clear cut, although Newton is in the lead with 35.1 percent of votes.
Aly Rahim '02 and Amit Anand '03 are lagging behind with 24.9 percent and 21.7 percent of the vote, respectively.
Just over eleven hundred students responded to the poll, representing about a quarter of the entire student body.
Yet support for individual candidates did not translate into support for the organization as a whole that they plan to lead.
Despite campaign fervor, an overwhelming majority of people did not feel comfortable about the Assembly representing their view. Approximately 34.9 percent of respondents reported feeling that the Assembly did not represent the voice and concerns of the student body and 32.6 percent were unsure. Only 32.5 percent reported that they felt represented by the Assembly.
Indeed, roughly one third of respondents said they did not even plan to vote in the either of two main races, although slightly more students said they would vote in the presidential election than in the vice-presidential election.
In the days before voters take to the polls, several candidates " who were unaware of the poll results " told The Dartmouth that they plan to step up their campaigns.
"I think word of mouth becomes very important at the end," said Stutzman, who plans to solidify connections with students she already knows and encourage her current supporters to be more vocal.
Sevi, in keeping with his campaign criticism of the status quo, said that he will take it upon himself to inform students of the election practices.
"Not enough people know when and where to vote," he said.Rahim spoke of creating more intimate connections with students, and targeting especially the "residual idealism" of the 2004's.
Anand feels that, now that he has created a name for himself in the poster process, he needs to continue to "get the issues out" by engaging in active discussion of his platform over the next few days.Newton said he did not plan to change much.
"No matter what the results [of the poll] are I'll continue to campaign as hard as I have been," Newton said last night.
