A Vote for an iPod: A Fair Exchange?

Oh dear — file this one under “further evidence our democracy’s in deep trouble”: The Politico reports that, according to a recent poll of over 3,000 NYU undergraduates conducted by an on-campus journalism class, two-thirds said they would give up their right to vote in the next presidential election in exchange for a year’s tuition at their school, while 20 percent said they’d swap it for an iPod touch.

(However, given some of the electoral shenanigans that went down during the last two presidential elections, these poll results don’t necessarily point exclusively to an unhealthful obsession with Apple products among our nation’s youth.)

The Politico:

But they also overwhelmingly lauded the importance of voting.

Ninety percent of the students who said they’d give up their vote for the money also said they consider voting “very important” or “somewhat important”; only 10 percent said it was “not important.”

Also, 70.5 percent said they believe that one vote can make a difference — including 70 percent of the students who said they’d give up their vote for free tuition.

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Hey, NYU students: Having trouble deciding which is more valuable? Then do a little comparison shopping! Here’s an exciting guided tour of the iPod touch in all its shiny glory. And here’s the home page of Declare Yourself, a nonpartisan campaign that provides a host of reasons why voting might just be a worthwhile enterprise.