With the next presidential election just over a year away, not all college students are up to speed on the current crop of candidates.

Based on a poll conducted by the Northern Star, the three candidates students seem most aware of are Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.), Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-N.Y.) and Rudy Giuliani, former mayor of New York City. The majority of students polled appeared more informed on the Democratic candidates than those on the Republican ticket.

There are currently eight Democratic candidates running, and nine Republicans campaigning.

Matthew Streb, assistant professor of political science, feels students aren’t familiar with who is running for president, but the entire population isn’t any more in the know.

“On average, college students aren’t very informed about the candidates running for president, but then again, at this point, neither is the public as a whole,” Streb said.

Indifference to certain issues leads to a lack of knowledge about them, he said.

“There are many factors that influence why students aren’t as informed as we would hope they might be, but the main reason is that students don’t feel as though candidates speak to issues that they care about,” Streb said.

He added that students may be more likely to vote if they are more informed on the candidates.

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