Luke Hopping - Senior Project

My First Essay

    This week, I began the first in a series of essays that I am writing for my senior project on electoral politics. The topic of my first essay is the so-called "age gap" in President Obama's electoral coalition. Obama, like most Democrats, performed exceedingly well among America's youth on Election Day. In fact, he took a larger share of the 18 - 29 vote than any previous Democratic candidate for president since 1980. However, Obama seriously underperformed among seniors. This discrepancy in support between seniors and adolescents is an emerging trend that some have dubbed, "the age gap." My essay intends to uncover its roots and potential consequences. 

    When I sat down to write my essay, however, I had trouble starting it. I wanted to begin it anecdotally.. but couldn't think of a fitting anecdote. I decided to skip the intro for the time being and start with some background information on the "gender gap," (a gap in party support between women and men that helped Clinton get elected in the 1990s) but soon I could see myself losing the original focus of the paper. Now I am in the midst of deciding whether I should make my essay strictly about the age gap, write a paper on both the age gap and the gender gap, or write two distinct papers about each. Either way, I'm glad I have so much to write about. Better this than having writer's block. 

Final Product Mission Statement

I have already established that for my senior project I will author a series of essays on electoral politics in the United States. My essays will focus on electoral trends past, present, and future. I intend to write somewhere around five of these papers, their length will vary from subject to subject. Some (particularly those concerning the future) may adopt a more speculative tone.  The majority of my essays will be written in a colloquial, informal voice for the sake of making this dense topic more accessible to a wider audience. I do intend, however, on writing some in a more scholarly, erudite manner. I am committed to keeping these essays unbiased and neutral. Studying national electoral trends concerns politics, but doesn’t need to involve them.  My final product, which I will present this winter, will be my revised and edited collection of essays. 

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