Heather A. Woodruff '03, who has been involved in the campaign of Republican candidate George W. Bush, said she agreed with Kalb's analysis.

"Overall people are apathetic," she said. "Everything in the world is pretty much OK, so most people are kind of, 'Heh, let's keep things the same.' Until there's a problem, people don't look for solutions."

But Marc Stad '01, President of the Harvard College Democrats, attributed voters lack of enthusiasm to the intense coverage the media has given the election thus far.

" "There's been a lot of media coverage this year; it's unprecedented. A hundred years ago candidates were just starting to declare at this time of

year," Stad said. "People, not just students, have been flooded with information."

The Vanishing Voter Project will monitor news coverage and survey the electorate every week for the next year to determine when and why citizens follow or ignore the campaign.

More survey results are available on the project's Web site at http://www.vanishingvoter.org.