With only a few days before the presidential election, an informal survey of 50 Bakersfield students found that incumbent George W. Bush has a slight edge over Sen. John Kerry.

Forty percent of students surveyed said they planned to vote for the president, and 38 percent said they favored the Massachusetts senator. Eight percent were undecided, 6 percent said they would vote for a third party candidate, and the remaining 8 percent said they were not registered or have decided not to vote.

Students were quick to voice their opinions.

“I think John Kerry’s basically an idiot,” said Jared Bone, 20. “I’m voting for Bush, because I agree with his beliefs.”

Gurjit Singh, 21, is voting the other way and said he fails to comprehend why Bush still has the support of many after the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

“We already saw what Bush did, now let’s see what Kerry does,” said Singh, who is studying business administration.

He admits that his vote is more against Bush than for Kerry, however, and said he wished there were other options he could be enthusiastic about. “If there was another Bill Clinton running, I’d vote for him,” he said. “But I guess I’ll have to settle for Kerry.”

With such a close election, the candidates are focused on energizing their base supporters and reaching out to undecided voters, especially in the so-called battleground states that will likely decide the winner. Those states are Pennsylvania, Florida, Minnesota, New Mexico, New Hampshire, Nevada and Colorado.

Even with such a tight race, and many on both sides are calling it the most important of our lifetimes, there are some who can’t get themselves to give either one of these candidates their vote.

“I will vote,” said Kayla Oldread, 21, “but not for either one of them (Bush or Kerry).”

She plans to vote for a third-party candidate.

“Neither candidate has really defined himself,” said Oldread, “and splitting people into two (political) parties is less than ideal.”

The closely divided campus mirrors the state of the nation.

The most recent national poll at press time showed President Bush leading Kerry 49-47 percent. Independent candidate Ralph Nader, widely blamed for the Democrats’ defeat in 2000, has only one percent of the vote. He will not be on the ballot in California.