More than 40 percent of Bakersfield College students polled over the past two weeks said they would vote for Barack Obama in the Nov. 6 presidential election. Mitt Romney received 23 percent of the votes.

Ron Paul received four votes, while governor of Wisconsin and Libertarian nominee Gary Johnson and Jill Stein of the Green Party each received one vote.

An informal survey of 280 students was conducted to see who students were voting for in this election.

Many of the student comments were varied, and some of the people polled were polarized in their choices, or non-choices.

The question was asked: “Whom do you plan to vote for in the 2012 presidential election?” The results are as follows:

Obama received 113 votes, or 40.4 percent of the total votes, and Romney received 66 votes, or 23 percent.

Forty-eight students were undecided, 43 are not voting, while nine chose not to disclose. Four students chose to vote for themselves.

Pre-medical student Carmen Alvarez said she had been exploring some blogging sites and heard that Obama doesn’t really help the community colleges; however, she heard that Romney is really not trying to help the colleges.

“Everything he [Obama] said he was going to do four years ago, he did,” said Alvarez. “He said he was going to get the troops out of Iraq. He did that.”

Child development major Tina Natividad agreed. She said she saw the televised debates.

“When Obama was asked why should I vote for you again,” she said. “he said, ‘everything I said back then I did it,’ and that’s why he wants to be re-elected president.”

Nursing student Jacqueline Studer is voting for Romney.

She said he holds the values that made this country, which Studer believes means that the power is in the hands of the people, not the government.

She feels that under Obama’s watch the federal government is too controlling.

“I want to have the power to make my own choices and not so many laws,” said Studer.

“Honestly, I don’t believe Barack is going to direct us in the way this country was made, so I’m voting for someone that is more like Reagan, and that’s why I support Mitt Romney.”

Psychology major Gregorio Linayao said he would vote for Romney because he has reasoning, and he has facts, but not just fact talk.

“He has a really good point of view for America,” Linayao said.

“Romney could be a slingshot. He could make America go back to what it was again like five or 10 years ago.”

Child development major Antionette Downing is skeptical about the future of the country if the Republicans take the presidency.

“If Romney wins, he’s going to cut all the benefits that help people like SSI, welfare and preschool,” said Downing. “All that’s going to go away if he wins.”

Second year architecture student Karissa Garcia is voting for  Gary Johnson for president.

“It’s basically the party that wants as much freedom as possible and a smaller government,” said Garcia. “That’s what people want.

Nobody realizes that he’s even running for president.

“He’s not a Republican or a Democrat, and he’s not in the debates.”

Nursing student Miranda Cramer and music major Benjamine Montoya both are not voting.

“Our vote doesn’t mean anything because the Electoral College is the determining factor,” Cramer said.

“So I don’t intend to vote.” Montoya said, “The country needs to be run like a country and not like a business.”

General education major Marabit Nash said he is neither political, nor voting for either candidate.

He said whichever one is selected, there is a system behind them.

“All they are is an image,” said Nash. “The system is still corrupt, so all they can do is stay true to the system.

“If there is something they don’t want to fix, they’re going to keep it that way.

“They’ll fix it to an extent, but the thing is to keep us below.”

Communication professor Helen Acosta is voting for Obama for a second time.

She said that it is his worldview that informs all of the choices that he makes.

“You can see that in all of his policy choices,” said Acosta.

“He even makes policy choices that aren’t even helpful to him as political choices.

“He has changed the situation for LGBT Americans.”

Acosta said that Obama issued an executive order that allows current college dreamers to have a pathway to citizenship and to attend college.

“I know President Obama’s moral compass,” said Acosta.

“You can see it in all the policy choices he has made. I don’t see a moral compass in any of Romney’s choices.”