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Meet the first-time voters of Hicksville, Ohio

"Even though some of them have been indoctrinated at home, they are open-minded."

By Nicky Woolf

Hicksville’s high school is housed in a state-of-the-art red-brick building, opened in 2009, on the east side of town. Students spill corridors filled with lockers in classic American high school style. On the day I visit, government teacher Dave Blue is taking two senior-year classes, most of whom will be eligible to vote for the first time tomorrow.

Among them, some are simply not interested. “I don’t really pay attention to [politics],” says one 18-year-old student, Chad Klema, while another, Dean Conley simply says “I’m not voting.” When this gets an anguished response from the more politically active of his peers, he defends himself. “I just hate hearing about it. I don’t think any president can fix this.”

Many are entirely disillusioned with the political process as a whole. “Neither candidate is great” is a common factor among many – though not all – students in both classes. “There are negative ads before every video on YouTube,” says 18-year-old Morgan Hahn. “It’s not cool.”

Many of them, however, are more politically aware. Each lesson has a clearly dominant voice; obviously old rivals, they tell me they often spar with each other on political issues. Andrew Willis, the most powerful voice in the morning lesson, is a staunch and vocal Democrat. “I’m pro-choice, and gay marriage. I don’t like that the rich get the tax cuts – Bush’s tax cuts added to the deficit.” What does he think of the Republican challenger? “I think Romney is really, really untrustworthy. I think he changes his opinions to get elected.”

“He’s a political rat!” he says with venom.

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The afternoon class, by comparison, is all about Austin Laney – whose conservatism Willis tells me he likes to goad. “[Romney’s] not just for one part of the country, he’s for all of it,” Laney tells me. Even for the middle class? “Yeah.”

“Obama doesn’t know what he’s talking about,” he continues. “I don’t like Obama. Romney’s not that great – but he’s better.”

Their teacher, Dave Blue, is one of those teachers that all his former pupils remember with a grin. I first meet him in the Brickhouse, Hicksville’s local sports bar – I’m introduced by several former pupils. “You have to meet Dave,” they tell me. He makes quite an entrance, wearing a long leather trenchcoat and a battered stetson, and orders a whisky.

Blue has been helping his pupils negotiate the minefields of American politics for 28 years. I ask him if the students he sees generally lean one way or another. “I’d say [they’re] more Republican than Democrat,” he tells me, “but Obama’s got a good chance among these kids. They’re young, they’re willing to listen. Their minds are reasonably flexible. Even though some of them have been indoctrinated at home, they are open-minded. Some are probably going to rebel from mum and dad.”

When I ask the afternoon class if their political beliefs have been affected by their parents, there is a chorus of “yes” – except from Laney, who tells me scornfully that his parents are Democrats.

“I could go either way,” says another pupil, Charlie Guto. What would sway him? “I dunno.” He stops to think. “I’m against abortion. I don’t think it’s right.” Does that mean Romney’s on his side on that one? “Yeah. But I feel like whoever wins, no one’s going to fix it right away.”

Some of them have been under pressure from their classmates – but Shane Bostik is not giving in. “I’m on the border still,” he says, looking at Laney with a grin. “I’ve had Austin trying to persuade me to go for Romney… but I think I’m sticking with Obama. I think things are getting better each year.”

“They are starting to realise,” says Dave Blue proudly after the bell has gone and the students have joined the throng in the corridors heading to their next class, “that the real world is not that far away.”

He gestures expansively around his classroom. “And this is a part of it.”

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