I have always been critical of the way some people will decide who to vote for. Whether it is single-issue voting, race-based, or gender-based voting, I have always advocated voting for platform and the issues rather than the personality.

For young people, it has always been easy to blame the entertainment industry for this blunder in American politics. While going on shows like Letterman, Leno and The Daily Show makes politicians seem more personable and down-to-Earth, it can prove to be detrimental when someone chooses a candidate based on how they can joke around with Stephen Colbert rather than what their spending plan is.

But relief came for me when I happened to catch a short little blurb from MTV News, when they traveled to South Carolina for the Democratic primaries. While on campus at the University of South Carolina, the MTV News representatives passed out mini-quizzes which listed four short questions that were very general but issue-based – job creation, Iraq, the environment and health care – as well as the positions from each of the main Democratic presidential hopefuls, but without their names attached.

Before taking the quizzes, MTV News correspondent Sway interviewed some of the students, asking them who they were going to support. Then after taking the quizzes, many of the students were shocked to learn that their beliefs fell more toward a different candidate than whom they would be voting for.

MTV News should be commended for this simple yet brilliant idea that has made two very important points. The first being that all of the Democratic front-runners are extremely similar (as are the Republicans, undeniably, but for the sake of the story, I’ll stick with the Democrats), but more importantly, that some voters look at candidates the wrong way.

According to an article posted on the MTV News Web site that coincided with the exercise, as well as the interviews conducted on the program, a lot of the students – while still surprised at the results – were going to continue to vote for the same person despite the fact that they do not fall in line with them on the issues.

One student told Sway he was going to vote for Barack Obama because he liked the how the Illinois senator spoke to a crowd, despite his favoring Hillary Clinton’s position on the issues that were posed in the quiz. One black man told the MTV reporter that he would vote for Obama “because he’s black.” Another black female told the reporter that she was going to vote for Obama, even though her quiz results put her in Hillary’s camp, because “her loyalties lie more with her race and less with gender.” And one female student said she wouldn’t vote for Hillary because she was, according to the article, uncomfortable with the idea of a woman running the country, even though she favored Clinton’s policies.

It always seems as if something is needed to set candidates apart other than the issues. It is unfortunate that that is the case because usually the face you see in a campaign is not what you see in the Oval Office. And never is that more the case than in the 2008 presidential race, particularly with the Democrats, where it looks as if some sort of history is going to be made this year. (As much as it tears up my insides to admit it, I am almost positive that there will be either a President Obama or another President Clinton come November).

The media has greatly embellished the focus on race and gender, whether it is comments made in the debates or by the former President Clinton. It is not fair to American voters that aspects like these are focused on instead of the real issues themselves.

Although the caucuses have already passed, I encourage those who are unsure if they are going to vote Democratic or Republican in November to visit campaign Web sites and read up on the candidates. Hell, even watch C-Span. Just be sure that you know not only who you are voting for, but what you are voting for.

– Andrew Gionnette is a senior in mechanical engineering from Chanhassen, Minn.