Hear ye, hear ye! I want to hear ye!

In the world of academia, where does one find a niche?

PhD students struggle with this all the time as they write and rewrite their thesis topic, waiting for approval from their advisor and hoping they haven't been scooped by anyone else. So what is a lowly undergraduate to do? Stare at the proposal sheet until they bleed from the forehead? (I know I have when writing some of my college essays.)

I also have the unfortunate timing of choosing a regional topic where papers are being churned out as often as iPad commercials pop up on the TV, but Afghanistan is getting slightly overlooked as combat troops are bidding Iraq au revoir and the US is going "OH NOES IRAN NUCLEAR BAAAAD".

Researching the dearth of articles already in the e-journal system, I noticed that there haven't been a lot of studies on what the public thinks of the war in Afghanistan. Sure, there have been opinion polls; in fact, as long as the 24/7 news networks are on, there is sure to be a poll flashing somewhere on the sidebar or raw data crawling along the bottom of the TV screen.

What about college students though?

Has anyone asked them?

Do the news networks actually care?

We are voters, after all. Well, you might be, I've only cast votes across the pond.

In light of this, I am thinking of researching how the public sentiment may affect future US foreign policy in Afghanistan. With the midterm elections coming up, this will be particularly important. The bloke (or…blokette? Whatever the female equivalent is) you vote into Congress may have a say in what step the head honchos are going to take next. Checks and balances and all that. And as it is 2010, it's time for potential presidential candidates to start prepping for 2012.

So public opinion and domestic politics matter A LOT. Which is why I'm going to research them. In particular, I will look at the opinions of young, college-age Americans whom are enrolled in school or have recently graduated. How much they even know about what's going on, do they agree with it, are there any alternative solutions if not, and whether this will affect their potential votes on the midterms.

Long story short, my question is this:

What is the general opinion among college-age students of the conflict in Afghanistan, and to what extent will this affect the future of domestic politics?

Catchy, I know. I'll think of a sexier title later.

As per requirements from the higher echelons, this will include some sort of survey.

Having been traumatized by composing and printing out dozens surveys on vegetarianism and healthy for a year-long, 30-page, graphic-heavy, A3-sized project back in high school, I will most likely enlist the help of SurveyMonkey this time around, since I've noticed that students are less willing to stop and take the survey when they have already been accosted by activists from Greenpeace to UNICEF. And we are in the age of social media, after all.

Questions may include:

· What they thought back in 2001 of the war in Afghanistan,

· How they feel about more recent developments, and

· Their predictions for the future.

Students with a background in political science may be able to provide more detailed opinions and suggestions, but I want to accommodate as great a variety of majors and disciplines as possible. Background matters as well; this survey will be heavy on demographics. Of course, the majority of respondents are likely to come from the same university campus, but that could in turn be an interesting sociological study.

I am genuinely curious about the results. I mean, the answers can be predictable if you belong to an organization that supports or opposes war in the Middle East, but for those in the middle, anything goes.

Oh, hello, what's this? Karzai arranging talks with the Taliban? Excuse me, I'll be right back….