NN ARBOR, Mich. - She is a business marketing major who sings lead with an alternative rock band named Joygirl, a college senior who complains that politicians cater too much to older folks. Sara Sonstein said she wants them to address her concerns, too.
Yesterday, at least briefly, Vice President Al Gore did.
Before returning to his stump speech staples of late - Medicare, Social Security, prescription drug payments - Gore stopped at the University of Michigan campus to tape an MTV program called ''Total Request Live,'' part of the network's ''Choose or Lose'' campaign to get young people to vote. The hourlong program gave Gore a chance to connect with a group of eligible voters who often don't vote, feeling too busy, too bored, or too disconnected to bother.
''I think people my age feel really helpless that politicians don't speak to us, that they don't talk about what we care about,'' Sonstein, who attends Eastern Michigan University, said before the taping. ''I don't think my vote doesn't matter, but a lot of young people don't vote so there isn't any unity to give us the power that would make politicians pay more attention to us.''
That political Catch-22 was cited again and again by many of the 175 or so students waiting to question Gore on the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor campus. Less than a third of eligible 18-to-24-year-olds voted in the 1996 presidential election, census studies show. Less than half of them plan to cast a ballot in November, according to a recent survey by MTV and the Kaiser Family Foundation.
Turnout, already low and apparently dropping, tends to render young people invisible as a voting target, whether the candidate is Gore or his opponent George W. Bush, who is weighing a similar MTV appearance.
''The national debt does apply to us, but not on a daily basis, not in a way we think about a lot,'' said James Farchone, 20, a Bush supporter who is majoring in mechanical engineering. ''So does Social Security, I guess, but that's not what we're thinking about right now.''
Added James Henaham, 20, another Bush backer and engineering major, ''I feel sometimes they're not in touch with us and then when they do try to talk to us, they try too hard. The age gap is just way too huge.''
The students, however, did accept some of the blame for themselves. One after another said many of them can't find the time to pay attention to politics. They're too busy doing homework or downloading music over the Internet or generally contending with the demanding business of being young, they said.
As Rachel Stiegel, a 20-year-old who calls herself a libertarian and plans to vote for Gore, put it, ''Some people think politics just isn't cool. There are so many other, better things to do with your time.''
Almost everyone raised what many called the ''disconnect'' between national politics and their own lives in dormitories or small off-campus apartments. Sarah Loope, a 24-year-old law student who supports Gore's pro-choice stance, noted that the young often feel their votes would make no difference in the country's direction. She said she feels hers does.
The students, Democrat and Republican alike, applauded Gore's willingness to stand before students and give unscripted, if not unexpected, answers to their prescreened questions. The death penalty, gay rights, environmental protections, racial profiling by police, abortion rights, the legality of the music file-sharing service known as Napster, and the high cost of a college education were all raised.
If elected, Gore promised to hold regular ''youth forums'' around the country. He vowed to make a ban on racial profiling ''the first civil rights act of the 21st century.'' He said he supports civil unions for gays, but declined to say whether he would give foreigners who fall in love with gays in the United States the same emigration rights afforded heterosexuals who marry. He called Napster ''a terrific innovation,'' but said artists' rights have to be protected. He reitereated his opposition to censorship while noting that he abhors rap and other lyrics that demean certain groups or promote violence.
The audience also learned Gore's grocery checkout preference: He prefers paper over plastic. His CD collection includes Sister Hazel, a mainstream pop group and a safe choice. Gore laughed when a brief filmed biography described the convention kiss between him and his wife as a PDA - public display of affection. But a mention that he once smoked ''the herb,'' or marijuana, brought no smile, only silence.
The students were polite, clapping at times, laughing at others. But the enthusiasm was tepid compared with the greeting Green Party candidate Ralph Nader recently received in nearby Flint. Almost 850 people turned out to hear him speak.
''A lot of young people are mad that there are only two parties'' in the presidential debates,'' Stiegel said. ''The Democrats and Republicans are like Coke and Pepsi. Young people really want another channel to tune into.''
