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You are shocked (#1)

You read about American college Freshmen and their interest in politics and political issues. (1. Hint: At this point you'd better do a Google search to learn what you need to know about these students.)  

• A Google search on the highlighted words (above) gets you to reports on the "Freshman Survey" conducted annually by the Higher Education Research Institute.  These surveys, conducted for over 30 years in 1700+ college and universities, are the most widely used source of information about college and college students.

http://www.apsanet.org/PS/june99/mann.cfm 
Authority: American Political Science Association
Currency: June 2000

http://www.acenet.edu/news/press_release/1999/01january/freshman_survey.html
Authority: American Council on Education
Currency: Fall, 1998  

• Another way to approach this question is to go to a nonpartisan source of information.  Two organizations that provide balanced information on civic participation are:

Project Vote Smart conducted a national survey on youth and civic engagement: http://www.vote-smart.org/youthsurvey.phtml?style=   which could be found by going to http://www.vote-smart.org/ clicking on "Candidates, Issues and Much More" à "8. Youth Surveyed on Their Issues, Attitudes and Political Participation.

Policy.com provides public policy resources at http://www.policy.com/
Click on Resources: Issues LibraryàElectionsàVoter Participation
This links to a Third Millennium report at the Neglection 2000 Web site entitled "Don't Ask, Don't Vote: Young Adults in the Presidential Primary Season" http://www.neglection2000.org/reports/neglection_reports.html as well as other information on Gen X and voting.

Or at the same site http://www.policy.com click on Special Reports (in the left frame)àGeneration 2000 (right sidebar) to get to information about and for young voters  http://www.policy.com/reports/c2k/generation2000.asp