Government professors at Sacramento State are encouraging students to get involved and express their opinions about tonight’s final presidential debate.The election is less than a month away and the campaign race has entered the final stretch.

A special viewing of the third and final debate between President George W. Bush and Sen. John Kerry is scheduled at Mariposa Hall room 1000 at 6 p.m. Shortly following the debate, government professor Kimberly Nalder has organized a discussion and informal debate about the two candidates, and the issues at large.

“At the least, it’ll be fun,” Nalder said. “We’ve done this in the past for the recall debate and the recent vice president debate, and the fact of the matter is that it is more fun to watch the debate in a group, because you get reactions from the crowd.”

As the last debate of the campaign, Nalder is still hoping for enough momentum to carry into tonight. According to Nielsen Media Research, television ratings for the first presidential debate generally draws the highest ratings compared to the third and final debate, which generally draws the least.

The race is tied at 47 percent among registered voters, according to an Oct. 8 poll taken by the Associated Press. The poll had a margin of error of plus or minus 3 percentage points.

“I feel that it boils down to either you like Bush, or you are against Bush,” said Robert Evans, a fourth year graphic design major. “In general, I also think that students have already made up their minds. Politics is such big thing now, mostly because of the controversy surrounding the war, that I feel students would want to go to this discussion because it gives them a chance to express their opinion.”

Evans, who recently voted through an absentee ballot, also feels that a lot of students on campus will want to go because it is a good opportunity for them to get answers. This is also one of the event’s goals. Being organized and hosted by government professors, this event gives students, faculty and community members a chance to discuss the debate with one another instead of deferring to political analysts on television.

Nalder believes that the issues students will be most interested in are those surrounding a possibility of a draft, security in general post Sept. 11, environmental concerns and tuition increases.

“Most of all, I believe young voters will be tuning into the credibility of candidates,” Nalder said.

Nalder also worries that there is a stigma attached to younger voters not interested in politics and not involved in the presidential campaign.

Emily Gan, a fourth year business management major agrees. She feels that people in the media need to stop reporting stories revolving around low young voter turnout, because that is part of the problem.

“It’s a self-fulfilling prophecy,” Gan said. “The more young voters hear how they’re not turning out at the polls, then the more they will begin to realize that it’s normal not to do so.”

The debate will be broadcast tonight at 6 p.m. live from Arizona State University. The debate will also be shown on televisions inside the University Union.