Editor’s note: This article is part of a series that will be focusing on the 2004 elections.

With the war in Iraq becoming a major topic in the presidential election, the candidates have varying views on foreign policy.

This week, polls have showed people have become split down the middle for which candidate they will vote.

The recent presidential debate between Sen. John Kerry and President George W. Bush focused in on the war on terror and the war in Iraq.

“I think, for the first time in a long time, foreign policy is a major issue,” political science professor Dr. Ellen Antoine said.

“Bush supporters think there should be no change in leadership, but Kerry supporters can’t see a reason not to change,” she said.

The war in Iraq has been one of the biggest disagreements between the two campaigns.

The president’s well-publicized plan on foreign policy is to continue defending the security of the nation.

“We will bring security to our people and justice to our enemies,” Bush said on June 14, 2002.

Antoine said, “we can expect more of the same,” with the president’s current course of action.

“In the actual invasion (of Iraq), the military did a good job, but they weren’t prepared for the aftermath,” Antoine said.

Kerry’s plan to change the situation in the war on terror is to change the way we go about war, Antione said. The Democratic candidate has said that he would work with the international community to defeat terrorism.

“He talks about expanding international involvement with more European participation in the rebuilding and he would include Iraqi companies instead of just American companies,” Antoine said about Kerry’s current plan.

“As president, I will fight a tougher, smarter, more effective war on terror,” Kerry said in a speech in Philadelphia on Sept. 24.

Antoine thinks that Kerry will make changes but the changes can’t be gauged until the Bush is out of office.

“It is hard to say what he (Kerry) will do because he can’t predict what he is going to do,” Antoine said.

” It depends on what Bush does to see what Kerry can do,” she said.

One topic that came up during the debate was whether a draft would be reinstated.

“Everyone says there will be no draft, but if they continue fighting, I don’t know,” Antoine said. “I think there is a sort of draft now with recruiting efforts and with how they are keeping people in the service.”

With the slim possibility of a draft and peers off fighting in Iraq or Afghanistan, experts say that the war has led to a youth movement in this year’s election.

Antoine agrees that the war will have an effect on students.

“It (war) might have affected students, it has captured more of their attentions,” she said.