Thank God it's all finally over.

After months of bitter debate and a downright political war, America finally gets a four-year break from the presidential campaign.

There is no doubt that the 2004 election will go down as one of the most divisive campaigns this country has ever seen, at least in modern times. Whether you were conservative, liberal or something else, you probably believed that a lot was riding on this election, maybe even the very future of this country. That said, it is easy to see why people were, and still are, so split over what direction to go in. For the past several months, each side fought for what they thought was the best interests of America. In a way it was motivational to see so many people become so passionate about our country.

But of course, now that it's over, we have a problem.

One side lost, one side won, but the divisions remain.

How can we possibly come together as a country over the next four years? After all, the man that so many people thought was destroying America is still in office.

I was curious as to whether or not Penn State even believed that healing the rifts in our society was possible over the next four years, so I wrote up a short survey and handed it out to about 60 people at Penn State. I asked if people thought President George W. Bush would be able to bring the country together or continue to divide, and to what degree. For those who said Bush would continue to divide, I asked what issue would be the most divisive.

According to the P.S. U Vote online survey taken before the election, 63.7 percent of Penn Staters were going to vote for Sen. John Kerry, and 34.3 percent for Bush.

So I thought that my survey results would reflect a more negative attitude, working under the assumption that most people who voted for Kerry would think that Bush would continue to divide. What I found was very surprising.

When I tallied all the answers, I found that 47.3 percent believed that Bush would be able to at least partly heal the wounds of the campaign, and 41.8 percent believed he would make things at least somewhat worse.

In addition, 10.9 percent said that he would not change the current atmosphere one way or another. People thought the most divisive issue would be Iraq, with the war on terror and the economy tied at second. In third place was Bush's Christian values, and what some people see as an agenda to turn those values into policy, with issues like gay rights and abortion coming in fourth.

That may not be a ringing endorsement for the president, but it still is much different than what I expected. Still, I was pretty happy to see them.

For one thing, I voted for Bush, so it was nice to see that people have some confidence in him. Secondly, and more importantly, it means that many people, more than I thought, seem ready to put all this behind us.

Of course, my results could be skewed, as this wasn't a scientific survey, and only included college students. Still, the results stop and make you think. As for me, I have to say that I think the president will be able to bring the country together to some degree, but not to a level that we saw after Sept. 11. I really don't think the war in Iraq is going to be as big of a dividing issue in the future as it has been.

So much of the criticism about Iraq was amplified because of the election. I think the attitude in Washington is going to be "Let's just get the job done and get out."

And I would be really surprised if we find ourselves in another controversial war. The country couldn't handle it, and Bush knows that. The economy will continue to improve as well.

The gay rights issue is going to be largely decided in the states, so I don't think it will cause too much national strife, which is sad, because really we should be fighting to add an Amendment allowing gay marriage, not one banning it.

The only issue I see being a very divisive one is that of abortion, because there will be an opportunity to make some real progress in banning at least some cases of abortion (and I hope and pray that we actually do). But I am looking at this from a political point of view, that is, what issues are going to be hotly debated on Capitol Hill? Really, the state of the country as a whole will depend on each and every one of us. If the country remains divided, it will be because the people remain divided; if the country comes together, it will be because the people were able to put aside their differences and be civil once again.

I don't expect us to just stop caring about the issues that we disagree on. But hopefully, we can learn to listen to the other side a little more, and maybe even compromise (what a change that would be).

Of course, there are always those issues that we can't compromise on because we just feel that strongly about them. That's OK, but we have to be willing to approach those debates with civility and respect for one another. If we can do that, we can unite again and work toward building a better world. If not, well, its just four more years of the last few months.

So in the end, it really isn't the president that has the power to unite or divide America, it is America that has that power.

It is all in the attitude, and how you approach things. It seems like people are ready to try something different and work together. Now it is up to all of us to make that dream a reality.