By Laura Martens
Most high school students are not old enough to vote in the United States, but this does not mean they are too young to care about the outcome of an election.
It is vital, particularly in an election year, that young people stay updated on the policies of presidential candidates and what those policies might mean for their futures.
Students at Central DeWitt High School were welcome to fill out a form with a series of questions about which 2024 presidential candidate they prefer: Kamala Harris, Donald Trump, or an Independent/Third Party candidate.
Answers were kept anonymous but three students volunteered to sit down for a more in-depth interview. Two of these students, Jenny Claussen and Kaiden Vallejo agreed to publish their names along with their quotes. The form was open from Friday, October 25th to Wednesday, October 30th. Upon closing the form, 84 students had responded and 56 percent of them said they preferred Trump, 39.3 percent preferred Harris, and 4.8 percent preferred another candidate.
Based on the responses to the final question, Please explain why you selected the candidate you did, it seems the issues that concern students the most are women’s reproductive rights, the economy/cost of living, immigration, and each candidate’s character.
Women’s Reproductive Rights
Many students stated that one of the main factors contributing to their decision was the candidate’s stance on women’s rights. Jenny Clausen said, “It affects more than people who want an abortion, it’s people that have an ectopic pregnancy or they sadly have a miscarriage and they want children.” “There’s been so many mothers, especially since Roe Vs. Wade was overturned, who have died in the hospital because their doctors aren’t able to give them lifesaving care because they had an ectopic pregnancy.”
Kamala Harris and Tim Walz’s campaign website claims that they “trust women to make decisions about their own bodies, and not have the government tell them what to do.” Kamala plans to restore Roe vs. Wade, giving women the right to make decisions about their reproductive care.
Donald Trump and J.D. Vance’s campaign website does not contain information about their plan regarding women’s reproductive care, however, according to an article published by CBS News titled Trump and Harris' views on abortion and IVF access, explained, Trump said “My view is now that we have abortion where everybody wanted it from a legal standpoint, the states will determine by vote or legislation, or perhaps both, and whatever they decide must be the law of the land.” Essentially, this means that Trump would like abortion access to remain a state decision.
The Economy/Cost of Living
Several students from both voting standpoints were concerned about the economy and the costs of gas and groceries. One response said “Under Trump, the US economy was way better,” referring to Trump’s 2016-2020 presidential term. Another student expressed that she trusts Harris to lower the prices which is important to her as she enters adulthood.
According to api.org, gas prices are determined by supply and demand, not by the president. The rise in gas prices in the U.S. right now is mainly due to increased demand and low supply caused by the Russia/Ukraine crisis.
According to the World Bank Group, the United States GDP remained relatively stable during both the Obama administration and the Trump administration apart from the rapid drop in 2020 caused by the COVID-19 epidemic. In 2021, the first year of the Biden administration, the economy grew from -2.2 to 5.8 and has now returned to 2.5, where it was before COVID-19.
The Harris campaign website lists several goals to boost our economy including cutting taxes for the middle class, making homeownership more affordable, investing in entrepreneurship and small businesses, and making quality education available and affordable to the middle class.
The Trump campaign website describes his plan to “build the greatest economy in history.” The five pillars of this plan include “Slashing Regulations, cutting Taxes, securing Fair Trade Deals, ensuring Reliable and Abundant Low-Cost Energy, and championing Innovation.”
Immigration
One student’s response explained their issue with illegal immigration, saying “The fact of the matter is during the Biden-Harris administration, millions of illegals have breached our country and stolen jobs from hard-working Americans.”
According to the Pew Research Center, the number of unauthorized immigrants in the U.S. grew only slightly, from 10.2 million in 2019 to 11 million in 2022. During the same period, employment of illegal immigrants grew from 7.4 million to 8.3 million.
Harris’ campaign plans to bring back and sign a bipartisan border bill that was originally blocked by Republicans in the Senate. The bill will add 1,500 patrol officers to the Mexican border as well as detection technology for drugs such as fentanyl. She would also like to rebuild our immigration system.
The Trump administration plans to finish the construction of a wall at the Mexican border as well as deploy military personnel currently overseas to our southern border and install drug-detection technology. They also plan to carry out what they are calling “the largest deportation program in American history.”
Character
While a candidate’s character is not as important as their policies, it could be an indicator of how they will act as a leader. A president should be someone who young people can look up to and admire, and those who responded to the form seemed to have strong opinions on each candidate’s character.
The main concern with Harris is that people do not see her taking the role of president seriously. One student said that she “lacks the power or authority in which Trump has gained throughout his prior time as president.”
The topic brought up most about Trump’s character is the fact that he was recently convicted of 34 felony counts due to falsifying business records. These records were used to cover up a payment of $130,000 in hush money to adult film star Stormy Daniels during his 2016 presidential campaign, according to npr.org. He was also held liable for sexual assault resulting in the court awarding $5 million to his accuser, according to AP News. This has led people to be bothered by Trump’s treatment of women. Kaiden Vallejo said that he was “taught to respect women and use the most gentleman behavior towards them,” and he cannot support Trump’s actions for this reason.
Whether a student is old enough to vote or not, they are still justified in worrying about a candidate’s policies. As shown by the plans on each candidate’s campaign websites, their actions in office have the power to change our futures. Understanding what each candidate stands for will also be helpful in the next election when we will have the responsibility to vote. So, even if you are too young to vote, you are not too young to be educated.
Comments