I’m with … him?

Cole Meredith, an advertising sophomore at Syracuse University, plans to vote against former President Donald Trump in November. But he says he’s not really voting for President Biden, either.  

“I’m choosing to support Biden purely because I think he’s the least damaging of all the other options,” Meredith said.

Meredith’s advertising classmate, Hannah Weiner, agrees. “I think it’s one of those elections where both candidates aren’t the best option, but one is definitely better than the other,” Weiner said.

The students’ lack of enthusiasm is shared by many in their generation. According to the 2023 Harvard Youth Poll, 69% of young people who plan to vote for President Joe Biden are doing so to avoid another term for former President Donald Trump. In contrast, two-thirds of young Trump supporters will cast their vote with enthusiasm for their candidate.

Senior John Parker, president of SU College Republicans, is a Trump supporter. “Trump isn’t the most socially conservative guy in the world, but he’s certainly better than the alternative,” Parker said.

Researchers at Tufts University’s Center for Information & Research on Civic Learning and Engagement (CIRCLE) say young people tend to base their vote on issues. Young adults are the least likely to identify or belong to a political party, said CIRCLE’s Alberto Medina.

“The gun violence prevention issue and the movement in 2018, after the Parkland shooting, was a galvanizing force for youth. In 2020, it was the racial justice movement after the George Floyd murder. In 2022, the abortion issue became a huge driver of youth engagement,” Medina said. “This year, the situation between Israel and Palestine has become important to many young people.”

Issues drive elections

Biden’s support for Ukraine appeals to sophomore Roxanne Boychuk. “I have family over in Ukraine and the one thing that I like about Biden is that he wants to continue supporting Ukraine and sending aid over to Ukraine,” she said.

Sophomore Cruz Thapa, who says he is “on the Trump train,” supports the Republican former president in part because of his record of appointing conservative judges. Thapa, a member of SU College Republicans and founder of the SU chapter of the pro-life organization Students for Life, thinks his peers who are opposed to Trump are buying in to media narratives.

“A lot of people still believe he’s like this insane dictator type, when I think he’s pretty lukewarm on everything,” Thapa said. “People who want Biden to win are people I don’t like personally, people I don’t trust, people I think are incompetent.”

Partisanship like Thapa’s is common for presidential elections, said Professor Emily Thorson, a political scientist who researches political communication and misinformation. But most young voters are still in a period of political socialization that is influenced by contemporary issues and events.

“Your partisan attachment is still a little bit fluid and can be shaped,” Thorson said.

Exercising your right

For Reed Granger, the newly elected vice president of Student Association, identity and family shaped their politics. Granger’s father worked on the Barack Obama campaign in 2008. Having a president who was Black like them shaped their interest in politics.

Years later, they have worked with Texas State Senator Nathan Johnson and interned locally with John Mannion, a Democratic candidate for Congress. But Granger finds themself unimpressed by the 2024 presidential candidates.

Granger said they do not fully support Biden’s policies, particularly his actions regarding the Israeli-Hamas War. But Democrats must be united to defeat Trump, Granger said.

“I can’t afford to have another Trump presidency,” they said. “That would be entirely worsening the experience for marginalized communities in America, and that is a great fear of mine.”

Granger said they wants their peers to stay informed and be sure to vote in November.

“Doing your own research and seeing how it’ll affect you and how you feel about it can contribute to people truly just exercising their rights.”