Long-time Democratic voter Taylor Bolden, a second-year Liberal Arts major at MCCC, describes her feelings of uncertainty about the 2024 election.
She says, “I’m personally back to school because I want to work overseas. That’s how much I’m afraid of our politics in this country. I do feel a little hopeless right now, compared to before, [in 2020 when] I felt a little bit of hope”.
With the presidential election here, many young people are going to the polls. The presidential campaign has stirred conversation about how successful either party is in satisfying the needs of their constituents, particularly younger ones.
In a VOICE survey of 34 students, 48% of students said they lean Democrat, and 13% lean Republican. However, more than 36% of Mercer students said they don’t lean towards either party.
Mackenzie Foster, second-year Criminal Justice major and Secretary of the Rainbow Alliance, says she is frustrated with the “gerontocracy,” a term that has been used to describe America’s current political system where so many of the leaders are senior citizens.
Foster says “It’s built for them, not for us, not for me, who’s a 20-year-old woman who’s making minimum wage at a retail job”.
The current president of the United States, Joe Biden, was the oldest person inaugurated into office at 78 years old, according to a Pew Research Center article. When looking at the 118th Congress, the median age of voting House lawmakers is 57.9 years.
More than half of the students The VOICE surveyed said they were not very satisfied with how the political system is currently functioning in the United States. Key areas of concern for them are candidates’ views on environmental protections, immigration, the U.S. handling of the Palestine-Israel conflict, women’s reproductive rights, and Project 2025.
To address this issue, many believe it is essential for the political landscape to reflect the voices of younger, more diverse communities.
Foster says “ I think it’s very important to have people who are part of the community be in positions of political power…”.
Assemblywoman Tennille R. McCoy (D), who represents NJ’s 14th district, including most of Mercer County, advises young people to get involved in political organizations, such as young Democrats or Republicans, and participate in grassroots organizing.
She says, “You’re the future leaders, and it’s so important to hear what your priorities are… your voice, your vote, really matters, that you know, the candidate, wants to hear from you. They believe that you’re going to tell us who is going to be the next president, and you’re going to hold that next president accountable.”
The civic education website Circle says that in 2020, “New Jersey had the highest youth voter turnout in the nation: 67%.” The age range of this group was 18 to 29.
Voter turnout is impacted by a high volume of international students who are affected by the outcome of the election, but are not eligible to vote.
Out of 536,000 higher ed students in New Jersey, 21,000 students are international and cannot vote, according to the Higher Ed Immigration Portal.
Having come from Jamaica last year to study Engineering Science, Mercer student Chevaughn McDonald gives his perspective as an international student.
McDonald says, “America has their concerns elsewhere… but they’re not realizing that their empire is falling like Rome. Rome collapsed on the inside…”
According to Mercer’s official website, there are “Over 150 international students representing 40 countries” attending MCCC. In The VOICE survey, 15% of these international students said they were not eligible to vote, as they are not citizens.
While some students are looking at the election with less confidence, others have a more positive outlook. First-time voter William Childs, a second-year Criminal Justice major, says he sees himself well-represented in current politics.
Childs says, “I do think Trump is a really good person to run this country…I also think we need somebody who can unite people, because I think the two parties and the American people are very divided right now, and I think the key to fixing that is communication issues [which] aren’t going to get solved unless you talk civilly to people.”
While there are mixed emotions loom amongst younger constituents, Dr. Avery-Natalé, Professor of Sociology, says he feels as though students want to find more common ground than polarization, but struggle to do so.
Avery-Natalé says “I mean, if we think about the average student right now, they’re what, 18 to 20 something, right? They’ve grown up in a time when our government has done very little to their advantage….”
He continues, “I think actually catering to the interests of young people, taking climate change seriously, doing something about gun violence and mass shootings, and actually passing student debt forgiveness would probably start to motivate young people and students to see that their interests and their concerns are valid and that their power can actually do things.”
In terms of student motivation, Bolden says, “I feel like things have just regressed so badly, it makes it uncomfortable, especially in American politics. I just, I feel like everything is just still topsy-turvy, and I wasn’t expecting that.”
