Before President Joe Biden left the race in July, IPM’s David Pierce checked in with young people as part of our “Voice of the Voter” series to get their thoughts on having to pick between Biden and Former President Donald Trump as they cast their ballot for the first time.
Voting is an important part of American democracy. It may be a right of passage for many adults, but it’s a new experience for those turning 18 ahead of the election.
Pierce spoke with Drew Bagby who is 19 and a student at Champaign’s Parkland College. He said that he was already thinking about his first time voting, but hasn’t made any decisions.
“Definitely uncertain,” Bagby shared. “Not knowing what could happen for the next 4 years [is] definitely is a scary thought.”
Prior to President Joe Biden leaving the race in July, he was concerned with the major party candidates.
“Donald Trump has been very outspoken in everything he said. while at the same time, president Biden is also not the best candidate. It’s just a toss up of choosing the ‘best evil’,” Bagby added.
In 2020, Chioma Anyaegbunam was not old enough to vote. She said she was relieved to not have had to choose between President Biden and former President Donald Trump.
Things are different now that she’s 19 and a sophomore at the University of Illinois.
“It’s kind of like my obligation as like a citizen to vote just because if 10,000 people have the mindset of they don’t want to vote just because they don’t like who’s going to be potential president,” Anyaegbunam explained. “Then that is so many votes that could’ve impacted something.”
With so much going on at home and around the world, she and other young people are turning to social media to help influence their stances on issues and ultimately how to vote.
“People don’t know what they don’t know so once you kind educate people about what’s going on then they can like form their own opinions. And then you can like, from then, you can kind of encourage people or nudge people to take some type of action towards a certain agenda,” Anyaegbunam added.
According to the Center For Information & Research On Civic Learning And Engagement (C.I.R.C.L.E.), more than half of voters 34 and younger are quote “extremely likely” to vote.
We’ll continue to hear from young people who are casting their first votes this fall in our “Voice of the Voter” series.
