Voting has begun in three states, Virginia, South Dakota and Minnesota and about a dozen more states will follow with early in-person voting by mid-October.
Are young voters excited about this particular election? We asked a pair of them.
19-year-old Martin Bertao, the California College Republicans chairman, and 21-year-old Aiden Ledbetter, president of the College Democrats of California, joined KNX News’ daily political show Countdown 2024 to discuss how they feel about voting in their first presidential election.
Listen here:
Young people don’t tend to vote in large numbers compared to other age groups, but Bertao and Ledbetter both think this time will be different.
“I think young people are looking at this presidential election and looking at the two options that we have and are seeing a day and night difference for what our future prospects are, whether it be economic, social, our reproductive rights, and so much more,” Ledbetter said.
Bertao, meanwhile, said young people will turn out to vote “in droves” this time because they’re “realizing that under leftist policies like Joe Biden and even worse with Kamala Harris, that they have no future, that their economic prospects to own a home, to start a family are practically dead.”
Ledbetter agreed the economy is a major worry for young voters, but said there’s “more at stake” in this year’s election.
“I think young voters are thinking about the existential threat that climate change poses to our future,” he said. “I think for too, too long now, they have seen the federal government not taking strong enough actions to address, you know, gun safety in our schools, our churches, our malls and our lives.”
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Listen to the full episode above to hear both students’ takes on political division, the prospects for third-party candidates, and more. Catch new episodes of Countdown 2024 live at 2:30 p.m. every weekday through Election Day.
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