PITTSBURGH, Pennsylvania – In an election which everyone expects to be very close, Gen Zs, those born in the late 1990s and early 2000s, may very well decide who the next US president will be.
In the battleground state where I live in, based on available data from the official website of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, about 9% of registered voters as of October 28 are aged 18 to 24. This does not cover other Gen Zs aged 25 to 27 since data are aggregated for ages 25 to 34, so the share of Gen Zs in Pennsylvania this election is easily greater than 10%.
Due to the number of electoral votes of the swing state, both presidential candidates Democratic Kamala Harris and Republican Donald Trump visited Pennsylvania several times this election cycle. And with less than a week before election day, I asked Gen Zs in Pittsburgh, a city in battleground state Pennsylvania, what issues are important to them this election.
Most Gen Zs indicated environmental protection and climate change as one of the issues important to them this election. Everyone feels the impact of climate change with record temperatures being reported this year. But as the ones who will inherit the good and the bad choices of the past generations, Gen Zs are more attentive than others to how their government protects the environment.
More than getting by
Another top issue for them is reproductive health rights. In 2022, the US Supreme Court overturned the 1973 Roe v. Wade ruling, resulting in the removal of women’s constitutional right to abortion. American voters (not just Gen Zs) are still reeling from that decision. Gen Zs agree that the government should not dictate women what they should do with their body.
As Gen Zs try to make ends meet, they are also concerned about the economic policies of the two presidential candidates. Despite declining inflation, Gen Zs are still worried about the affordability of basic goods and services like food and housing. They want a leader who can help them not just to get by but to get ahead.
Other election issues that Gen Zs consider when voting for president are immigration, women’s rights, and social justice reform. The two candidates for US president have starkly different policies when it comes to these issues. And the Gen Z vote can decide which path the US takes in the next 4 years.
Clearly, Gen Zs have a lot of concerns other than the ones mentioned here. But they also see a broken political system exacerbating the challenges their generation is facing. Well-meaning lawmakers have difficulties passing laws simply because one side refuses to cooperate for the sake of opposing the other side. Disinformation has also made it difficult to sort facts from fiction. I was surprised that no one raised it as a top-of-mind election concern in the US, but it definitely affects how the candidates are perceived by the voters.
Half-truths from both sides
In a recent rally I attended at the University of Pittsburgh, former US president Barack Obama lamented how lying and intentionally deceiving people are being used by a candidate as a strategy to score political points. He asked, “When did that become okay?”
Between the two candidates for president, we know the one who thrives in disinformation. For one Gen Z I talked to, both candidates are prone to twisting the truth. However, he said he voted for the one with less lies and half-truths because that way, “I am more likely to survive the next four years.”
Gen Zs are very much engaged in this election cycle because they know that their future hinges on the policies of the next administration. They want to actively participate and not just be bystanders in shaping the world that the past generations help mold for them.
Here in Pittsburgh, a reliably Democratic city, most people I talk to are cautiously optimistic about the results of the elections, hoping for a Harris win. They hope that Harris’ contrasting personality and policies against her rival will prevail on November 5. They do not want a repeat of 2016 when their candidate Hillary Clinton lost to Trump.
But with polls showing an extremely tight race, voters here are trying to get everyone to vote. Several people have approached and asked me if I have already voted. I told them I am not eligible to vote since I am an international student, but I encourage my friends to cast their ballot.
The results of the US presidential election next week are projected to be very close, as recent polls show. We may not even know who the winner is for several days. But it is not the polls but the voters who will decide who the next president will be. As Obama said during his rallies, “Don’t boo – vote!” – Rappler.com
Patrick Vincent Lubenia is a PhD student of industrial engineering at the University of Pittsburgh and an active member of Rappler Plus. Aside from politics, his passion includes mathematical biology, finance, and musical theatre.