Student interest in the 2024 presidential election is growing in Pennsylvania

Earlier this month at West Chester University, students organized a “Bake a Better Tomorrow” event to encourage classmates to register to vote and hand out cookies.

With clipboards in hand, others walked the campus sidewalks, asking passersby if they were registered.

That same week, students from the on-campus College Democrats club gathered for an event where their candidate, Vice President Kamala Harris, took on former President Donald Trump. And in the class on campaigns and elections – before the debate – every student raised their hand when asked if they were registered to vote and if they planned to vote that evening. Their political science professor, John Kennedy, emphasized its importance.

“Whoever wins Pennsylvania has a 90% chance [they] will be the next president,” Kennedy told them.

» READ MORE: Kamala Harris is doing better than Joe Biden among Philadelphia voters, but there may be warning signs

It’s no wonder that academic academies have become a prime site of contention for candidates.

Like every single voting bloc, motivated teenage students on dozens of college campuses in Pennsylvania could theoretically determine the outcome of the election – polls show a neck-and-neck tie that could hinge on the Keystone State, which is considered a must-win, especially for Harris.

“Young people participating in Pennsylvania will really make a difference in the outcome,” said Jen McAndrew, senior director of communications at Tufts University Tisch College of Civic Life.

According to the group’s data, Pennsylvania ranks third behind Michigan and Wisconsin as the state where teenage people can have the most influence on the outcome of this year’s presidential election. The electoral importance of teenage people Index.

A block full of energy

College students are going to the polls in increasing numbers. McAndrew said 66% voted in 2020, an all-time high and almost equal to the percentage of all adults. This time their top issues are the economy, inflation and cost of living; Work; gun violence; climate change and abortion, as a pre-election Tufts study found.

» READ MORE: Haverford College’s recent polling station has seen mighty early turnout

However, as recently as this spring, huge numbers of teenage voters said they were uninterested in the race, and Trump among them was broadly aligned with President Joe Biden. Some Republicans believed that Trump’s relatively high support among teenage men could signal a paradigm shift after decades of Democratic strength in that group.

But Biden’s decision to resign in July changed the complexion. Harris has consistently polled better than Biden among teenage voters and appears to be generating enthusiasm — according to a recent US News report, more than 4 in 10 teenage people recently said they were more likely to vote in November because she was in the race. Generation Laboratory Research.

“Kamala Harris is particularly good at engaging young people through social media,” said Jacob Moser, a 21-year-old West Chester political science major from Manchester, York County, who runs the school’s College Democrats club. “Once she became the presumptive nominee, I definitely noticed that people were much more excited, engaged and ready for the election.”

Kennedy, a professor at West Chester who is an adviser to the College Democrats, said that one day in early September he received 20 requests from students to join, more than he had ever received in a single day.

“The club has never been as active as it is now,” he said.

On the other hand, Moser’s counterpart, Gus Fadden, 21, a senior from Frankford, Del., who runs the College Republicans club, said he also sees more excitement among teenage Republicans.

“People realize we now have an actual election ahead of us,” he said. “Kamala Harris is not necessarily that much better than Biden, but you have to admit that there is an energy factor.”

He is motivated.

“I can’t wait for four years of Donald Trump and a carton of 18 eggs at the Giant store that won’t cost $5.22,” he said.

Matthew Henon, a senior political science major from Philadelphia, said Harris entering the race changed his mind. He previously leaned toward Trump. He did not favor Biden because of his approach to Afghanistan, although he said Trump was not a good solution for veterans either.

“I think overall she’s probably best for veterans,” he said of Harris.

But Max Weschules, 21, a history student from Downingtown, said he strongly supports Trump, largely because of how Biden and Harris have handled immigration — “sort of a band-aid on an open wound, at best.”

Moser said she was looking forward to voting for Harris because of her extensive experience in law and as vice president, but also because of what she represents.

“I want to protect access to reproductive care,” he said. “I want to take action on climate change. It will protect LGBTQ rights, which is something many young people, including me, care deeply about.”

Justin Duffie, 21, a supply chain management major from Philadelphia, said he likes that Harris is a graduate of Howard University, a historically black college.

“As a young man, I watched Barack Obama’s election and told myself I could do anything,” the senior said. “So for the future generation of young girls, including my little sister, I would say it’s amazing because now we can look at someone else who [could do] this again.

In West Chester, 78% of students voted in 2020 and 87% were registered, McAndrew said. West Chester is a Pennsylvania college it made them voting data is public.

Kennedy, who has taught at West Chester since 1997, said the most student interest in an election he’s ever seen was in 2008, when Obama and Hillary Clinton faced each other in the primary. However, the enthusiasm for these elections seems to be greater, he added.

“There is a general feeling that what is at stake in this campaign dwarfs anything we have seen in previous campaigns,” he said.

Encouraging teenage people to vote

Berwood Yost, a pollster for Franklin and Marshall, said Biden had trouble with people under 35, but those voters swung toward Harris, “and it’s probably true that under 25s swung even more toward her.” “. A recent Philadelphia Inquirer/New York Times/Siena College poll found Harris doing 12 points better among voters under 29 than Biden did earlier this year.

Still, most polls show she’s not doing much better with young voters than Biden did in 2020, and her lead in the group is smaller than previous Democratic presidential candidates.

And young voters are a historically fickle group. Although they constitute a significant share of persuadable voters, they do not vote as reliably as older voters. This can be especially important on college campuses – many students do not register at their school address or do not register at all.

“It’s always the case that politicians expect energy from younger voters in their campaigns,” Yost said. “We hope that if we can get them out, they will vote a certain way and bring that energy and passion. However, they often do not perform as well as older voters.”

At Haverford College on the Main Line, political science professor Zach Oberfield worked with local volunteers to set up a voter registration booth inside the building that freshmen passed through while moving in.

Marielle Soluri, a freshman from Lincoln, Massachusetts, signed up right away.

“I think my vote will have more impact here, especially since Pennsylvania is a swing state,” said Soluri, who noted that women’s access to health care is a top issue for her.

Ella Salvador, 18, from Baltimore, had the same idea.

“These are very important elections,” she said. “I was definitely motivated to keep my voice swinging and feel like it was making a difference.”

In Haverford, voting was a very important issue. In 2018, the university and neighbors successfully campaigned to establish a polling place on campus. In the 2020 election, 81% of students in Haverford, co also makes its data publicly availableI voted, McAndrew said. Over 90 percent were registered.

Thomas Belman, 19, a freshman from Minnesota, said he was glad to see the voter registration plate.

“If I don’t do it now, I may not remember to do it later,” he said.

Kay Sweet, one of the volunteers, said nearly 200 students registered to vote during freshman move-in and two other events on campus.

Catering of political messages

Campaigns use a variety of approaches to attract college-age voters. Last month, Harris’ campaign announced it was ramping up operations on hundreds of college campuses in battleground states, including: doubling its staff, running targeted ads on social media and expanding its reach at historically black colleges and universities.

Meanwhile, Trump has become a mainstay in the podcasting community and regularly conducts interviews with streamers and YouTube personalities that cater to Gen Z, especially men.

Some Democratic strategists say Harris could improve her margins with young voters if she appeared more often in these types of alternative media formats.

Rotimi Adeoye, a Philadelphia-based political commentator and spokeswoman for Young Democrats of Pennsylvania, said Harris’ campaign during the Democratic National Convention showed she could harness the power of social media by inviting and catering to dozens of influential people. He said the campaign needs to “look at where teenage voters get their news and make sure it’s in those places.”

“Many young people are tired of listening to politicians selling things. People are skeptical of politicians and rightly so,” Adeoye said. “Candidates can’t just come out and deliver a generic message that they think everyone will buy. “Harris needs to talk directly to young voters about the issues they care about.”

Harrison Green, 20, a political science major at Blue Bell in West Chester, proudly said he was friends with both Moser and Fadden, the Democratic and Republican caucus chairs who interviewed him for The Inquirer earlier this month. The conversation remained civil and friendly, so much so that Green asked if a West Chester employee could take a photo of everyone standing.

“I really hope that this great positive atmosphere stays and everyone can be civil towards each other,” Green said. “This is what will be great for America. Regardless of what you think about anything, if we can solve problems together rather than divide ourselves, that’s how we should move forward.”