The 2024 Presidential election is around the corner, and college students are poised to play a decisive role. On National Voter Registration Day, more than 10 percent of people registering to vote were 18 years old. That’s a 50% increase over previous years.
I spoke with several students at both Minnesota State University Moorhead and Concordia College to find out whether they plan to vote, the issues they care most about, and how this election could impact their lives.
“I do plan on voting this year,” said Tiffany, a student at MSUM. “You can't sit and complain and not do anything about it.”
The vast majority of students I spoke to said they plan to vote, and that they were excited to participate in their first presidential election. But others said they weren’t planning to vote, calling the current political situation “messy.”
Students voiced concerns on a number of issues, including education, better support for single mothers, the economy, the climate crisis, gun control, Trans rights, and ongoing genocides in other countries. But one issue stood out as particularly important - women’s rights.
“I think the biggest one right now would be Roe V Wade. I'm very glad that North Dakota has uplifted that ban, and I just hope that we can take that countrywide,” said Kaitlyn Wahl, a senior at MSUM.
“Abortion,” said Drew Berg. “Yes, obviously, I'm aware I'm a guy, but abortion is one I think is important, just because I have a lot of friends who have even had abortions on their own.”
“North Dakota just overturned the ban on abortions here. If North Dakota, a traditionally conservative state, can overturn an abortion ban, I feel like other states can also follow in that movement to allow women to have the right to health care,” said Magenta, a student at MSUM.
Students expressed a variety of feelings from hope to frustration to fear, highlighting the polarized climate in this year’s election, and their worries for how the results may impact their campus communities, and the country.
“I think unfortunately that is going to create some division. And on the campus side of things, there may be some more division than usual because of the anxieties of the election and people having just opposing beliefs,” said Kobey Block, a junior at MSUM.
“I've already seen it, unfortunately, with my own family and friends,” said Kaitlyn Wahl.
“Concordia, being a Luthern school, they're very progressive, and they're okay with sharing that they're progressive. But also they try not to silence the students who come from conservative families and also have very conservative views,” said junior Qwame Martin. “Although it's not said often, there are many situations of racism and microaggressions and things that just get swept under the rug. So I think this being a bigger issue a Black woman possibly being in office, it raises a lot of possible instances of bias and racism and harassment of all kinds.”
“I know I definitely am different politically, than my parents are, than a lot of my family is. I just typically don't talk about it because it's not the easiest thing to do there,” said third year student Drew Berg. Berg is studying Broadcast journalism at MSUM. He worries about potential political radicalism in the wake of the election.
“You had the January 6 insurrection - I'm not going to say something like that's going to happen again, but I do think there's still a lot of those same feelings. There's also a lot of people that became insanely more radical in both directions, in all honesty, and I'm slightly worried that the radical ones could get crazy again. There's no one side that I think is gonna be worse than the other, because I think they could both easily go haywire if their [desired] outcome doesn't happen. But I mean, at the same time, I think the US might have learned something from the last one to maybe hopefully safeguard from that happening again.”
Despite their concerns, students remain optimistic that the country can engage in a peaceful and respectful election. They say they hope the nation can find a way forward from the political division of the past several years.
“I'm hoping in the next couple years we try to figure out a way to find that bridge, find the common ground, to try to make a positive change,” said Jack, a junior at Concordia.
“We're a country where a bunch of people of different religions and cultures are coming together to make what we call America,” said Tiffany.
“It's always important to just have a conversation with other people who may not align with your beliefs and to understand why they have come to the beliefs they have come to,” said Kobey Block.
“People need to realize we have more in common, rather than differences. And that's something that people tend to forget,” reflected MSUM senior Anya Williams.