Older, Not Necessarily Wiser: Third in Our Six-Part Series

This is the third feature in our series: Youth Vote 2024. Again, we take the political pulse of first time presidential voters. The kids have their own priorities for the old dudes running for office.

Heather Ryan: Senior, Psychology, Berlin, Independent, Female.
Ally Ford: Senior, Psychology, Manchester, Democrat, Female.
Joey Feliciano: Sophomore, Graphic Design, New Britain, Independent, Male.
Jasper Kulinski: Freshman, Secondary English Education, Avon, Green Party, Male.
Jayda Johnson: Senior, Psychology, New Britain, Democrat, Female. 

Blue Muse: What issues do you feel the candidates should address in 2024?

Heather: Global warming is a huge issue. You see the forest fires, it’s really bad. We need to get it together, or our kids might not get to see the world. Inflation is a really big one. People are working full time jobs, nine-to-five, forty plus hours a week and still can’t support themselves. People can’t even buy a home without having two incomes per household. Single moms out here are struggling really bad. 

Ally: I feel strongly about people being paid fairly, people are overworking in order to survive. The working class people are really struggling right now. Also abortion, and people having access to higher education. 

Joey: Queer rights and income inequality are big issues impacting the country that are important to me. Since I am a student, another issue that impacts me is tuition increases. I qualify for financial aid and live close enough to attend a school as a commuter. As a resident I would have to pay around four thousand extra dollars out of pocket. 

Jasper: Women’s rights and feminism in general are important issues impacting the country. There should be equal rights for everybody. No matter a person’s gender or skin tone. Another important issue is climate change. The earth is dying. We gotta help it.

Jayda: Drugs are a huge issue impacting the country. Oregon was the first state to decriminalize drugs. Now they’re in a state of emergency because there are a lot of overdoses with fentanyl​​. Everything started increasing during 2020 when we all went into lockdown, but the fact that it is decriminalized in Oregon just makes the whole thing worse.

Blue Muse: Are you registered with a political party? Does your political party match your parents?

Fun Fact: Among Gen Z in 2022, fifty-two percent are independent, thirty-one percent are Democrat, and seventeen percent are Republican.

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Heather: I’m registered as an independent. I don’t necessarily associate myself with either political party. My mom is a Republican. My views align more with my mother’s. I am definitely not a Democrat, but I don’t necessarily agree with all the views of Republicans, however I do lean more towards that side. 

Ally: I’ve always been a Democrat, just because I wanted to have a say in the primary, but now I’m starting to realize I don’t really have much of a say. I’m starting to feel like I’m not aligned with them. I feel like the Democrats and Republicans are kinda like the same party at this point. It’s just a lot of talk and a whole bunch of inaction. My mom is registered as an independent, so she votes however she wants. My dad was registered as a Democrat, but he’s very republican nowadays. My parents embarrass me. 

Joey: I’m registered to vote as independent, both sides have their flaws. My dad is independent. I’m assuming my mom is a Democrat.

Jasper: I love being a part of the Green Party. I have put some thought into joining the Working Families Party, which does not have a lot of exposure. I would definitely have to do more research on them. My mom is independent, and her husband is a Republican. My mom has always been affiliated with the independent party. She always used to tell me when I was younger, it doesn’t really matter just vote for who you think is best. She shaped me to have my own views and opinions that don’t have to directly line up with Republicans or Democrats.  

Jayda: I’m a Democrat. My views are a mix between liberal and democrat. My parents have more strict democratic views.

Blue Muse: Has social media affected your political views? And has the bombardment of messages on social media directed you to the Left or the Right?

Heather: Social media hasn’t necessarily affected my views, but I could see how it might affect other people’s. Propaganda is a big issue causing many people to get fooled or misled. I don’t think that people on social media should speak on their political views, especially if they have a big following because that could really make people change their views. Many viewers, especially young people, are likely to change their views based on what their role models support. People should be able to form these views on their own. It is a lot harder to do this when people are constantly posting their views and beliefs. 

Ally: Social media has a role in the influence of young people. Growing up with the influence of Tumblr, posts pushed me towards left wing views. Things that I viewed and followed when I was younger shaped my views that I still stand by today. In general, when you get to know people, especially minority people, you understand, and you’re more exposed to diverse groups of people. That pushes you to be more human. Then you are able to make decisions yourself on the people right in front of you. 

Jasper: I’m a little bit on political TikTok and I see a few videos, but I get a lot from the Democrats and Republicans so I can see both of their perspectives. It has affected me in the sense that I realized what ideas I agree with and don’t agree with. I don’t affiliate with Democrats or Republicans because of the information I see about the parties on social media.

Blue Muse: Trump and Biden are seventy-eight and eighty-one, respectively. Do you think that their age makes them too old to be good presidents?

Heather: Biden cannot finish a sentence. That’s not good. I’m not saying anything about his character. I think that his age and not being able to speak thoroughly is concerning. Older people might have good ideas and values for the country. If they are not able to remember things or do other basic functions of a person, I don’t think running a whole country is in the cards for them. 

Ally: At one point, I did support Bernie Sanders. I felt like he was echoing a lot of the views that young people have. It depends on the situation and how open to the new generation’s ideas and values older people who are running for office have. We have a lot of elderly people in political spots that should be filled by younger people.

Joey: The older a candidate is, the more out of touch they are with where the world is today. We are constantly seeing shifts in societal norms, the economy, and the world in general. Someone who has dealt with growing up and living in the current economic and societal climate has a better chance of fully grasping where we are today. Many of the older people who are running for office have not been in situations similar to young voters today. 

Jasper: It’s hard to say because somebody that I did support at one point was Bernie Sanders. Because of what he did, I thought that age didn’t really matter. If it’s in the sense of Trump or Biden, the lesser of two evils type of thing, age does come into play, it just depends on the situation. 

Jayda: It’s important to look at their health, but I’m not going to settle for somebody whose ideas I don’t agree with. It goes back to what their morals are, what they’re fighting for.

Blue Muse: If you could ask each of the current candidates a question, what would it be?

Ally: Why do you, as a person in your seventies, think that you should be directing the country when there’s so many young people who need to be heard. I saw on the news that Trump wanted to start world war three; I’m not rocking with him. I don’t want a war right now. Why would you tell Putin to attack? NATO? Allies? What is wrong with you? Do you just want to start problems for no reason?

Joey: What ideas do you have to solve income inequality in America? Do you plan to lower the cost of living for American citizens?

Jasper: How do you plan to tackle the homelessness situation in America? What about  transgender rights? Women’s rights? How are you planning on dealing or not dealing with the situation in Palestine? 

Jayda: I just want to circle back to abortion and the drugs and stuff, what’s their stance on those things? The answers to these questions will show the candidates’ morals.

Blue Muse: What foreign issue policies may impact the way you vote in the presidential election?

Fun Fact: Four in ten adults say foreign policy is one of their top five most urgent issues.

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Heather: There’s war going on, not involving the US, but I think that pretty soon our country might go to war. That would not be good, so we need to figure it out. We need to have an understanding on what is going on and how it impacts our country as well as others. We need to have a game plan. 

Joey: I am definitely more informed about the Russia-Ukraine conflict. I feel like it is a little bit more mainstream than what’s going on with Israel and Palestine. It’s more clear cut, like this side is doing bad things, this side is doing good things and is being hurt. Israel-Palestine is a more complicated issue and dilemma. There’s not much public discussion about what’s going on there and what America is doing to assist, if anything, whereas we are fully aware of what America is doing to help Ukraine, we’re fully aware of the way we’re taking in refugees from the Ukraine. 

Jayda: If they support genocide, I do not like them. That is not cool.

Blue Muse: Which major candidate or party do you share similar values with? 

Jasper: From doing research on Trump and Biden’s past I found many things that I do not agree with. For example, all the bills they’ve passed really show the kind of people they are. In regards to the foreign issues going on right now I definitely think these two candidates have a lot of negative impacts on those issues. 

Ally: The Democrats and Republicans are kinda like the same party at this point, it’s just a lot of talk and inaction. They say they are for the working class people, yet the working class is really struggling right now. They said they would make sure it got passed, yet the Supreme Court is ultimately run by Republicans right now so it will not get passed. I just feel like it’s just buffoonery.

Joey: I don’t know what Trump has done. I’m a little bit uneducated on Trump just because I do not follow him since his beliefs do not match mine. I also do not like the way situations and issues are handled by Biden. I feel very uncertain about both candidates. 

Blue Muse: Who would you nominate, living or dead, to run for president? 

Heather: We definitely need a very good leader. Somebody like Martin Luther King Jr. He had very good intentions with everything he did. I can’t think of anyone alive today that would make a good candidate. I definitely think someone like Martin Luther King Jr. would help our country grow and become a better place. 

Ally: I would pick AOC. Apparently, she voted to send weapons to Israel. This makes me rethink my choice of picking her to be a candidate. I don’t think there’s a perfect candidate out there for us right now.

Joey: I’m going to go with Ncuti Gatwa from Doctor Who because he seems the most mentally stable. We need someone with this stability running the country. 

Jayda: My dad knows a lot of stuff, and he puts me on to stuff that I don’t even think about. He was explaining martial law to me during COVID. He was saying that Trump might put us into martial law and it’s gonna be kind of like a dictatorship. And I was like, “Whoa, man.” He’s very informed about political stuff. So I feel like he’d be cool.

Interviews conducted and condensed by Abby Bechard, Theo Ebana, and Ivory Bernazal.

Featured image credit to Kelly