In just eight short months, the rematch the nation is dreading is set to throw down. President Joe Biden faces former president, Donald Trump, in another head-to-head battle for the nation’s future. Biden won the presidential election in 2020 by receiving over seven million more popular votes than Donald Trump. Four years later, many Americans are not happy with their options; nearly one in four dislike both Biden and Trump. Central’s Gen Z students agree, and have even considered joining a third party because they “need to see more choices.” Numerous young voters that Blue Muse editors spoke to refer to their vote as choosing “the lesser of two evils.” Students believe their largest concerns of education, immigration, and school safety will not be properly addressed by either candidate.
The first time Katherine Gibson voted was in a 2021 school board election. Her excitement turned to sadness when the Democrat she voted for lost. Regardless, she was committed to making an impact. In 2023, she voted in another school board election. That election put more Democrats on the board, and Katherine’s defeat turned into excitement when she realized, “My vote matters!”
Katherine, a sophomore elementary education major, says school safety, gun control, immigration, and healthcare are her top priorities in the upcoming presidential election. Teacher safety within the school and “safety with children in the classroom and being able to have proper paras” is a huge concern for Katherine. “If kids who have behavioral issues don’t have accessibility to the things they need, it’s going to be unsafe for students and teachers.” Sixty-five percent of public schools in the United States reported being understaffed in special education.
“I just hate guns. If it were up to me, I’d say no guns ever. Obviously that’s not realistic or something attainable, but I would say no more. I think people are always looking at the wrong things.” In 2023, there were 346 school shootings in the US, with 248 victims, fifty-seven murdered and 191 wounded. “I think proper background checks and proper mental health checks are good. I’m also really pro-gun safety in homes, it really should be emphasized more just because of all the kids and teenagers who go looking and get hurt.”
“No one in this country found America, so I don’t think people have a say in who comes into this country.”
Katherine thinks that the American government makes it too difficult for immigrants to enter the US. America’s immigrant regulations are too strict when “no one in this country found America, so I don’t think people have a say in who comes into this country.” She supports background checks of immigrants, but with just one in three Americans (36 percent) being able to pass the US Citizenship Test, Katherine wonders why incoming immigrants are forced to take the test, and expected to pass.
“Healthcare should be free to everyone.” In 2022, 27.6 million Americans, or 8.4 percent of the population, did not have health insurance. High insurance costs are the biggest factor that leave so many Americans without coverage. Over thirty million Americans have diabetes, and 7.4 million rely on insulin to survive, yet it is one of the most costly drugs. “Insulin is so overpriced.” One company alone sells about a third of all insulin in the US, and charges 775 percent more for insulin than it costs to create the drug. “I think there needs to be a different system.”
After voting in municipal and congressional elections last year, Kenneth Aviles, sophomore and management information systems major, will finally cast his vote for the upcoming 2024 presidential election. Kenneth is torn between Democrats and Republicans, leaving him as an unregistered Independent. Kenneth’s views have been affected by media outlets such as X, which disseminates a variety of views on hot topics like Russia and the Middle East. His three top issues are foreign policy, individual rights, and the national debt.
“We need to see more choices.”
Concerned with the age of the candidates, Kenneth voices his views on third party candidates and alternative options. “We need to see more choices, because I’ve seen a lot of polls saying many people don’t like Biden, many people don’t like Trump, maybe people don’t like anything that they’re doing. But they still vote for them because they’re like we have no other choice, but there are other choices, such as third parties You got libertarians, then you’ve got millions of other people in the Primary who will offer different views and are much, much younger, much younger.” As Kenneth chooses between two parties, he looks to the primaries and how they are run. Kenneth believes that primaries must change to allow for independents to vote. Currently under Connecticut primary laws, unaffiliated voters may vote in a primary if that party allows unaffiliated voters. He references California and their “Jungle Primary” system in which every candidate is put into one primary election with the top voted candidate moving onto the general election system.
“A lot of countries are backsliding in terms of democracy, especially in El Salvador. They recently had an election, it was a little bit scrutinized due to a lot of irregularities. And then you got Russia,” says Kenneth, concerned with the rise of authoritarian governments.
“They’ve followed the law and they’ve even attempted to gain citizenship, or a very long process to transition from illegal to legal, then becoming citizens. The whole system’s a mess. I feel like it needs to be reformed.” Kenneth joins a plethora of students and first time voters with concerns on illegal immigration. Sympathetic to illegal immigrants, and with family members in the process of gaining citizenship, Kenneth would like to see the process and system reformed so that taxpaying illegal immigrants can gain their citizenship in an easier way.
Tyzamin Williams is both passionate about the literacy and education of today’s youth, and is worried that elementary grade schoolers are falling grade levels. “They’re not really understanding the materials that they need to learn.” She believes that the issue should be a priority in the upcoming election: “When you become a candidate, you have to think about education and students, because without the libraries, you won’t be able to move on in life. You won’t understand what the real world is actually teaching you, you’re going to go into society thinking on the first grade level, and this is not what the school prepared you for.”
Tyzamin is not only concerned with the education of today’s youth, but as well as their safety to prosper in such an environment. “When you’re looking on YouTube, or any other social media platform, there’s too many kids and teenagers dying. There was an incident in a school where one of the students bought a gun and killed about fourteen or fifteen kids and two teachers. That’s unacceptable. And then your answer to that was more security guards with more guns or that the teachers should have guns. That’s not going to help because a kid can accidentally go through a teacher’s belongings and then find it and play with it. It’s not going to help.” Tyzamin believes that guns should only be allowed in situations where it would be ethical and helpful. She says that armed guards or teachers would put children into further danger. Armed security guards on campuses and in schools is a controversial topic, with some believing that it can provide safety to students and others believing it is a dangerous liability, such as when a Texas security officer left his gun in a restroom in an elementary school.
“You chose this president, you want this president, you better work for this president.”
In response to the increased divisiveness and polarity of modern politics, Tyzamin had a piece of advice to give to those who will be voting in the upcoming election. “We do have to pick between Biden or Trump; I hope everyone makes the correct decision. If not, then put on a good pair of sneakers. You’re going to have to fight for something. You choose this president, you want this president, you better work for this president.”
Interviews conducted and condensed by Noah Roy, Samuel Belliveau, and Alexis Lykowski.
Featured image credit to photographer.
Good read. This article made me so curious to see what happens during the 2024 election. I hope our future president protects us and our country better.