Young Democrats say one thing.
"We want [young people] to be part of not just our party, but part of the political climate as a whole," says Henry Cohen, a sophomore at the University of Pittsburgh. "I think what the Republicans want is the exact opposite of that. Because young people, when they vote — and they vote — are overwhelmingly liberal."
And young Republicans say another.
"It's very easy to speak out as someone who's non-conservative on a college campus," says Anthony Cacciato, a sophomore at Carnegie Mellon University. "We often find that people that do tend to hold more conservative-leaning values are afraid to speak up or are afraid to identify themselves."
Pennsylvania voting booths for the primary election will open on April 23 to registered Democrats and Republicans. Though the presidential delegates are decided, various candidates for Congress and state positions are still vying to claim a spot on the November ballot. Pittsburgh City Paper spoke to local youths to see who's turning out, what issues they're voting on, and how they feel about their candidate choices.
Who's showing up?
Though students and organizers admit the spring primaries aren't as exciting as some bigger-ticket races, Olivia Pinocci-Wrightsman, a sophomore at Pitt and a fellow for PittVotes, a nonpartisan voter engagement group working on the university’s campus, notes that with each passing election cycle, it seems more and more young people are showing up for their candidates.
"I think the trends are starting to shift as we see Gen Z voter turnout increase each election cycle," Pinocci-Wrightsman says of the 18-26 cohort. "And so, on every level, I think people have started to realize that if you want to win, you need to engage with [Gen Z], and you need to speak to us, and you need to give us the opportunities to voice our opinions."
In 2020, roughly half of young people between the ages of 18 and 29 turned out to vote, an 11-point increase from 2016 that likely turned the tide for Joe Biden, according to data from CIRCLE. Then, in 2022, Pennsylvania was one of only four states where the number of youths who voted in the midterm surpassed the count from 2018.
With a particularly fierce battle waging between incumbent Congresswoman Summer Lee and Edgewood Councilmember Bhavini Patel for Pennsylvania's 12th Congressional district, and a knife-edge presidential election looming on the horizon, multiple youth voters expect a show of force in April.
Cohen, who is also the political director for the Pitt College Dems, expects most decisions for Democrats this year will be colored by issues of climate change, LGBTQ+ rights, and the ongoing Israel-Hamas war. But he says that post-Roe v. Wade abortion access will sound out beyond the rest.
"[Abortion access] will definitely motivate people who wouldn't vote," Cohen says.
Exit polling from the 2022 midterms shows that youths were the only age group to cite abortion access as their number one priority in the voting booth, which was distantly trailed by inflation, crime, gun policy, and immigration, according to data from CIRCLE.
Beyond social issues, Pinocci-Wrightsman says student voters are also concerned about their ability to "live and live well" now and after they graduate college.
Cacciato, who is also vice president of the Carnegie Mellon College Republicans, says one of his primary concerns is the economic landscape that awaits him after he graduates college. He says that in the primary, young Republican voters are likely to favor candidates who will clamp down on illegal immigration and shore up an economy they see as faltering under Joe Biden.
"I think a lot of Republicans, especially young Republicans, are not convinced by a lot of the talking up that the President has done on the economy at the moment," Cacciato says.
Nobody likes a sequel
Now that it's a foregone conclusion that Trump and Biden are set for a rematch in 2024, several students are left chewing on their party's decisions and, in some cases, doubting their respective roads to success.
69% of young voters under 30 who favor Biden over Trump say their vote is more in "opposition to Donald Trump becoming president again" than "support for President Biden and his policies," according to a poll from the Institute of Politics at the Harvard Kennedy School. The poll shows the opposite among young Trump supporters, of whom 65% say their vote is driven by loyalty to the former president and his policies and 35% in opposition to President Biden's re-election.
Gavin Perrine, a Republican sophomore at Duquesne University, describes young Republicans as more populist, isolationist, and pro-Trumpian than the older echelons of the party. Still, he says many young Republicans are nonplussed with Trump as their candidate—he would have preferred Ron DeSantis—and doubts Trump’s ability to succeed against Biden.
"I think [the Republican party] made the emotional choice, which I would say is the wrong choice," says Perrine, who is also the president of the Duquesne College Republicans. “I think a candidate like DeSantis or Haley would have been more logical, but there's a very clear sense among Trump's base that he’s somehow owed a second term, that he was wronged."
Andrew Muth, a Democrat and senior at Indiana University of Pennsylvania, feels much the same. Muth says he's happy with what Biden has done in his first term, but he notes that he and other young Democrats are starting to wish for a candidate that resembles them more closely.
"Naturally, people [who are] college-age want to see someone younger start to take over going forward," Muth, who is also the public relations manager for the IUP Democrats, says.
Despite dissatisfaction with their candidates, Muth, Perrine, and other young voters expect their under-29 cohort to largely toe the party line in November.
"I think that the scare factor will be in full force in the 2024 election," Muth says.
