“I certainly don’t believe in Biden’s campaign the way I believed in [Elizabeth Warren’s].”
Whether you read the Boston Globe or Teen Vogue, you have probably heard that young voters won Ed Markey his US Senate race against challenger Joe Kennedy III. Mass Millennials, who have historically come out to the polls in low numbers, and Gen Zers, who will first be eligible to vote for a president during this election cycle, are convening over their hatred for Donald Trump, and are in many cases hesitantly backing a disliked Joe Biden.
But while studies have shown that a variety of factors, including but not limited to apathy towards the government, impacted turnout in 2016, it seems some of that sentiment has eroded in recent years. Many young voters see Trump as such a threat that they are willing to step up and act.
While the Pew Research Center found in June that the youngest generations strongly prefer Biden over the president, that doesn’t mean they’re fond of Biden. We asked three people in that demographic—two who are working for the state rep campaign of Emmanuel Dockter in the 5th Plymouth District, and one who is working for Meg Wheeler’s state senate campaign on the South Shore—about their electoral priorities this fall.
Kathryn Smith, 19-year-old digital marketing manager for the Wheeler campaign:
“[Biden] will suffice. I don’t like him. I’ll tolerate his presidency with some degree of anger, and I will be trying to make sure that we can sway him to support progressive causes as much as possible. … I certainly don’t believe in Biden’s campaign the way I believed in [Elizabeth Warren’s], so now I’m choosing to focus my energy on campaigns that I really believe in because progressive campaigns and causes are really important to me.”
Lukas Moscoso, 21-year-old intern for the Dockter campaign:
“I think at this time you can’t get too picky. You only get two choices on the menu. I think Donald Trump is too dangerous a candidate and people have got to go all-in on Joe Biden. … Local and state campaigns are just as important as national campaigns… If you put people who are incompetent [in office] at the state level, you’re giving them a voice [which will] ultimately affect the national position one day.”
Robert McDermott, 24-year-old campaign manager for Dockter:
“At the local level, we’re not being effectively represented and it’s really starting to show in our communities.”
Annie Bennett is a student at Emerson College and freelances as a reporter. She is majoring in Journalism and minoring in Peace and Social Justice & Comedy: Writing and Performance. She reports primarily on politics and social justice issues. When not working, she can be found playing Mario Kart, sleeping, or on the quidditch pitch with her teammates from Emerson!
