In Milwaukee, Young Democrats Were Enthusiastic First-Time Voters

Across UWM’s campus, volunteers are trying to get out the vote, and posters reminding students to go to the polls on Nov. 5 are everywhere.

For many young adults, this is their first time voting in a presidential election, and this one has proven to be monumental.

“I honestly was really excited to vote, just because of how important I feel like the election is, especially this year,” Devin Annis, 20, said.

As election day gets closer, polls are, too.

A new Marquette Law School poll reported that Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris is the choice for 48% of likely voters, while Republican former President Donald Trump is the choice for 47% nationally.

Four percent of likely voters reported that they would vote for someone else, and one percent said they wouldn’t vote for president, according to the poll.

“I feel like I see the same amount of Trump signs as I saw in 2020, but I see way more Harris signs than I saw Biden signs,” Sophia Kaye, a third-year computer science major, said.

The Harris campaign has targeted young voters since President Joe Biden dropped out of the race on July 21, endorsing Harris as his top choice to run against Trump.

A Harvard Kennedy School poll of 18-to-29-year-olds nationwide found that Harris held a 31-point lead over Trump among likely voters in a multi-candidate scenario.

Harris held a 23-point lead over Trump among registered voters, according to the survey.

“A lot of the things that Kamala Harris stands for, like women’s bodily autonomy, and just having a woman represented in office… it’s good to see,” Jenna Lassiter, a 20-year-old student at UWM studying communications, said.

One factor that is impacting young adults’ opinions on the presidential candidates is online memes.

The poll reported that 53% of young adults under 30 encountered memes about Harris online in the month before the poll was conducted from Sep. 4 to 16. Fifty-six percent of young adults also saw memes about Trump.

Internet memes positively influenced their opinion of Harris, with 34% of young adults reporting as such, 16% negative, and 50% reporting there was no effect.

Opinion of Trump, however, has been negatively impacted by 26% due to the memes according to the poll. Only 13% of young adults reported that memes were a positive influence, and 61% reported no change.

“[Harris] is very relatable, in a sense that I think like that helps a lot with her campaign,” Lassiter said. “Like, the Brat thing, the memes. She’s really with the times, she knows her audience very well and is appealing to more of our generation, which I think will help her a lot in the polls.”

The poll found that young Democrats are much more enthusiastic about voting this November with 74% of Democrats describing themselves as “definitely” voting, while only 60% of Republicans described themselves as such.

In Milwaukee, feelings among young people are mixed.

“I don’t have any [friends] that are like, ‘I’m going out to vote and do my civic duty,’” Kaye said. “They are not excited about it either way.”

For others, it’s the opposite.

“Everybody I know is voting,” Lassiter said. “I’ve been like, ‘Girl, you better vote!’”

College students are usually able to “register to vote in either [their] hometown or where [they] attend college,” according to vote.gov.

In Wisconsin, students have the right to vote “if they have resided in a ward for at least 28 days” and are not otherwise disqualified, according to the Wisconsin Elections Commission.

In-person absentee voting, also known as early voting, in Milwaukee runs from Oct. 22 to Nov. 3. Residents can still register to vote during early voting until Nov. 1, according to the Ciy of Milwaukee.

Registered voters only need to bring a valid form of ID to vote. Students looking to register to vote in the ward for their student housing must provide a voter ID enrollment letter as proof of their status, according to UWM.

The Helene Zelazo Center is an on-campus location for early voting for Milwaukee residents.

“When I was there, everyone was really nice and happy to have people there voting,” Annis said.

Both Annis and Lassiter said their experience voting was extremely smooth and fast.

Wisconsin is one of the major battleground states that could determine the election. According to 538, presidential polls in Wisconsin found that Harris is up by a slim 0.4 points as of Oct. 23.

Harris is leading by 1.8 points nationally as of Oct. 23, according to 538.

According to Politifact, Wisconsin had 12 elections in the last 24 years that have been decided by less than 30,000 votes.

“There are so many people that can’t vote in America or don’t have the ability to, and for the longest time, minorities and women couldn’t vote,” Lassiter said. “I think it’s important that we exercise this right and privilege we have to vote.”