Gen Z voters keep close tabs on upcoming presidential election

As both candidates continue to make their case to become president, watching the debate were the youngest voting group, Gen Z.

“The housing crisis. The levels of inflation, it’s extremely high and extremely unaffordable,” Lucina Kim, a senior at Southern Connecticut State University, said.

Those are just some of things Kim is thinking about with the presidential election just a couple months away. She’s one of a number of students at Southern Connecticut State University that watched the presidential debate between Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump.

One topic she wanted to hear discussed is reproductive rights.

“I know that especially during the midterm elections and the passing of the Dobbs decision, it swayed a lot of voters,” she said.

At Connecticut College in New London, that’s a topic Sophia Williams and Tate Buchwald have seen drive voter registration among fellow students, along with climate change and the war in Gaza.

Both are part of a nonpartisan student voting initiative Camels Vote on campus.

“Our students that are coming from more red states or more kind of in the middle of states have had that issue voiced to us multiple times because it is important,” Buchwald said.

A NBC News poll of Gen Z voters aged 18 to 29 this month shows about half supporting Harris and about one-third supporting Trump.

Quinnipiac University Political Science Professor Scott McClean said these voters can sway the election in swing states and isn’t surprised to see this current trend.

“What really seems to be driving the democratic advantages with Gen Z voters, and particularly with women, is that reproductive freedom question,” he said.

Williams said at Connecticut College, many out-of-state students are asking for information on absentee ballots.

“Students who are looking to register to vote in this election, they want to vote where their vote matters most,” she said.

Kim said she’s hoping her peers will exercise their right at the ballot box to ensure their voice has an impact.

“We are no longer going to stay silent about the contemporary issues that we are experiencing,” she said.

That same NBC News poll also shows about one in 10 Gen Z voters saying they don’t plan on voting. 6% say they’ll vote for someone else.