America’s youngest voters are still unsure whom they’d prefer to win

With November nearing, young voters have the responsibility of a lifetime, to outdo their 2020 performance by submitting ballots in record numbers.

Four years ago an estimated 50% of Generation Z voted in the presidential elections, according to a Tufts University report. They proved their power by showing up to pivot the outcome, contributing to Joe Biden’s victory.

Individuals born between 1997 to 2005 are of an age that presents many new thresholds to cross. Whether it is driving a car alone or entering a club without a fake ID, there is a lot to look forward to as a new adult. But Gen Z remains divided while facing its newest adult challenge: choosing to vote for Biden or Trump. Uncertainty may dampen their turnout at voting booths.

President Biden is attempting to appeal to Gen Z voters by pressing for student loan forgiveness. Despite these efforts, his continued support of Israel’s war, which many young voters see as genocide, has tainted his image. According to a CNN poll, 68% of young Democrats consider Biden’s presidency a failure. On the right, Donald Trump has his own issues with appealing to young voters. The Republican Party continues to support many positions that Gen Z opposes, especially regarding abortion restrictions, immigration and gun control. Trump and his 88 pending felony charges also do anything but entice individuals 18 to 29. A recent Harvard youth poll discovered that if Trump is found guilty, Biden’s lead among young, likely voters would increase from 19 to 28 points.

As passionate as they are generally, Gen Z voters remain confused and unsure about the election and many say they don’t know how they’ll vote.

“The younger audience, they’re not really educated on who to vote for,” Pascal Okal, a 23-year-old student at Florida Atlantic University, told the Post. “They’ll just feel brain-dead in that voting booth, including myself.”

“They don’t like the options,” said another student majoring in behavioral neuroscience, who asked to remain anonymous. “I think that can make it hard to choose from.”

Being brain-dead in the voting booth is not an option. In this country, domestic animals have more bodily autonomy and access to health care than women, housing affordability nears the impossible, our environment grows more toxic and simple pleasures like attending college, going to dinner and raising a family become more out of reach by the day.

None of these trials and tribulations fit the dream world Gen Z-ers thought they would grow up in. But now is not the time they should allow indecisiveness to creep in.

Still, there’s hope. Young voters have inherited the privilege to have their voices heard, to influence the future of this nation by making fruitful choices. They should devote their next few months to informing themselves about issues that matter most to them. An informed vote involves a better understanding of the plans and strategies each presidential candidate brings to the table.

How Biden or Trump decides to address inflation, housing, abortion, and the weight of college loans can have a huge impact on young Democrats or Republicans. But the responsibility remains up to individual voters to make sure whoever they check off in the booth matches their values and the changes they expect to see in U.S. democracy.

Young people are overwhelmed but it’s too late, they will live long enough to see the outcome of the decisions made in November. Whether the result of those choices is positive or negative, Gen Z still has a chance to revitalize democracy for its own sake.

America’s youth face the stresses and preoccupations of daily life but must stand up from the sidelines and play starting positions. Our nation’s future is literally in their hands. Now it’s time they engage with it.

Gael-Lynn LaGuerre is a Palm Beach Post editorial intern and a May graduate of Florida Atlantic University.