By a small majority, Lincoln Park students who are eligible to vote are leaning towards supporting America’s current Vice-President, Kamala Harris.
This mirrors the nation’s current polling situation. With four days left until voting day, support across the United States appears nearly evenly split between Harris, a Democrat, and her Republican challenger, former President Donald Trump.
Of the two dozen LP students who are eligible to vote in this election, several said they plan to vote for Harris. However, the responses The SIREN received when interviewing these students, reveal a conflicted stance on both major candidates.
“I don’t like either of them, but I’d rather have a woman than another old man in office,” said James Beraducci, a senior media major from Central Valley.
Senior media major Andrew Muiter from Beaver said that he also plans to vote for Harris. “Mainly because I believe that she can fix a lot of the issues with the housing and the pricing,” he said.
For senior Logan Nagele, a senior media major from Erie, the issue is “wanting equal rights and equality.”
Neagle said they’ll vote for Harris because she is “the obvious choice,” adding that “women’s rights are at stake, trans rights are at stake.”
Harris has made abortion a key talking point in her campaign, saying she wants to make the provisions of the Roe v. Wade Supreme Court decision, which was overturned in 2022, federal law. She has not offered specifics about what that new law might entail, although she recently suggested that she opposed religious exemptions for abortion.
Polls nationwide show a deeply divided electorate. The latest figures from non-partisan poll aggregator RealClearPolitics show a statistical tie and a deadlocked race.
Polling among younger voters, however, has shown a clear advantage for Harris. She is far more popular among young female voters, with young male voters evenly split between Harris and Trump.
As of this morning, Trump held a razor-thin 0.3 percent lead nationally over Harris, at 48.4 percent to 48.1 percent.
Few eligible voters we spoke to were enthusiastic about Trump.
Junior Layne Burchett, a media major from Beaver Falls, said he “wanted to vote for [Robert F.] Kennedy [Jr].” Kennedy, a third-party independent candidate, ended his candidacy over the summer and endorsed Trump. Burchett said he would “probably vote for Trump.”
Meanwhile, senior media major Collin Reeders did not mention Trump, but said he “plans on voting for something more right-winged.”
And senior media major Gavin Polk admitted that if he didn’t vote for Trump, his dad would kill him.
Not all students are throwing their support behind the two major-party candidates. Pre-law seniors Keenan Keer and Nathaniel Swihart said they were going to vote for Green Party candidate Jill Stein for president.
And one of the potential voters we interviewed, health science senior Isabella Lefebvre of Western Beaver, said she doesn’t plan to cast a vote. “I don’t know enough about the candidates,” she said, “and I can say, like, to me it doesn’t matter.”
While eligible voters are on the fence about the candidates, there seems to be more enthusiasm about Harris among younger Lincoln Park students, who can’t yet vote.
Cyrus Ulizio, a junior media major from Midland, said that he is “fearful if Trump does win that he’s going to take away all of our rights. And we’ve seen the stuff he’s done, you’ve seen what he’s been convicted of, of what he’s being investigated for. I personally don’t feel safe having someone like him in charge of our country.”
In May, a New York jury found Trump guilty of 34 felony charges. He was accused of trying to illegally influence the 2016 election by making a hush money payment to former porn actress Stormy Daniels. These charges do not affect Trump’s ability to run for president, but sentencing is scheduled to take place on Nov. 26.
Ulizio added, “My parents usually lean either way, but in the last three elections they’ve voted Democrat. Because, you know, it’s their belief that we shouldn’t have a terrorist in office.”
Pennsylvania is one of the most hotly contested swing states. This morning, Trump had a slim 0.3 percent lead in Pennsylvania, the largest of three key “Rust Belt” swing states (Michigan and Wisconsin are the others) that may decide the election.
Senior Loren Gramsky said, “[R]ight now, my current interests align most with Kamala Harris and Tim Walz. I’ve seen a lot of ads for both sides because we live in a swing state, so it’s going to be crazy.”
Although Gramsky, a media major from New Castle, can’t yet vote, “I feel like my ideals align mostly with Kamala’s, due to her saying that she’s going to give tax breaks to the middle class and as middle class. That gives me hope for the future.”
Gramsky also defended Harris from a frequent question she has faced on the campaign trail: having spent the last four years as Joe Biden’s vice-president, why hasn’t she accomplished more of her agenda?
“It’s just, people haven’t given her a chance in full power,” Gramsky said. “And I feel like people are making assumptions, like, premature assumptions on that.”
For Elias Abel, a writing and publishing sophomore from Sewickley, the presidential election is more a referendum on Trump, who defeated Democrat Hillary Clinton in 2016, and lost to Joe Biden in 2020.
“To be honest, I think all you need to know to support Kamala is to know how bad Trump is,” said Abel. “The reason why any sensible person should be supporting Kamala is just because we’ve gone under a Trump presidency, and we know his policies. So why would you want to undergo that again?
However, health science major Journnie Scales, a junior from Midland, focused on the historical aspects of electing Harris, whom she called “amazing.”
“I like her because she’s a woman, first off. We’ve never had a female president,” said Scales. “That would be, like, touching some heights there.
“I think she’s just– her being black, she understands the people of color’s point of view better than a white candidate could, you know what I mean?” Scales added. “And I feel like that gives her more appeal to both sides.”
SIREN reporters Hailey Ake, Elena Cable, Ambyr Clay, Mia Clemons, Lily Fortier, Samantha Jones, Evie Lindgren, Naomi Menzer, Veda Poling, Felicity Portoulas, and Aydden Yope also contributed to this story.
