Young voters explain why they’re bailing on Biden — and whether they’d come back
Young voters explain why they’re bailing on Biden — and whether they’d come back
Biden’s numbers among young voters have slid during his presidency from the high margins that helped him beat Trump. Several former supporters explain why.
These young voters live in different cities, work different jobs and have varying political beliefs. But among the things they have in common: They voted for Joe Biden in 2020 — and now say the president can’t count on their support in 2024.
“I genuinely could not live with myself if I voted for someone who’s made the decisions that Biden has,” said McKenzie, a 23-year-old working at Starbucks and as a union organizer in Madison, Wisconsin. “I didn’t even feel great about" voting for Biden back in 2020, he said.
I really think people would be happier if we set reasonable expectations for elected officials. Biden says he's gonna eliminate student loans? Yeah, no. Maybe, if we're very lucky and the lobbyists are feeling lazy we'll get $20,000 for the most in debt. The rest of you are on your own. (I don't blame Biden, the illegitimate Supreme Court did it, but there's nothing we can do about that.)
Stopping war? Nah, the US has been at war most of its history. Neither side is gonna stop it. Too much money to be made. But at least if we vote for Biden he'll pretend to feel bad about it, which is nicer than being a dick.
We're not getting universal health care. We're not getting better education. If we elect Biden next year there will still be twelve million children who are food insecure. Capitalism will continue to exploit you, and make you miserable, and then make you feel bad for being miserable.
But at the very least the government will feel badly about all the things they're doing/can't do. And that's about the best I've learned to hope for.
This is the best summary I could come up with:
“I genuinely could not live with myself if I voted for someone who’s made the decisions that Biden has,” said McKenzie, a 23-year-old working at Starbucks and as a union organizer in Madison, Wisconsin.
“It’s so complicated, because it almost feels like if I were to give my vote for Biden, I will be showing the Democratic Party that what they are putting out is enough, which is the bare minimum in my opinion,” said Camarena, a 24-year-old living outside the Bay Area.
Voters cited a number of policy areas that disappointed them, including insufficient moves to address climate change and Biden’s inability to fully cancel student loan debt or codify Roe v. Wade, as the president deals with a closely divided Congress.
While Biden and Democrats pushed to codify the protections of Roe at the federal level, congressional realities made legislative efforts impossible.
Biden wasn’t Kapp’s first choice as a candidate in the last election, and this year he plans to vote third party if the contest is a Biden-Trump rematch.
“I think that there is a chance” of Biden winning back her support, she said, adding that she expects the president to call for a cease-fire in the Israel-Hamas war.
The original article contains 1,762 words, the summary contains 202 words. Saved 89%. I'm a bot and I'm open source!
FUD
Well, I hope they at least vote down ticket.
Yawn…. This again?
Has anyone tried lecturing them more? Kids loving hearing about how much inflation and war there was 50 years ago.
I'm majorly blaming these people when Trump wins.
NBCnews: Giddyap horsies! Yhah! Drive those clicks, horsies! Hyup!
Corporate News Refuses To Not Suck