By Sofie Gavin and Julia Goujiamanis
Boston University News Service
As this year’s polarized presidential election looms, a surge of young voters are rejecting the two-party system. Some are choosing not to cast their ballots altogether.
According to a March 2024 survey by the Institute of Politics (IOP) at the Harvard Kennedy School, only 53% of 18-29 year olds are “definitely” planning to vote in this election.
Henry Price, a first-year graduate student at MIT, said he hopes everyone around him will vote, especially since he is from swing-state Pennsylvania.
“I don’t know many people at MIT not voting, but I know some people from home aren’t,” Price said.
A new Harvard youth poll released by the IOP revealed that peer influence plays a major role in a young voter’s decision to cast a ballot. When young Americans believe their friends won’t vote, just 39% plan to vote themselves, whereas 79% of young Americans who believe their peers will vote are planning to vote themselves.
Some feel they can’t morally align themselves with one particular candidate, while others believe their vote simply doesn’t matter.
A pair of friends on MIT’s campus offered opposing views. While Senior Amy Mohamed said she voted for Vice President Kamala Harris, her friend, Kemi Chung, explained why she chose not to vote.
“I’m from Hawaii, so my vote doesn’t really matter,” Chung said. She said she never registered to vote in Massachusetts because she couldn’t figure out how.
Chung isn’t alone. For students living out of state, it takes more effort to cast a vote. According to a 2020 Tufts University study, in the 2016 presidential election, out-of-state students registered in their college state were more likely to vote than those registered in their home state.
Aside from refusing to vote altogether, a handful of students have chosen to cast a third-party vote. Claudia De la Cruz and Karina Garcia’s campaign under the party of socialism and libertarianism has captured many Gen Z students’ attention.
De La Cruz’s campaign has been very vocal about her support for Palestine, while both Harris and former President Donald Trump reiterate their support for Israel amid the Israel-Hamas War.
Voters who disagree with Trump and Harris’ stance are gravitating towards De La Cruz, including Prince Williams, a Harvard student and founder of the African American Resistance Organization (AFRO).
“I chose to vote socialist because my values aren’t aligned with either candidate,” Williams said.
AFRO was organized in September 2023 and follows the idea that “there is no Black liberation without Palestinian liberation.”
Many young voters who aren’t casting their vote this election are dissatisfied with their options. In Boston University Senior Andrea Jerez’s case, there’s no candidate she could choose.
Jerez said: “I would want to vote for a candidate with more conservative economic policies and more liberal human rights policies on things like abortion.”