By Ishana Irungbam
For the North Star Reporter
Elections are an essential part of American politics. Every four years, millions of Americans vote for who they’d like to see as their president, with candidates from different parties being their choices.
The election this year was an extremely tense one, especially in the terms of the Popular Vote, which was close for both candidates. As more and more Gen-Z students are getting older and now having the opportunity to vote, things are shifting and the way politics is approached will change significantly.
In order to explore this trend further, the North Star Reporter decided to interview three students at North Attleborough High School in order to see the variety of perspectives reflected on the local level. These interviews were done with the goal of understanding what issues matter most to young voters, how they feel about the media’s role in the political process, and what they hope to see in the future for American politics.
What sort of policies are important to you when it comes to politics?
One student, who asked to remain anonymous, said, “When it comes to politics, I feel like it’s important that potential policies mostly benefit the working class and society. Also, policies that involve fairness regarding equal opportunities for people regardless of things like race or gender. I think that both parties had some good policies and some bad policies, but neither was perfect in terms of helping the people as a whole.”
Similarly, another student, Lauren, stated, “A lot of things are important to me. Like the economy. For example, the Inflation Reduction Act was passed under Biden-Harris, which is good for the environment. I feel like climate policies need to be passed, and economic ones.”
“I like when candidates put in effort to change housing policies,” said Jun, the third student. “It’s good when they make it more reasonable for low-income people. I would say that there were times when I agreed with one party more than I did with the other when it came to these policies, but relatively both had some policies that I would say I agree with, if I had to pick some out.”
How were things at home during the election?
For this topic, the anonymous student shared, “For my family, things were overall good. The election provided a topic to discuss during times like dinner, but my family did not ever get into arguments or anything of the sort over the candidates. It’s led us to valuable discussions about how you should always research a candidate and their policies.”
“I’m pretty grateful, because it was pretty good for me. My family is very Democratic, and my parents usually follow my lead on who to vote for since I’m the most politically involved, which is kind of crazy,” said Lauren.
In response to this question, Jun said, “It was interesting, since family members of mine are in opposite parties than me. It was interesting to hear them rooting for one candidate, while I was upstairs rooting for the other candidate.”
How do you feel now that the election is over?
“I can’t say I’m relieved,” said Jun. “I’m glad the tension is over, but the result is not ideal for me personally.”
Similarly, the anonymous student shared that, “As a woman, I do have some fear about the potential changes that America may face, and I’m worried for my friends who might be targeted for being in minority groups. However, I also believe that society will continue, and that women and others will not be silenced. I have hope, and I believe that as long as nobody allows themself to stop fighting for freedom and democracy, things will work out.”
Lauren said, “I definitely feel a little scared… I think there’s a lot of doomsday and fear mongering. It’s not good for the people on the left, but it’s a lot of misinformation, and people don’t realize how much power the president actually has. Again, I still don’t like this outcome, but there’s a lot of media misinformation.”
Did you feel like this election was more important than previous ones? And what about future elections?
“I think that this election is very important given the current social and political state of the world. In many places throughout the globe, governments and societies are under pressure and experiencing major change, so I believe that regardless of the outcome, this election would have major effects throughout the globe,” said the anonymous student.
On this topic, Jun stated, “I feel like every election is important, since it’s deciding our president for the next four years of this country. But I think we should also realize that whoever’s coming next isn’t always the reason for what is currently happening. Whoever came before is the reason for what’s currently happening.”
“I would say so,” Lauren said thoughtfully. “It was such a huge deal for a variety of things. For example, climate change, the economy is in ruins… It’s a big time for abortion rights, LGBTQ rights, gun laws… Everything. I would say it was very important and going forward, future elections will be very interesting to see.”
If you could vote/did vote during this election, which candidate would you have rooted for?
“I would’ve chosen Kamala,” Jun shared. “Not because I really resonated with a lot of her policies. But personally, it was more of the fact that the opposing side had worse things that I could not agree with or support. So, by elimination, Kamala would have had my support.”
“I cannot vote, but if I could, I’d probably vote for Kamala. Not because I agree with her views, but she’s the lesser of two evils, and I think that voting for her would have been important for democracy,” said Lauren, when considering the two choices.
Finally, the anonymous student stated, “I do believe that given the candidates and their beliefs, I would have likely voted for Harris. I believe that she has a stronger connection to the average American and their experience, and she believes in a democracy. But if I could have voted, I would have researched more.”
