As the presidential election nears, the country’s political landscape has seen a dramatic change in recent months and The Connection asked multiple students on campus what their views of each candidate were with responses varying.
Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump are the two final front-runners for the Democratic and Republican parties, preparing for their first debate on Tuesday. Students spoke about policies that matter to them and their personal experiences leading them to vote one way or another.
Nineteen-year-old finance major Madison Coleman said her family is “super far right,” but she herself does not hold a personal political affiliation with her main sources of news being Tik Tok and Instagram. This will be her first time voting in a presidential election. She is voting for Harris because she believes Harris’ policies are better.
“I honestly don’t know a whole lot, I’m not super educated on it, but I liked all her stuff about housing and also her campaign seems more serious because I’ve seen videos of Trump’s campaign and he made trading cards or whatever,” Coleman said. “So, I think that seems dumb for someone who wants to be president to make trading cards of themselves.”
Ira Arbitrium, a 23-year-old engineering major, said he is trying to keep up with information on the election as close as possible.
Arbitrium said he will be voting in this election, but he feels both sides, democratic and republican, are too “us versus them.” He said honesty is the most important quality in a presidential candidate and the contingent policy swaying his vote is the retention of basic freedoms and rights.
“I am LGBTQ and I don’t think I will be voting for Trump, simply because I am queer and I believe in a lot of things he has made clear he is not for,” Arbitrium said.
He said he lives in a house with Fox News playing in the background and has also previously lived at a home with “The View” on in the background, picking the truth out of each side.
“I think Fox News is more of an entertainment thing than a news thing,” Arbitrium said. “I don’t know any other news channel that has a dedicated comedy bit segment, so I mean regardless of what side your views are on, I think it’s just good to take anything that says ‘our side is right and their side is wrong,’ should be taken with a grain of salt.”
Sulailman Chaabane, a 19-year-old English and early childhood education major, said President Joe Biden was already set to lose the election due to his mental decline, pointing to an incident where Biden mistakenly called Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy “President Putin,” referring to Russian President Vladimir Putin.
“Many of (Biden’s) voters were already kind of backing out just to show, to protest against his decisions funding Israel,” Chaabane said. “Especially with the assassination attempt on Trump, I feel like that kind of raised, kind of boosted him a lot.”
Thirty-one-year-old journalism and psychology major Ashley Austin said she is adamant about pro-choice policy and believes it will be important to young girls who are being abused.
“Since Kamala is Black, it kind of influences me,” Austin said. “Not just as a person of color, but as a woman as well. When I see videos of her talking about her hair and things like that, I think we’ve come a long way.”
According to The Guardian, Harris and Trump are tied among national polls heading into Tuesday’s debate with each candidate having led in polling at some point during their campaigns.
Both candidates will meet each other in person for the first time at the debate, which can be viewed live on most major cable networks and streaming platforms, such as, CNN, Fox News, MSNBC, CBS, Disney +, Hulu, YouTube and the host network, ABC at 6 p.m. PST, according to Axios.
According to the California Secretary of State’s Report of Registration, over 78% of voters in Sacramento County are registered to vote. To register as a California voter, click here.
According to the Sacramento County website, mail-in ballots have been sent to registered voters and in-person voting at the Voter Registration and Election Offices will begin Oct. 7. Cosumnes River College will be a ballot drop location open Monday through Friday 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. in the College Center, including election day. A list of ballot drop locations can be found here and vote center locations can be found here.