Here are the thoughts of young voters across Western Pennsylvania to find out who they intend to vote for and which issues are most important to them as they prepare to cast their ballot. (AP)
Story by MEGAN SWIFT
Photos by MASSOUD HOSSAINI
Tribune-Review
Sept. 22, 2024
The economy. A woman’s right to choose. A divided America.
These are issues weighing on the minds of young voters as they ready themselves for the November presidential election between Democratic nominee Kamala Harris and Republican nominee Donald Trump.
More than half of young voters between 18 and 29 plan to vote in the election, according to the Institute of Politics at Harvard Kennedy School.
In 2020, 51% of voters ages 18 to 24 and 60% of voters ages 25 to 34 voted in the presidential election, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation, a nonprofit health policy research, polling and news organization.
TribLive interviewed young voters across Western Pennsylvania to learn which issues are most important to them.
Here’s what they told us:
As soon as Cory Roma turned 18, he registered to vote.
“It was quite literally one of the first things I wanted to do when I turned 18,” said Roma, 24, a Democrat. “I’ve only missed one election in that entire time.”
When President Joe Biden dropped out of the race, Roma said he was “very relieved.” As a pro-ceasefire and pro-Palestine activist, he said he was upset with Biden’s reluctance to pressure the Israeli government.
“(Harris) was the first member of the administration to openly call for a ceasefire,” Roma said. “I feel like she is a better person to handle the issue than Biden.”
For Roma, Harris is representative of his ideals.
“At a time when we’re seeing the threat of a second Trump term, I’m more than happy to vote for not only the first woman president but someone who I consider who could be a potentially transformative and progressive figure,” he said.
As co-chair of the political advocacy committee for the Young Democrats of Allegheny County, Roma said his top issues include climate change, reproductive rights, queer rights and health care.
Roma said he lives with his husband, and knows many trans and nonbinary people who are “facing the brunt of the attack of the queer community.”
“Our ability to stay married, our ability to visit each other in the hospital if one of us is sick — it’s very integral to our continued happiness and, quite frankly, safety,” he said.
Harris’ tenure in the Senate was “brief but notable,” Roma said. That’s when he first started to follow her.
When following the news, he said he turns to the Associated Press first because he believes it’s the most “independent-minded and factually accurate news organization,” along with The New York Times, NPR and Politico.
Trump’s handling of the Jan. 6, 2021, attack at the U.S. Capitol, his criticism of election integrity, Muslim travel ban and appointment of three conservative Supreme Court justices are some of the reasons Roma said he dislikes the former president.
“He’s not a man who believes in democracy unless he wins it,” he said. “To sit there on my couch with my now husband and family and friends and watch hundreds of people attack the building that is the epitome of American democracy — I will never be able to forget or forgive anyone involved.”
Especially in the battleground state of Pennsylvania, Roma said he believes young voters are a critically important demographic.
“Youth vote will deliver an election victory,” he said. “I feel like the youth vote is the most important group of voters to talk to.”
Roma said he hopes the country can move past extreme partisanship by trying to “work better together” on the policies both sides agree on.
“I want to make politics boring again,” he said.
The economy is Mike Chiarlone’s primary concern heading into the presidential election.
“It doesn’t help when you’re spending all of your money at the grocery store,” he said.
As chair of the Allegheny County Young Republicans, Chiarlone, 24, of Pittsburgh’s South Side, said he will once again vote for Trump.
“The Biden-Harris administration kind of rolled back all of the policies,” he said, which led to somewhat of a decline in the country, especially in terms of the economy and immigration.
Chiarlone works as a financial analyst for Wesco and is a registered Republican. Trump enacted policies during his presidential term that “pushed the country forward,” Chiarlone said.
He cited the current state of inflation as a barrier to his ideal future.
Chiarlone said he supports Trump because Trump is trying to “trim out the bureaucracy” and regulation in various areas of the public sector.
“The bureaucracy in this country is kind of bloated,” he said.
On the other side, Chiarlone said, he can’t really pinpoint what Harris has done as vice president.
In the Allegheny County Young Republicans group, Chiarlone said, he and others work to engage with local voters and campaigns, helping with door-knocking, community events and outreach, and encouraging people to vote.
“I try to vote any time I can,” he said. “I’ve been voting by mail, helping out at polling places.”
Chiarlone, who attended the University of Pittsburgh for his undergraduate degree and was a member of the College Republicans group, described the Jan. 6 riot on the Capitol as “a tough day.”
“It’s crazy that we’re still talking about it almost four years later,” he said. “It’s another aspect of how polarized we are as a society.”
When consuming the news, Chiarlone said he mainly sticks to the news aggregation site Freespoke, which allows users to filter articles from different stations into the categories “right,” “center” and “left,” as well as the social media platform X.
“I try not to live by reading the news. That’s how I used to be,” he said. “I’ve tried to wean myself off of paying attention to the news 24/7 because I’ve found it to not be healthy.”
It’s important that young voters show up Nov. 5, Chiarlone said, as they make up a “big voter bloc.”
“There’s been a lot of headlines about older people being the elected officials in our country, and the only way to fix that is to get young people out to the polls to get their ideas out,” he said.
Chiarlone hopes political polarization can be put aside in the future.
“I think there’s a lot of things that people agree on most of the time,” he said. “If we kind of focus on whatever percentage we disagree, we can get to a point where, as a society, we can learn to compromise on things better. I think that creates a better society as a whole for everyone.”
The biggest issue on the ballot for Darcy Bowman is abortion rights — alongside health care and gay rights.
“I’d rather pay more for gas and still have basic freedoms,” she said. “I’d rather abortion be allowed and pay 30 cents more in gas.”
A registered Democrat, Bowman, 24, of Bell Township, Westmoreland County, is studying at Pitt to become a physician assistant. Her dad is a township supervisor.
In 2020, Bowman voted for Biden. She plans to vote for Harris this fall.
“I think she’s just better equipped for the job,” she said. “I just really didn’t like how Trump handled himself the last time. I think we should just have a decent human being being president.”
Bowman said she supported the Biden-Harris administration’s student loan approach, adding that she has received extensions for repaying hers.
Trump caused the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol, she said. “There’s no other way to dance around that,” Bowman said.
During the covid-19 pandemic, she said, Trump “blew everything out of proportion” with misinformation. She also disagrees with Trump’s stance on the border, saying not as much border control is needed.
“Just being a decent human being shouldn’t — we shouldn’t have to think it’s a prerequisite to be in a respectful position,” Bowman said. “You should just be a nice person. You shouldn’t be calling people names. … He just keeps on talking and doesn’t know when to stop.”
When she watches the news, she favors ABC’s “World News Tonight with David Muir,” alongside her family. Otherwise, she said when she sees news of interest on X, she will then go to the internet to look up the topic and read more.
“I don’t follow the news as much as I should,” Bowman said.
Young voters are important, Bowman said, because they are part of the next generation. She said she’s noticed young voters tend to be more liberal.
“I feel like a lot of things have like turned with us with rights, knowledge,” she said. “I find it harder to find more conservative people in our generation. … There’s definitely a tide that is changing.”
About two-thirds of voters ages 18 to 24 associate with the Democratic Party, according to Pew Research Center.
Bowman emphasized the importance of voting.
“I kind of go with the philosophy if you don’t vote, you can’t say anything about what happens,” she said.
November will be Avery Heller’s first opportunity to vote in a presidential election. He plans to vote for Trump.
Heller, 20, of Murrysville, works for the Postal Service as a mail handler assistant, and though he said he’s not the biggest fan of Trump’s character, Heller likes Trump’s world view and policies.
“I haven’t always been the biggest fan of him, but recently I’ve come to like him more,” he said.
As a registered Republican, Heller said he’s politically active, having voted previously since turning 18.
Harris hasn’t done a good job as vice president, he said. He believes issues at the border have gotten worse.
The economy is the issue most important to Heller, along with securing the border, veteran health care and no taxes on tips.
“There’s been quite a bit of inflation under the Biden and Harris administration,” Heller said. “Trump … he’ll do a good job of keeping it down.”
Heller said he’s fortunate to still be living with his parents, but he intends to become more independent.
“I’m hoping to be able to get my own home, whether that be an apartment or house, in the next four years,” he said. “The state of the economy right now is really bad, especially since the cost of living is higher than average income.”
Trump has taken too much blame for the Jan. 6 Capitol attack, Heller said. The day wasn’t “entirely” Trump’s fault, he said.
“I think most of the people who were involved in the march were peaceful,” he said. “I think that President Trump really didn’t do much wrong on Jan. 6.”
Though he doesn’t follow “mainstream news,” Heller said he mostly gets his neutral news from The Hill and opinionated news from independent sources on X — because he’s trying to look for unbiased viewpoints.
“I think most people who listen to mainstream media are older,” he said. “Whether it be X or Instagram, that’s where most young people get their political news from.”
Many voters are more moderate than what the media portray, Heller said. Many of his friends align with Republican values, but he knows many college students are more liberal.
“These are the people that are going to be buying the most houses, cars, starting families, having kids,” Heller said of young voters. “With them being first-time voters, it can shake up the elections a lot.”
To Patrick Francis, Harris has been successful in appealing to young voters.
“I find her energy and enthusiasm very refreshing in sort of this dull era in which it seemed like our election choices were going to be two … old men again,” he said. “She’s also, I think, the most progressive Democratic nominee to ever be put forward.”
As a first-year law student at Pitt and registered Democrat, Francis, 21, of Shadyside, said he will vote for Harris this fall.
“I think that she has a better plan for the economy,” he said. “I’m satisfied with what the Biden administration has done the past four years.”
The biggest political issues for Francis deal with the Supreme Court in relation to Roe v. Wade and democracy in general, as well as economic policy, defending the rights of labor and getting access to health care for more American citizens.
“The attempt to overturn the election in 2020 by Donald Trump was unforgivable,” he said. “Jan. 6 was probably one of the darkest days in the history of the United States. Not only was our country under attack, it was coming under attack from the inside.”
Francis said he believes more Republicans should have spoken out against the Capitol attack.
He acknowledged that prices remain high, but Francis said he doesn’t believe the Republican Party has a solution to inflation.
“There’s really ups and downs about the current economic situation,” he said.
Francis said as a young voter, he follows the news, using sites like the New York Times with a subscription through Pitt. However, he doesn’t have cable TV — which can be a barrier to news access for young voters.
“(X), I’ll admit embarrassingly, is a good source,” he said. “You could probably count the number of people who say they watch cable news on one hand. Newspapers you’re probably going to get the same.”
Voter turnout will decide Pennsylvania, Francis said.
“If young people don’t turn out,” he said, “that will hurt particularly the Democratic Party’s chances.”
Megan Swift is a Tribune-Review staff writer. You can contact Megan at mswift@triblive.com or via Twitter @mgswift7
Massoud Hossaini is a Tribune-Review photographer. You can contact Massoud via email at mhossaini@triblive.com