As North Carolina prepares for the presidential primary - young voters weigh in on the candidates

Record ID: 1770278

  • Title: As North Carolina prepares for the presidential primary - young voters weigh in on the candidates
  • Date: 5th March 2024
  • Summary: RALEIGH, NORTH CAROLINA, UNITED STATES (MARCH 4, 2024) (REUTERS) (SOUNDBITE) (English) UNC YOUNG DEMOCRATS PRESIDENT, SLOAN DUVALL, SAYING: “You know, we're issue voters, young people. And I think as much as, you know, Joe Biden doesn't look like us he really thinks like us. And I think all the issues that are really important to young people, gun safety, our environment, women's rights, voting rights, you know, having good paying jobs available for us when we graduate from school. These are all issues that, you know, Joe Biden and Vice President Harris are offering us. They're talking to us. And, you know, I think it's also really apparent that they are putting young voters at the forefront of their campaign.” VARIOUS OF MURAL READING“WELCOME TO HILLSBOROUGH STREET HOME TO NC STATE UNIVERSITY” / PANS TO STREET (SOUNDBITE) (English) YOUSIF SIRRIYAH, 22, NC STATE STUDENT, SAYING: “I don't think either candidate represents me or my interests or our people's interest. You know, I think Joe Biden isn’t for office. I don't like the he's supporting a genocide right now. So and then Trump also, he has his own problems, but not the same problems as Biden.” VARIOUS OF HILLSBOROUGH STREET ACROSS FROM NC STATE CAMPUS (SOUNDBITE) (English) LUCIA SANTILLAN, 20, NC STATE STUDENT, SAYING: “Well I don't agree with really anything Trump does, but I feel like, especially during the Biden administration these past four years, a lot of things haven't gotten done that he said he would or like I haven't seen a lot of work there, like with the overturning of Roe v Wade and with like the Israel-Palestine conflict right now, I'm not super satisfied with where that is.” VARIOUS OF HILLSBOROUGH STREET ACROSS FROM NC STATE CAMPUS (SOUNDBITE) (English) ANDERSON BREWER, 24, NC STATE STUDENT, SAYING: “There's definitely some things like especially in the Executive Branch right now that I think where, um, we need someone that's actually, does it seem like they have mental, um, they need to be mentally sound to, you know, to be in charge.” VARIOUS OF HILLSBOROUGH STREET ACROSS FROM NC STATE CAMPUS (SOUNDBITE) (English) YELENA (WITHHELD LAST NAME), 18, NC STATE STUDENT, SAYING: “I think we should have a younger candidate definitely like I think one of my main things is I think there should be an age limit on the candidates.” UNC YOUNG DEMOCRATS PRESIDENT SLOAN DUVALL WALKING IN FRONT OF NORTH CAROLINA STATE CAPITOL (SOUNDBITE) (English) UNC YOUNG DEMOCRATS PRESIDENT, SLOAN DUVALL, SAYING: “I mean, I think we need to give credit where credit's due and especially my generation, we need to give Joe Biden credit for all he's done for young people. He has made the largest investment in climate. He put the first African American woman on our Supreme Court. He gave us our first woman Vice President. He passed the first piece of bipartisan gun safety legislation in over a decade. You know, he's canceled student loan debt. These are all issues that matter so much to my generation. And I think we need to look at his record. We need to see through this ageism campaign that the right is just really successfully going forward with. And we need to look at his record and really give him credit for the achievements he's made for young people.” VARIOUS OF HILLSBOROUGH STREET ACROSS FROM NC STATE CAMPUS (SOUNDBITE) (English) CARLOS BANEGAS, 20, NC STATE STUDENT, SAYING: “In my personal opinion, I feel like America takes its stand like we have to go and police the world. But I don't think it should be like that when we have a lot of problems here that we have to deal with ourselves. I think we should focus more on that than trying to police everything else and such.” VARIOUS OF HILLSBOROUGH STREET ACROSS FROM NC STATE CAMPUS (SOUNDBITE) (English) YOUSIF SIRRIYAH, 22, NC STATE STUDENT, SAYING: “I'm not a one issue voter per se, but I think I have certain red lines and I think, um, starving, aiding the starvation of children is the red line for me personally. And so I would say to try to maybe not do that so much and if if there are significant changes in Gaza, then maybe I could think about it. But we already have 30,000 dead people and 13,000 dead children and, you know, all with the aid of Joe Biden. So for me, it's the red lines that that I just can't get myself behind.” VARIOUS OF HILLSBOROUGH STREET ACROSS FROM NC STATE CAMPUS (SOUNDBITE) (English) LUCIA SANTILLAN, 20, NC STATE STUDENT, SAYING: “It's not something that I was super interested in until, you know, the whole October 7th thing happened. And it's become a really big point of contention. But yeah, I'm not pleased about how our military spending is like entangled with that. I'm not pleased that, like, we're spending our money to go to a war that we shouldn't be that shouldn't be happening in the first place.” UNC YOUNG DEMOCRATS PRESIDENT SLOAN DUVALL IN FRONT OF NORTH CAROLINA STATE CAPITOL (SOUNDBITE) (English) UNC YOUNG DEMOCRATS PRESIDENT, SLOAN DUVALL, SAYING: “There's so many battles to be fought on our home front. And, you know, these people who are saying, oh, I'm not going to vote for Joe Biden because of this one issue (Gaza). I think we really need to look at the larger picture. And, you know, not voting is voting for Trump. And you've got to, you know, realize that, you know, he might not be the perfect candidate for you on everything, but he's the perfect candidate for this moment because he has and he will again defeat Donald Trump.” VARIOUS OF NORTH CAROLINA STATE CAPITOL
  • Embargoed: 19th March 2024 00:23
  • Keywords: North Carolina Primary election president voters voting
  • Location: RALEIGH, NORTH CAROLINA, UNITED STATES / UNKNOWN LOCATIONS
  • City: RALEIGH, NORTH CAROLINA, UNITED STATES / UNKNOWN LOCATIONS
  • Country: USA
  • Topics: North America,Government/Politics,Elections/Voting
  • Reuters ID: LVA003538104032024RP1
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text:A day before the North Carolina primary, young voters feel mixed about their options for the U.S. presidential elections in 2024. At North Carolina State University in Raleigh, students say candidates' age and wars abroad are the main issues weighing on them.
    “I think where we need someone that's actually, does it seem like they have mental, um, they need to be mentally sound to, you know, to be in charge,” North Carolina State University student Anderson Brewer, 24, said on Monday (March 4).
    Sloan Duvall, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Young Democrats president, said that we should give President Biden more credit for what he has done these past four years.
    "He has made the largest investment in climate. He put the first African American woman on our Supreme Court. He gave us our first woman Vice President. He passed the first piece of bipartisan gun safety legislation in over a decade. You know, he's canceled student loan debt. These are all issues that matter so much to my generation," Duvall said. "We need to see through this ageism campaign that the right is just really successfully going forward with. And we need to look at his record and really give him credit for the achievements he's made for young people.”
    In the 2024 presidential election, 40.8 million people between the ages of 18-27 will be eligible to vote, according to the Center of Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement, making the United States' youngest voting demographic one of its most important to court. According to some of the young voters we spoke with, President Biden's handling of Gaza may have shifted their views of whether they would show up to vote for him.
    “It's not something that I was super interested in until, you know, the whole October 7th thing happened. And it's become a really big point of contention. But yeah, I'm not pleased about how our military spending is like entangled with that. I'm not pleased that, like, we're spending our money to go to a war that we shouldn't be that shouldn't be happening in the first place,” NC State University student Lucia Santillan, 20, said.
    North Carolina's March 5 primary is part of a Super Tuesday slate of 16 nominating contests that will bring Trump close to clinching the Republican nomination. It also is the only race that day that will be held in a battleground state that could decide the next occupant of the White House.
    (Production: Soren Larson, Madeleine Stix)
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