Just two weeks before Election Day, Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump are racing to secure votes in key battleground states where polls show a neck-and-neck race – and part of this strategy is aimed at attracting young voters. some of whom may have changed their voter registration to vote in their college towns located in crucial swing states.
University students are generally allowed to register to vote “either [their] hometown or where [they] attend college,” based on state residency requirements, according to vote.gov.
Thus, some students have chosen to register at the address that gives the most impact to their vote, particularly when one of their residences is located in a swing state.
And these votes could potentially make a difference. A recent ABC News/Ipsos poll finds the candidates tied in all seven battleground states, with 49% for Harris and 49% for Trump.
Given these incredibly tight margins in key battlegrounds, both candidates are fighting to get every vote where they can.
Penn State students line up inside the student union, called The Hub, while waiting to vote in the presidential election in State College, Pennsylvania, November 8, 2016.
Jeff Swensen/Getty Images
“We’ve seen dozens of elections over the past few years that have been decided by one vote,” said Clarissa Unger, co-founder and executive director of the Students Learn Students Vote Coalition. a national, nonpartisan network dedicated to increasing student voter participation.
“Every student’s vote can have consequences,” Unger told ABC News.
How do students exercise this right?
Speaking on behalf of ALL IN Campus Democracy Challenge, a nonpartisan initiative that promotes university civic engagement, its executive director, Jen Domagal-Goldman, explained the motivations behind students’ voting decisions.
“We know there are a few key factors that students will likely consider when determining where they want to register to vote or whether they want to update their voter registration,” Domagal-Goldman said at ABC News.
She asked “what’s on the ballot” and “where [students] think their vote could matter most to the presidency” are important motivators for students.
She added that students are also influenced by local elections and many choose to vote in the state they identify with most.
Julia Levine, a 21-year-old University of Pennsylvania student, told ABC News that she changed her voter registration from her home state of New York to her college state of Pennsylvania. one of the crucial battleground states in the presidential race.
“For the next general election, my decision to change my registration to [Pennsylvania] was based on impact and also ease,” she said. “Elections in my hometown tend to go one way or the other without much change, so I thought my vote would count more in a swing state.”
The race is expected to be close in Pennsylvania: Trump won by more than 44,000 votes in 2016 before President Joe Biden took him back by more than 80,000 votes in 2020. Trump leads Harris by 0.4 points in Pennsylvania, poll shows of 538 people. average in the state.
Levine also works with Penn Leads the Vote (PLTV), a nonpartisan, student-led organization that seeks to increase voter engagement on campus. She told ABC News that many of her peers had the same idea of intentionally voting in a swing state.
According to PLTV, about 75 percent of the school’s enrollment is registered to vote, or a total of about 17,000 to 18,000 students. Among students who initially enrolled out of state, Levine estimates that more than half changed their enrollment to their home state university of Pennsylvania. The organization was unable to provide details on the number of students who changed their enrollment to Pennsylvania.
Former President Donald Trump speaks to supporters during a campaign event at Saginaw Valley State University in Saginaw, Michigan, October 3, 2024.
Scott Olson/Getty Images
Alyssa Lopez, a graduate of Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia, told ABC News she was voting for the first time and was motivated because she was voting in a battleground state.
A New Jersey native, Lopez said there was “no doubt” she would register to vote in her college state of Georgia rather than her hometown because she wanted her vote to have a “real impact”.
After seeing abortion laws become stricter in the state of Georgia over the past few years she lived there, Lopez realized how much was at stake in this election and she “wanted to make a difference.”
The race in Georgia was expected to be close again after Trump won the state in 2016, but Biden turned the tables in 2020, turning the state red to blue by about 12,000 votes out of more than 5 million votes cast.
Trump currently leads Harris by 1.6 points in Georgia, according to the average of 538 polls in the state.
Kyle Nitschke, co-executive director of the nonpartisan student-led organization the Arizona Students’ Association, which represents Arizona State University, Northern Arizona University and the University of Arizona, said the The association had helped more than 3,000 young adults to register on the electoral lists. the swing state of Arizona this election cycle.
About half of those enrollments came from students not from battleground Arizona, he added.
“Many students have come to us over the past few months, excited to enroll in Arizona, where they will live for the next few years, be present in major elections and where they will have more impact,” Nitschke told ABC News. . “Students know the impact they will have on the choice of the next president of the United States and the future senator of Arizona.”
According to the average of 538 polls, Trump leads by 1.9 points in the state of Arizona.
History of campus voting
A 1979 Supreme Court case, Symm v. United States, asserted that students have a constitutional right to register and vote where they attend college.
The Higher Education Opportunity Act of 2008 also requires universities to make voter registration information and access readily available to students on campus.
Unger and Domagal-Goldman pointed out that adults with multiple homes in different states also face a similar decision when deciding where to vote. They must choose a location to declare as their primary residence where they will vote — and if one of those homes is located in a swing state, they may prefer to vote from there.
Domagal-Goldman acknowledged that “there may be strategy at play for certain students or certain voters in particular,” but she said it’s important to remember that these are “full-fledged adults who have the right to vote and who can choose within a specific framework.” set of legal guidelines.
“[College students] bringing vibrancy, innovation and economic opportunity to their campuses and surrounding communities and institutions,” Unger said. “Students also experience consequences from the public officials and government offices that oversee their schools and the communities in which they reside, and therefore they have the right to have a say in who governs the communities where they pass…the majority of their year while they attend school. »
Continuing to raise awareness among young people
When it comes to young voters across the country, the Harvard Kennedy School Institute of Politics recently found that Harris was significantly ahead of Trump.
Harris’ support among this demographic has strengthened since President Joe Biden withdrew from the presidential race in July.
Vice President Kamala Harris reacts as she greets people during a campaign event at Ripon College in Ripon, Wisconsin, October 3, 2024.
Evelyn Hockstein/Reuters
In the 48 hours since Biden announced his withdrawal from the race, Andrea Hailey, CEO of Vote.org, cited a 700% increase in voter registrations, particularly among voters aged 18 to 34 in battlefield states.
“Some of the states that were affected were Pennsylvania, Ohio, Michigan and Wisconsin. So that’s going to make this whole thing very, very interesting,” Hailey told NewsNation last month.
Harris recently applauded young voters for their efforts.
“Your generation is killing it, I mean, honestly,” Harris said during a youth mobilization call last month. “You are one of the reasons why I am so optimistic and excited about the future of our country, of your generation.”
His campaign launched a “Back to School” initiative over the summer, targeting 150 college campuses, with an emphasis on those in battleground states, in addition to a week of action for the youth vote following National Registration Day last month. They continue to target students on battleground campuses with digital ads, newsletters and flyers as well as text messages encouraging voter registration, the campaign told ABC News.
Aware of the power that celebrities hold over America’s youth, Harris appeared alongside singer Lizzo in Michigan on Saturday, in addition to campaigning with singer Usher in Georgia later in the evening.
For his part, Trump has used the support of celebrities such as TV personality Amber Rose and Barstool Sports founder Dave Portnoy to connect with younger audiences.
He also turned to podcasters to reach a diverse group of younger listeners as well.
Appearing on an episode of the Barstool podcast’s “Bussin’ with the Boys” released last week, Trump worked to reach younger audiences by touting the number of views he generates on the shows and using sports analogies. Trump also attended the Steelers-Jets football game on Sunday.
The candidates have both been very active on social media, adopting memes and engaging in online trends.
