The US elections for the President and Vice President of 2024 are currently going on and will be announced on Tuesday, November 5. The politicians running are Former President Donald Trump with his chosen Vice President JD Vance. Current Vice President Kamala Harris is also running with her chosen Vice President Tim Waltz.
On September 10, Trump and Harris had their first and possibly last debate. Ian Schaffer, a junior at North High School, believes the “…Youth voice is what is actually making sense at the moment and youth minds are able to change a lot. The youth being able to use their voice is the most important thing.”
Schaffer has given his perspective on the debate and on the elections.
The debate: “In my opinion, it was very insane, to say the least. There were a lot of good points from both sides sometimes, but there was one side, being Trump, that said some stuff that is very controversial, and Kamala also said some stuff that was also very controversial to both sides. And both sides didn’t perform how they were viewing themselves to perform. It was just a mess,” Schaffer said.
Schaffer was able to note some major differences between the two candidates.
“One is focusing on trying to just get back at their opponent’s because that was the whole point of Trump’s debate and what he said was just to try and get back to those who oppose him. And Kamala’s point was sort of not directly attacking his character and his policies but more like reinforcing herself.”
Some topics he was able to notice during the debate was “overly stereotyping from both sides,” involving gender, race, and class. He also noticed “A lot of stereotyping from minority groups and majority groups.”
Schaffer was able to explain why debates are now more controversial than past Presidential debates. “If you look at it, the scale of debate has changed ever since 2016 and there’s been a lack of respect for each candidate. Which if you look at 2012 and 2008, with Mitt Romney and John McCain debating Obama, there is a lot of respect and a lot of kindness being shown and empathy from each side. But ever since 2016, it’s just been bickering and absolutely no respect for one another,” he said.
Schaffer also asks that we look at this election from a local view. “A lot of people look at it from a national view… I think it’s really important to look at it locally as well. Seeing which candidate will influence your local politics in the best way you want it to. As we saw from the Supreme Court where they allowed homeless people to be discriminated against by the city councils, we just saw these past couple of weeks where I advocated and tried to push back against the Des Moines city council discriminating against homeless people, which the federal government allowed to happen. So, I think it’s real important that we look at it from, not only a national level but onto the state level and local level.”
Similarity, Ms. Sara Stieler, AP Government teacher at North, further emphasizes the importance of local elections stating, “a lot of the
things that influence us happen through local leaders… we actually have a stronger impact on that because there are fewer of us voting for each local leader.” Furthermore, Stieler states that although most students are under eighteen, it is still important to pay attention to the election because whoever gets elected may have a direct impact on students, whether that is through college, military, or another future career choice.
If you are at the age of eighteen, you are allowed to vote and we all encourage you to vote, because your vote does matter. To register to vote, the link can be found by a quick “How do I Vote?” search online. Make sure to cast your vote on Tuesday, November 5th at your local polling place.
