When former President Donald Trump went down that infamous golden escalator in June 2015, politics shifted.
Then, University of Wisconsin-Madison freshmen were still in elementary school, and seniors were just cracking through middle school. Now, they’ll have the opportunity to vote in their first presidential election in Wisconsin, which may end up being the tightest race in the country and one that could decide who wins the Electoral College.
On Tuesday, many made their voices heard for the first time as early voting opened in Wisconsin. Over 40 million members of Gen Z will be eligible to vote in this election —- including eight million new voters since the 2022 midterms — and 57% are likely to vote in 2024, according to the Tufts Center for Information & Research on Civic Learning and Engagement.
Young voters could decide the 2024 election in a state known for its razor-thin margins, with nearly two-thirds of Wisconsinites aged 18-34 saying they plan to vote for Vice President Kamala Harrris in November.
The Daily Cardinal talked to UW-Madison students involved with campus party politics to hear their thoughts on the candidates, pressing issues and what’s at stake on Nov. 5.
How do you feel about Harris as a candidate?
College Republicans of UW-Madison Director of Communication and Digital Outreach and sophomore Courtney Graves is “not a big fan” of Harris. Graves said economic policy is the issue most important to her this election, and thinks Harris’ policy ideas are “very, very damaging.”
“I feel like a lot of her economic policies that she has don't actually solve the root of the problem. They're really just slapping a band-aid on the issue that already exists,” Graves said.
Harris’ “flip-flopping” is another big concern for Graves.
“If a candidate lies about their poor positions while they're running for office, and if they do actually get into office…how can we trust them to make the right decisions when we don't even truly know what they're thinking and what they believe in?” she said.
For Graves, who thinks abortion rights aren’t on the ballot, either candidate winning will lead to the status quo being upheld.
“I don't think Kamala actually wants to enshrine abortion rights,” Graves said. “She’s never going to push Congress to do it, partially because they won’t have the votes, but also because I do think of it like dangling it as an issue to try to get more voters for them.”
UW-Madison College Democrats Activities Chair and sophomore Maddie Lunt disagrees. Lunt told the Cardinal she thinks abortion is on the ballot this election.
“I am hopeful that under the Harris-Walz administration, there would be a return to Roe [v. Wade],” Lunt said. “Over 70% of Americans are in favor of legal abortion access, and I don't see any reason to reverse history and a very popular precedent just over some religious ideas.”
Lunt thinks Harris is a “very strong” candidate who can help bring the country together.
“She's a very unifying candidate in a very important time for our country, and I am very big on supporting the same policies that her campaign does,” Lunt said.
College Democrats Second Vice Chair and UW-Madison senior Joey Wendtland is on the same page.
Wendtland cited voting rights as a particularly strong issue for the Harris campaign, noting that he thinks voting should be accessible to all Americans who are eligible to vote.
“We need to make sure that people can exercise that fundamental right, that we're not jumping through burdensome hoops, and we need to make sure we're not suppressing the vote,” he said.
Harris has advocated for the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act, a bill that would require certain political subdivisions to receive preapproval from the U.S. Department of Justice or U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia before making legal changes that would affect voting rights — which Wendtland thinks will help “protect democracy,” another issue he is passionate about.
“We need a president that's going to protect our democracy, that's going to protect the most fundamental values of America,” Wendtland said. “Donald Trump is not that person.”
How do you feel about former President Trump as a candidate?
“I feel like [Trump] has done a really good job at resonating with Americans,” Graves said. “I think that especially his Vice President candidate JD Vance has done a really good job communicating this as well, especially during the vice presidential debate.”
But Graves is concerned about Trump’s pro-tariff trade policies, which a Peterson Institute for International Economics report predicted could be extremely costly for the U.S. if targeted countries retaliated — slashing more than a percentage point off the U.S. by 2026 and increasing inflation two percentage points higher than it otherwise would have been next year.
“While I do think that American jobs are incredibly important, and I do get the idea around that, overall, restricting free trade is just not a good idea,” Graves said. “In the long run, it results in Americans paying significantly higher prices for goods.”
And to Lunt, Trump’s refusal to acknowledge the 2020 election results was a greater point of concern.
“There is not much I'm excited for [about a second Trump presidency], and I am afraid of what a second Trump presidency would look like, not only our country, but for the world,” Lunt said. “He has proven to not be a trustworthy individual still painting fraud in the 2020 election.”
Lunt thinks Trump is focused on his own self-interest, adding that she does not have much faith in him as a candidate.
“He is not someone who's trying to inspire our country and do what’s best for our country,” Lunt said.
Wendtland noted Trump’s attempts to “undermine democracy” are not something he can just look past.
“We saw what happened on Jan. 6, 2021. We saw the violent insurrectionists storming the Capitol,” Wendtland said. “[Former Vice President] Mike Pence and [former House Speaker] Nancy Pelosi just tried to do their constitutional job, and Donald Trump didn't want that to happen because he can't admit that he lost a fair and free election.”
Wendtland and Lunt also criticized the Trump administration’s contributions towards repealing Roe v. Wade, attempts to “repeal and replace” the Affordable Care Act, their passing of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act and handling of the COVID-19 pandemic.
What’s at stake in this election?
Graves, who said she would support a run from former UN Ambassador Nikki Haley in 2028, thinks not much will change this election cycle outside of the economy.
“A lot of people, when they talk about this election, think that we're going to have some drastic change and that if Donald Trump gets elected everything's going to be completely different than if Kamala [wins]. I don't totally believe that,” Graves said. “I think that it's a lot of times blown out of proportion and used as a fear tactic, that if either candidate wins, our country will be unrecognizable or unsavable. I genuinely do not think that is true.”
But to Wendtland and Lunt, the consequences of losing are much more dire.
“Individual rights and freedoms and the sanctity of our democracy are at stake,” Lunt said. “The Trump campaign is using a lot of fear to fuel itself. There's a lot of hatred and distrust, and I don't think that's helping for this country.”
They both also believe abortion rights are on the line.
“The freedom to live on a habitable planet, the freedom and right to live in a democracy where we have the right to vote, the freedom to love who we love, the freedom to control your own body, your own health care — so much of that's at stake in this election, and I just think we all need to make sure we understand that,” Wendtland said.
The one thing students of both sides could agree on was their excitement to vote. With an election that may be the closest this century, their voices could be the difference.
Early voting opened in Wisconsin on Oct. 22. You can vote absentee in-person through Nov. 3 or submit an absentee ballot to a drop box before 5 p.m. on Nov. 4. Find your absentee polling location here. In-person voting begins at 7 a.m. on Nov. 5, and the polls will be open until 8 p.m. Find your polling place here.
Tomer Ronen is the Features Editor for the Daily Cardinal. He has covered protests, state politics, sports and more. Follow him on Twitter at @TRonen22.
