COLUMBUS, Ohio — For many Gen Zers in Ohio, this coming November will be their first time voting in a presidential election. Kent State University students say they are ready to have their voices heard — specifically on social issues.
Pew Research Center defines Generation Z as people born from 1997 through 2012. The ‘Zoomers’ grew up in the age of the internet, but they also experienced the 2008 recession, rapid climate change and a rise in school violence.
Those events shaped the way Kent State University senior Zach Graves views politics.
"We grew up with school shootings as a daily, weekly, monthly occurrence in our generation across the country," Graves told me. "I'm looking for someone that is passionate about creating change on the issue."
He is one of the more than 1,125,000 Gen Z voters in Ohio, or roughly 15% of the total voters in the state, according to my data analysis.
KSU, like most college campuses, is a more liberal bubble inside Republican-leaning Portage County. Portage is known as a pivot county, voting for both Republicans and Democrats over the decades.
But each of the dozens of students we spoke to told us that it's social causes driving them to the polls.
"Abortion — I just think it should be a woman's choice," freshman Olivia Drago said.
Most of the students we talked to mentioned reproductive rights and gender equality as core issues they care about.
"As an LGBTQ member, I definitely am looking for somebody to support me and a lot of my friends," junior Zoe Griffith said.
Gen Z is the most progressive generation when it comes to social issues, according to Pew Research. But that doesn't mean they are only voting for Democrats.
The vast majority of Gen Z voters in Ohio are unaffiliated or not aligned with a party on their voter registration. This could be because the majority of registered Ohioans don't vote in primaries, which is when you typically affiliate with a side. Or, voters could be like freshman Viera Fink, who just registered to vote and said Gen Z may care more about specific issues than the party label.
"I'm more of an independent person, go by each individual thing," Fink said.
And like older generations, like Boomers — Zoomers also care about the economy. But Griffith said it is because of the unique hardships her generation has faced.
"Somebody to help college students because I know that for some some people, financial issues are the determining factor of going to college," Griffith added.
Other issues voters brought up were health care costs, environmental protections, making sure America stays a Democracy and helping those facing poverty.
"Someone to helping support lower-income communities," sophomore Isaac Britton said. "I just wanna make sure that everyone in America has an equal fighting chance."
After the voters told us the specific issues they cared about, we asked for anything else they could think of. Not a single person mentioned immigration or fears surrounding immigration. This is where Gen Z seems to differ from their older counterparts, as Pew Research found that more than 60% of total voters say immigration policy is important to their vote.
Another big concern for older Americans is violent crime, according to Pew Research. When we asked several students about violent crime, they explained that crime can be fixed by addressing other societal issues and promoting gun safety regulations.
Getting the vote
How can campaigns target this demographic?
For Vice President Kamala Harris — it's social media and sharing her aligning ideologies.
KamalaHQ, the VP's campaign TikTok account, is clearly meant to attract younger Americans. It has 4.8 million followers, 189.8 million likes in total, and hundreds of millions of views. Some Gen Zers told us that the campaign capitalizing on memes helped them learn about Harris' beliefs.
She recently went on the female-targeted podcast "Call Her Daddy," which has resulted in around 625,000 views on YouTube. It is unclear how many listens it has on other streaming platforms.
But the memeing could be working.
A poll done by the Harvard Kennedy School's Institute of Politics found that 64% of young voters say they are supporting Harris, while 32% are voting for former president Donald Trump.
Along gender lines, young women are more likely to identify as progressive, according to Gallup polling. Harvard found the same link — with likely female voters going 70% for Harris and 23% for Trump.
Male Gen Z voters still followed the liberal trend, but not as strongly. Likely male voters were 53% Harris and 36% Trump.
But Trump is still fighting for the youth vote.
He is going on internet celebrity podcasts and video gaming channels that strongly cater to young men.
The former president recently joined comedian Theo Von on his podcast and YouTube channel, with the video getting 13 million views. It is unclear how many listens it has on other streaming platforms.
Trump's official TikTok account, one that isn't meme-based, has 11.8 million followers, 65.7 million likes and hundreds of millions of views. However, it isn't catered towards Gen Z.
Can Gen Z swing the election?
Gen Z is a growing voting bloc, but there are a lot of unknowns since this is the first presidential election for a vast amount of the generation. It all comes down to turnout.
Half a million people have already cast their ballot in Ohio since early voting opened on Oct. 8. New state data shows a majority of ballot returns are coming from voters who are 65+, with the lowest amount being from voters 18-to-24.
All the students we spoke to can agree on one thing, though. Young people have the power to change the country if they actually show up to vote.
"I think that Gen Z is a really engaged group of people," Graves said. "We're just looking to make our voices heard as much as we can."
Follow WEWS statehouse reporter Morgan Trau on Twitter and Facebook.
