By Wyatt Garlow/Staff Writer
With six months and a day to the presidential election, many students here at Indian Trail High School & Academy are thinking about voting for the first time.
Even though historically young voters have had low turnout in past elections, millennials and Generation Z together will make up about 37 percent of the eligible electorate by fall 2020. And
The New York Times reported that by Nov. 3, about 7 million young people of color will be eligible to vote.
Generation Z, which has been politically conscious for a good chunk of their formative years with walkouts over issues such as school shootings and climate change coming to the forefront, could play a big part in this year’s elections.
So, what issues are Kenosha teenagers concerned about in this upcoming election?
In a recent Pulse poll taken at Indian Trail, 225 students responded with their top five concerns that they want candidates to address in the 2020 election. Coming in with almost 54 percent, climate change was the top concern. Teen Vogue also did a survey similar to the poll taken at Indian Trail, and out of the more than 2,000 teens who took that survey, 73 percent said that the future is at risk because of climate change. This correlates to a bigger movement rife with youth. From Greta Thunberg appealing to world leaders for a solid climate change policy to the Global Climate strikes last September, students feel a compulsion to protect what’s left of Earth.
“We were kind of raised on climate facts, so I think that more than adults or people who are older than us, we just have more knowledge about the subject and its severity,” Grace Chapa, a Medical Science Academy senior, said. “I think a lot of young people are also thinking about our future and the fact that if we don’t do anything about the climate, we’ll have to live with the results, while people who are older than us might not have to face that reality.”
Teen Vogue also reported that 69 percent of their respondents said the government won’t stop climate change in time. Generation Z has made a talking point of the urgency to act on climate change and the consequences for not acting soon enough.
“Our planet is basically dying because of all the pollution and stuff that we do to our planet, and now we’re paying for it,” Anita Christmas, a senior in the Business academy, said.
The five other top concerns expressed in The Pulse poll were gun control, racial equality, mental health, affordable healthcare and abortion. Though not every student has to worry about having an abortion, paying medical bills, racial profiling or dealing with mental illness, almost every student in this day and age has to worry about school shootings. Generation Z has been a major participant in rallying for gun control, with the March for Our Lives walkout event organized after the Parkland, Fla. shooting at Stoneman Douglas High School shooting. Indian Trail students participated in the walkout two years ago.
“I definitely can see why gun control would be a major concern as often the high school population and students in school are affected by gun violence, so that’s obviously something that’s always on people’s minds,” Chapa said. “The March for Our Lives moment was started by students, so I think people my age are very passionate about that, and it is a real fear that a lot of people live with every day.”
A common thread between these concerns is that every student is either affected by one of these concerns or knows someone who is affected by these concerns, she said. That’s the key for candidates to keep in mind to win the younger vote, this generation is worried about issues that affect not only them but the ones they care for. Chapa, who is signed up to be a local poll worker at her local polling station this year, encourages everyone to vote in these upcoming elections.
“I think it’s very important to vote,” she said. “The way I see it is if you choose not to vote it’s almost helping the person that you don’t want to win the election win. So I think it’s so important to go out and vote.”
“Some people try and say they’re indifferent, but when you really ask them they have opinions and they’re knowledgeable, so I say if you’re passionate about something you should vote,” Chapa said.