Teenagers disagree with their parents on almost everything. Even politics. Tamaya Schreiber Poznik did, at least initially.
“[Before the primary], my parents didn’t like Hillary [Clinton] but she was appealing to me because she was going to be the first female president,” says the West High School senior. “Then my parents said they were supporting Bernie Sanders because his ideas were a lot better and I remember being like ‘Oh my gosh, I can’t believe you don’t like her.’”
After learning more about the candidates, she came around to her parents’ side and not only supported Sanders, she volunteered for his campaign. But now, Schreiber Poznik is back with her original choice.
“With the way things are, a vote not for Hillary would be a vote for [Donald] Trump. So, at this point, you just have to do what you have to do,” she says. “I do like some of her views and policies though, so it’s not all that bad.”
Campaigns usually don’t spend much — if any — time or money pleading their candidate’s case to high school students. When asked for initiatives or plans to reach out to these students, neither of the Trump or Clinton campaigns in Wisconsin replied with any specific efforts.
Still, many high school seniors like Schreiber Poznik, who turned 18 in early October, will vote on Nov. 8. And although the youth turnout has historically been fickle and mercurial, when young voters do vote, their collective ballots have considerable power.
Voting-age high school students are part of the 18- to 29-year-old demographic — known generically as “the youth vote” — that has swayed recent presidential elections, says Peter Levine, associate dean at Tufts University and the founder of the Center for Information & Research on Civic Learning and Engagement.
“If Mitt Romney had even just tied Barack Obama with the youth vote, instead of losing badly, in just four states, he would be president,” says Levine. “So, you can say that Obama won because of the youth vote.”
Likewise, when young voters don’t turn out, it makes a difference. “The Democrats did really well in 2012, when they had strong youth turnout, and they did very badly in 2014 when there was very weak youth turnout,” he adds.
This election, young voters could once again tip the scales, Levine says. Across the nation, 16.5 million people have turned 18 since the 2012 presidential election.
“We looked at the states where the youth vote can have the most impact and Wisconsin is right up there in the top 10,” says Levine.
According to the Madison school district, almost 750 of the district’s 2,100 seniors — just over 35 percent — will be voting age on Nov. 8. That’s up from the 2008 and 2012 presidential elections when 33 and 32 percent of high school seniors could vote. Statewide, the Department of Public Instruction estimates that almost 18,500 high school seniors — just more than 29 percent — will be voting age by the election.
Although many students can vote, they’re not necessarily thrilled by their options. “A lot of my students are really discouraged about the candidates,” says West High government and history teacher Carla Geovanis. “That’s what makes this election different from recent elections — I have a lot fewer students excited by either candidate.”
Sam Thorson, a senior at East who turned 18 in mid-September, is among the unimpressed. Not trusting either candidate, he’s unsure who he will vote for. “With Trump, you just don’t know what he’s going to say or do or if he means it or not,” he says. “With Hillary, you don’t really know if she’s telling us the whole truth.”
Another 18-year-old East High student, Kalea Kruser, is also undecided. “I want to vote. It’s an American tradition and it’s especially important as a person of color because we didn’t always have this right,” she says. Having grown up under President Obama, Kruser “expected someone like him to be running.”
“I didn’t think it would be like this at all,” she says.
Several students want the candidates to address other issues. “If [Clinton] brought something up like Black Lives Matter or Planned Parenthood [funding] that was more relevant to us...I think that would get [young] people more interested,” says Schreiber Poznik, who plans to volunteer for the Clinton campaign.
West senior Déjon Noel, who turned 18 in September, also wants to see other issues addressed. “When talking to my friends, we’re all really upset with police brutality and guns on the street,” he says. “These are things that need changing now, but [the candidates] aren’t talking about that much.”
Schreiber Poznik notes that the major parties seem to be trying to reach her demographic by discussing student loan debt and college affordability. “We’re not going to see the effect of that, if she does get it passed — it’s going to take a lot of years for that to actually happen,” she says.
Levine agrees the issue has limited appeal. “There’s only a small fraction of the youth vote that’s focused on college affordability,” he says. “Some people are not going to college, some are going and are not having trouble affording it, some are going to community college and it’s already affordable — it’s way too narrow.”
“The youth care about so much more than just college affordability,” he adds. “They care about violence, jobs, the minimum wage, even daycare is an issue for many of them.”
In two sections of East High’s U.S. government class, teacher Nick Adams asked students to list the issues important to them for this election. Among the most popular topics were immigration, police brutality, public assistance and welfare, climate change, women’s health care and gun control.
Adams offers his students two election-related projects: volunteer for a campaign or work at the polls on election day, then write about the experience. “You get paid, get your final project work done and you get to miss school,” Adams tells the class.
Thorson says he’s taking the offer: “I think it will be a good experience to see people taking part in government, get informed and see how it all works.”
