How young Michigan voters feel about Biden, Trump and the upcoming election

Geoff Bennett:

Young people between the ages of 18 and 29 make up roughly 20 percent of eligible voters in the U.S. A majority of them voted for President Joe Biden back in 2020. And they're typically a reliable vote for Democrats.

Laura Barron-Lopez is here with a look at where things stand this election year — Laura.

Laura Barron-Lopez:

Thanks, Geoff.

In the battleground state of Michigan, "NewsHour" sat down with four young voters at a Detroit coffee shop to talk about the 2024 election. Most of them plan to vote in November, but they aren't enthusiastic about their options.

How does this election cycle make you feel, in one word?

Max Recknagel, Michigan Voter:

Nervous.

Melinda Billingsley, Michigan Voter:

Kind of tired.

Alec Hughes, Michigan Voter:

Overwhelmed.

Saba Saed, Michigan Voter:

Hopeless.

Laura Barron-Lopez:

Do you think that a lot of your friends are — feel the same way or feel disillusioned?

Melinda Billingsley:

Actually, I think all of the words is exactly how all of my friends would be. It's like, yes, nervous and also hopeless and, yes, all of those things.

Laura Barron-Lopez:

What are the top issues for you?

Max Recknagel, 19, attends Oakland University just outside of Detroit. He voted for Nikki Haley in Michigan's primary.

Max Recknagel:

Economy. Border, because I think it's a humanitarian crisis. And then, yes, also guns. I think the Second Amendment is extremely important. And I do not like the language behind any sort of banning on weapons at all.

Laura Barron-Lopez:

Twenty-eight-year-old Melinda Billingsley from the East Side of Detroit works at a voting rights nonprofit and is open to third-party candidates.

Melinda Billingsley:

LGBTQ issues, those are impacted a lot by rhetoric, not even actual things changing. Just if you talk about them and you demonize or you invoked fear and things like that, like, people will get hurt. There are consequences to that, especially in the right or wrong hands. It makes a big difference.

Laura Barron-Lopez:

Alec Hughes, 20, is a junior at University of Michigan and a co-chair of his school's College Democrats.

Alec Hughes:

The biggest thing for me is just simply democracy. I mean, we saw January 6. We saw Trump just gradually eroding things away over the course of his term. And now he's admitting it flat out, I'm going to be a dictator on day one.

I don't think that's just rhetoric. I think that's an admission. I think that's almost a boast.

Laura Barron-Lopez:

And 22-year-old Saba was born in the West Bank and moved to the United States 12 years ago. She's a senior at Michigan State University.

Saba Saed:

I worry a lot about like the economy. Quality of life has — for the average person in the U.S. has kind of not been so well. Everything is more priced.

I don't think that housing is going to be affordable for a lot of people, and inflation is crazy. People are being overworked, but, like, not getting paid enough.

Max Recknagel:

I work at a Kroger on the pickup department. So, like, I bring people's groceries out to them that they order online on the parking lot. I will be checking somebody out for $80 worth of groceries, and it looks like $30. Like, just prices have gone through the roof on a lot of things.

And, I mean, like, yes, yes, wages are up, but, like, some people still haven't been able to adjust with that.

Laura Barron-Lopez:

So how many of you are planning to vote in the November election? OK, so at least three out of four.

So who's planning on voting for Joe Biden in November? Who is planning on voting for Donald Trump? And who's undecided?

Saba Saed:

Uncommitted, one might say.

Laura Barron-Lopez:

Uncommitted.

Melinda Billingsley:

Good answer.

(Laughter)

Laura Barron-Lopez:

Could President Biden still earn your vote between now and November?

Saba Saed:

No. And I think that many people say, well, you would rather Trump with the Muslim ban, whatever, whatever. Trump was president. I'm Muslim. As bad as he is in many ways, I still had the privilege of being very safe in here.

So I think, out of the respect to like 35,000 who were killed in Gaza and lost their homes and have been displaced, I cannot justify voting for the guy that authorized those checks.

Laura Barron-Lopez:

You're the Joe Biden voter. Why are you voting for Joe Biden?

Alec Hughes:

Yes, looking back retrospectively, he made a lot of promises back in his run in 2020 that I think ultimately he's lived up to very well. Is there space for improvement? Absolutely.

But we have seen the Inflation Reduction Act pass. We have seen the bipartisan infrastructure law pass. Both of them make, like, trillion-dollar investments in the infrastructure and green energy. I think he's worked extraordinarily within the bounds that are defined for him.

Laura Barron-Lopez:

How about you? Why are you undecided?

Melinda Billingsley:

Even though I'm committed to voting, I would personally, like, say that Joe Biden is very moderate for me, and I am not. I am, like, so far to the left, where Joe Biden's like, we're going to make a reasonable transition to, like, electric vehicles.

I'm like, no, let us get rid of all gas powered cars. We're going to go straight to electric and trains and mass public transit. And we're just going to go hard into that. I want to vote for what I want, not, like you said, the lesser of two evils.

Laura Barron-Lopez:

Why are you voting for Donald Trump?

Max Recknagel:

It really just boils down to policy. I'm a conservative guy. He's the conservative candidate. Like, even if I don't love his rhetoric, he wins me over with policy. And I…

Laura Barron-Lopez:

What specific policy?

Max Recknagel:

Immigration. We have a massive crisis at the border right now, and I would attribute a lot of that to Biden opening the border up.

I would say, diplomacy-wise, he was one of the best presidents to do it, I think, personally. I don't think that we'd have the situation in Ukraine that we have right now if Trump was president.

Laura Barron-Lopez:

Another issue that was top of mind, the Israel-Hamas war.

Alec Hughes:

The first thing I think of when I think of the conflict is really the power that we have as students in shaping U.S. policy towards it.

At our respective schools, U-of-M and MSU, over the last week, we have had encampments popping up. It's — it really is incredible students exercising their voices in such a disruptive, civilly disobedient way because I think that's a very effective tool of getting your voice across.

The issue that I have, though, with some demonstrations is that, when people are automatically voluntarily disqualifying themselves, saying, no matter what, I'm not going to vote for President Biden, Democrats need young voters. They need young voters to win. But if you're saying right from the outset nothing you can do can make me vote for you, then why do they have any incentive to listen to you?

Saba Saed:

Just a quick question. So how much has he moved to earn those votes that said they're not going to vote for him? Because I want to know like, in case I miss something, because I feel like, for a while, we have been calling for a cease-fire and that didn't happen.

I don't always have to vote Democratic, because you can change as a person, and I don't think it should — I should compromise my morals because I'm going with a certain direction in, like, a specific party.

Laura Barron-Lopez:

Did you vote for Joe Biden in 2020?

Saba Saed:

Yes, and then I changed my mind.

Alec Hughes:

President Biden has been working over the months to push towards an immediate cease-fire, but, unfortunately, it's not solely his decision to make, because it is Israel that's ultimately — ultimately pushing the war.

Max Recknagel:

I was going to say, like, I'm kind of a pessimist on this, because, even though the United States can call for a cease-fire — and I understand. There's other measures that the United States could do.

It's like, what's actually going to stop Israel at the end of the day?

Saba Saed:

Our money.

Max Recknagel:

I mean, it could. It could.

Laura Barron-Lopez:

There was little agreement on President Biden's ability to quickly negotiate an end to the war. But there was one issue most thought could tip the election in his favor.

Max Recknagel:

Because I have — I have met several young women who are like, I can't stand Joe Biden, but abortion.

Laura Barron-Lopez:

How big of an issue do you think abortion is going to be for young voters?

Max Recknagel:

Massive. Massive, because I think it — this is — this is the issue that conservatives lose on, right? Conservatives are all about small government and your rights.

Well, now it's about creating restrictions. I think that Joe Biden could muscle out a lot of votes by just standing on that Donald Trump's going to take away abortion.

Melinda Billingsley:

A lot of people, abortion is something that is very, like — I don't want to say, like, at the — but something that is front of mind. Like, when they're thinking of policies that affect them every day, that's one that's going to come into play a lot more.

Laura Barron-Lopez:

In a battleground like Michigan, voters like Saba, Alec, Melinda and Max could ultimately swing the state.

We asked them to sum up one thing they want national politicians to know about young voters.

Max Recknagel:

Regardless of what party you are part of or aren't a part of or if you're an independent, we don't like political division. There's a lot of solutions out there, but I don't think that we can reach them with all the tension in the country.

Melinda Billingsley:

Party I.D. is not their go-to label. Like, they're more likely to have their Taylor Swift bumper sticker than a Democrat one.

We are not going to just fall in line with a political party forever and ever. They can't count on that.

Saba Saed:

For the sake of their careers, they need to listen to what we're saying now, because we're going to be the ones getting a majority of their votes at some point. It may not happen now, but in five to 10 years — so, beware. That's what I'd say to them.

Melinda Billingsley:

A strong threat. We all mean that.

(Laughter)