As voting came to a close on Tuesday for the 2024 Presidential Election, The Daily Gamecock surveyed 93 students to see if they were participating.
Out of the 93 students The Daily Gamecock interviewed, 57 people said they went to the polls and voted. But 14 of those voters said they were still unsure leading up to the final day.
Vice President Kamala Harris became the Democratic nominee in August after President Joe Biden dropped out of the race. On the Republican side, former President Donald Trump accepted the party nomination at the Republican National Convention and is seeking to serve a second term.
More than 30 students told The Daily Gamecock they were hesitant about voting for either candidate.
One issue that was brought up was the age of both candidates. Harris is 60 years old, and Trump is 78. A few students said they believe that there is a need for younger candidates to run for office.
“I’m not really for Trump or Kamala,” first-year undecided student Jaedyn Swails said. “I think that we need a younger generation.”
The candidates’ ages aren’t the only thing that led to student voters being unsure of which candidate is best. About 10 of those surveyed who said they were not voting said they felt like they had a lack of understanding about each candidate's policies.
“I am not super educated on politics,” third-year exercise science student Emily Caldwell said. “I have a hard time deciding how I feel about people because it's so hard to judge their character when we don’t know everything and it's not super transparent.”
Other students said they felt like they lacked the knowledge needed to make informed decisions on who to vote for.
“I think it is important to vote if you believe in the candidates, but this year, I just did not do enough research or have enough knowledge to make an informed guess or an informed decision,” second-year computer information systems student Vance Griswold said.
This lack of knowledge about the candidates and their platforms also lead some students surveyed to step back and refrain from voting. Most said they did not feel as if they had enough information about the candidates to make an educated decision or were informed enough about politics. About 22 of the students surveyed said they chose not to vote at all.
“I figured the best things for me, besides just randomly picking a candidate, would just be not to vote,” Griswold said.
Some students, such as first-year studio art student Parker Crimmins, also told The Daily Gamecock that the pressure to engage so heavily with politics pushed them away from wanting to vote entirely.
“I just don’t know enough that I’m like — it almost confuses me and frustrates me to the point where I’m just like, 'No, no,'” Crimmins said.