SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Discussing politics in the civics class at Rio Americano High School in Sacramento is nothing new, what will be for several graduating students, voting in the upcoming election.
The youth vote a hotly contested vote for any candidate.
For 18-year-old student Blake Metzinger, as far as being able to vote for a convicted felon for president, he said it’s fair former President Donald Trump is able to run.
“I don’t think that there should be any restriction on who can be president because that’s anti-democracy,” Metzinger said.
In 2024, 41 million members of Gen Z will be eligible to vote.
Metzinger said for him, when he considers a presidential candidate, he wants to hear stances on foreign policy, the economy and climate change.
“I love the great outdoors,” he said. “I work up in Lake Tahoe, and I’ve personally seen just in my short life the debilitating effects of climate change.”
Kellen Sullivan along with 8.3 million others will be voting for the first time.
The 18-year-old said his vote is up for grabs and he’ll be watching the presidential debates to decide who he votes for.
As far as the widely discussed age of the presidential candidates goes, Sullivan said, “I think the age does matter, but I just think they’re both old. I mean, in a perfect world, I think there would be a good young Democrat and a good young Republican that each person could vote on.”
He said his parents listen and watch NPR and CNN — and so inevitably, he does, too. It's where he gets some of his information from.
A Pew Research study found around a third of people aged 18-29 regularly get their news from TikTok.
Sullivan said he too looks to social media for information.
“Another source and this will sound like it’s not a good source, but like TikTok and Instagram,” Sullivan said. “Yeah, there’s a lot of falseness, like a lot of false stuff on there, but there’s also a lot of valid sources on there that are just as valid as news sources. And those are the apps I’m on a lot."
More than ever, AI generated images, video and voices becoming more widely shared — and increasingly realistic.
The issue of figuring out what’s real and what’s not is something Sullivan said will only increase.
“That definitely could be an extreme issue because the accuracy of AI is pretty legit,” he said. “So, if I’m seeing a video and it looks completely real, I’m going to have no reason not to want to believe it.”
And even though many talk about the country being so divided, Metzinger said it’s not such a bad thing.
“Especially in America, we are always divided,” Metzinger said. “And I think that the divisiveness can lead to some stagnation in politics, but also lead to change.”
And why he says he hopes everyone will use their chance, to have their say, this coming November and vote.