At BYU-Idaho a new generation of voters are voicing their opinions on former President Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris and bringing fresh perspectives.
However, many students aren’t impressed by either candidate despite having to choose their favorite.
“I kind of thought is really the two best that our country has to offer,” said pre-nursing student Mattthew Snell. “And so, I'm going to pick whichever one I think will do the better job, but I was like, really, is this the best that we as America can put up?”
“I think there's always good and bad on both sides, but it comes down to you know values and who is going to help uphold the things that I believe in,” said biology student Stella Williams.
Others have stronger opinions in support of one candidate over the other.
“I feel like that Kamala Harris’s campaign compared to Donald Trump's is more focused on trusting that the will of the people needs to be respected,” said sophomore Peter Williams.
“I'm personally voting for Trump over Harris,” said data science student Matthew Shaw. “I feel like interest rates are also kind of a big deal to me because I want to buy a home at some point and so that is a big deal to me.”
Many Idaho native students were able to vote in person, and others sent their votes in through the mail. Therapeutic recreation student Molly McCleary, like many other students, missed the deadline to register as an absentee voter in her home state.
“I was planning on voting, but I didn't realize the deadline online,” McCleary said. “I'm from Pennsylvania, so not from around here and I don't have a car and so it makes it a little tricky to be able to just drive and go to the facilities to vote.”
Even though McCleery missed the deadline, she still is unsure who she would have voted for.
“I've touched a little bit on being updated with the two candidates, but I've never gotten super into politics just because I find it kind of frustrating,” McCleary said. “People get very heated, and they swing to the extreme of one versus the other, when I think both candidates have pros and both candidates have flaws.”
Even with differing opinions, many BYU-Idaho students strive to select the most Christlike candidate.
“I'm going to vote for the person who shows the qualities that I believe that Christ had,” said Snell.
“Religion, obviously, is like a big part of my life,” Shaw said. “We obviously go to a private religious school and so it's something pretty important to me.”
“I think that the gospel encompasses all truth, of course,” Williams said.