On Nov. 5, many of us will be casting ballots for the first time to determine the next president of the United States. In keeping with our special election issue for this week, we discussed the presence of the election and this tumultuous period of American politics in our personal lives and here on campus, and what we as young, college-educated voters can do about it.
College students — especially at an institution like Middlebury, where the student body is comprised of members from all 50 states and many foreign countries — have the weight of their electoral power distributed somewhat unevenly. The decision to vote via absentee ballot in one’s home state or to vote in Vermont determines how effectively the vote of any one student can counter or corroborate that state’s political allegiances. A Harris voter from Georgia can have more impact by requesting and using an absentee ballot than by registering to vote in Middlebury on Tuesday morning.
While some from “blue” states like California or New York feel comfortable with the knowledge that their Democratic will be another drop in the bucket, many of our friends from swing states must grapple with the relative efficacy of their votes in a system that deprioritizes the popular vote. Because of the electoral college, some students’ votes truly do mean more than others.
The board broadly agreed that, no matter who you intend to vote for, it is impossible to experience this election without feeling it urgently and incessantly. Both Vice President Harris and former President Trump have, in recent months, swung the thrust of their campaign’s efforts towards the ears and minds of Gen Z. These efforts have included appearing on podcasts popular with Zoomers, stylizing their social media presences to cohere within contemporary meme cultures, increasing their output of content on platforms like Instagram and X, and emphasizing the role of young voters in this election.
The vast majority of us grew into our political consciousnesses as Donald Trump began his first march to and through the White House, and so for our teenage and young adult lives, all of American politics has seemed tense, fragile and highly flammable. In that sense, the rhetoric of this election is, at least, not unfamiliar to us.
While Middlebury can feel — and, in some ways, very much is — a liberal bubble, we must remember that our school, the state it is situated in, and the larger U.S. contain individuals with a diverse range of political opinions, who could be affected dramatically by the results of this election. Not only this, but Middlebury students come from states and homes with drastically different political environments; a student headed home for Thanksgiving to conservative family and community in Alabama will inevitably be forced to interact with this election’s result differently from someone returning to a liberal family in Massachusetts.
College campuses are widely considered to be progressive spaces, and Middlebury certainly postures itself as a rustic New England enclave replete with amenities like thrift stores, hipster cafés, and that one church with a pride flag. Perhaps this influences our perception of U.S. politics; it may be difficult to understand other parts of the country when we live in a community that overwhelmingly supports Democrats.
We also want to reflect on the nature of Middlebury as a bubble within a bubble — since political lines are increasingly drawn by educational status, college campuses have become more and more associated with liberal politics. Some students may feel they are surrounded by a thick blanket of like-minded opinions, but this may ultimately block out the perspectives of others not included in higher education, such as working-class Americans who are increasingly moving towards the Republican Party. While this does not discount our perspective nor invalidates Middlebury’s left-leaning tendencies, it is worth acknowledging that our experience here is not necessarily representative of the average American in 2024.
We do not know what the future holds, or what sounds will carry the day the results of the 2024 Presidential Election are announced, but we should seek solace in what we know of ourselves as students. We know how to track down knowledge — the decent, rough sort that reveals itself only after searching through many haystacks. We know how to remain skeptical, yet practical, when it comes to navigating politics, at least while we learn how to tinker with and tune it to better fit the needs of our whole global community of beings. No one knows yet how to properly weigh the present against the future.
With so much uncertainty in the air this week, it is difficult to find some kind of resolution to our election anxieties other than voting. Before you turn on CNN on Nov. 5 and start obsessively refreshing The New York Times’ Needle, take some time this week to breathe, enjoy the last moments of beautiful autumn weather and send off your absentee ballot or make a plan to vote in person.
