IU students have become increasingly more enthusiastic about voting in this election. (Pat Beane, WTIU)
IU’s College Democrats’ organization cares primarily about abortion and funding for public schools this election. Government spending, foreign wars and immigration are key issues for IU’s Turning Point USA chapter, a right-leaning organization.
Bridge USA is a student organization trying to narrow the wide gap between political sides.
These groups are among those encouraging IU students to get involved in what’s being called a close, pivotal election of vital importance for the nation.
The voter registration deadline was Oct. 7. IU says over 8,000 students voted in the 2020 election. This year, IU Student Government participated in the Road to 100, a new voter registration campaign that encouraged students to vote and be more informed on the election. Sixteen student political organizations on campus participated, and 3,465 students registered to vote.
IU also partnered with the Big Ten Voting Challenge. The competition involves the 18 Big Ten universities, who compete to win “Greatest Overall Turnout” and “Greatest Increase in Voting Rates.” Early voting also began a few weeks ago.
“I've seen students interact in a very enthusiastic and curious and engaged way,” said Lisa Marie-Napoli, director of political and civic engagement program at IU.
Read more: Early voting has started in Indiana. Here’s how to do it
Interest in the 2016 election was high among students who voted – 45% of eligible IU students voted in 2016 – but it was out of frustration and angst, Marie-Napoli said. Many felt helpless after watching Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump tear each other apart. But interest increased in 2020, with nearly 67% of eligible students voting. She said things have shifted in a positive direction.
“I see it as people just wanting to make a difference and knowing that now is a great time to get involved,” she said. “Our future leader, whoever is President, will determine the direction of our country and will be the lead person who influences policies and the culture of the United States and democracy at large.”
Daniel Jenkins, voter registration director for the IU College Democrats, said when trying to get students to register to vote in the primary back in March, many didn’t see the point of voting because they didn’t like their options. But since Vice President Kamala Harris joined the race, things have changed for the Democrats. Four hundred three students registered to vote through College Democrats.
“With the new semester and the new nominee on one side of the ticket, we've seen a lot more enthusiasm on both sides,” he said.
While the national election seems to be of more interest, local races are still not given much attention, Jenkins said. It’s been difficult for him to get college students to care about local politics. Some may not realize that politics are still active in between the presidential and midterm elections.
“I think a lot of people also don't really realize just how much local elections will impact your life,” he said. “The policies that our city councils are passing are going to impact your life a lot more than whatever Joe Biden is up to right now.”
Jenkins said he’s happy with Harris’s progressive policies. On the other hand, he believes the rhetoric from Trump and JD Vance has been harmful and concerning, especially when it comes to the immigration policies they may implement. Trump has plans to deport unauthorized migrants and restrict legal and illegal immigration.
“I'm dating an immigrant right now, and that is really scary for me to hear in terms of his own protection,” Jenkins said.
When it comes to election integrity, Jenkins has no reservations about how ballots are counted. Former President Trump falsely claimed the 2020 election was stolen from him, even after election workers counted ballots three times in the state of Georgia. This spurred conversations across the country about potential cases of election fraud and has increased doubt among voters about the integrity of elections.
Read more: As early voting begins, IU groups urge students to cast ballots soon
Owen Hurd, president of the Turning Point USA chapter at IU, said inflation and immigration are key issues for his members.
“We want to see prices come back down. We want to see an economy for everybody,” he said. “We want to see an end to 10-to-15,000 people a day at peaks coming across our southern border illegally.”
He's also seen an uptick in voter registration among Turning Point USA members and thinks voter turnout will be key in this election.
“I think really mobilizing voters, in addition to getting them registered, is going to be another point of focus with less than a month until the election,” Hurd said.
One challenge is getting students comfortable talking about politics.
“I think students are afraid...to talk about politics with their friends because they don't want to appear like they're taking sides, and people like get really personal and aggressive with it sometimes,” Jenkins said. “But I don't think that people need to be that scared about talking about issues that matter to them, as long as we know that we can have a civil dialogue with our friends instead of having outbursts.”
Koby Davis, president of Bridge USA chapter at IU, said as a multipartisan political student organization, Bridge USA is 20 percent Democratic, 20 percent Republican and the remaining 60 percent lie somewhere in the middle. Healthcare, the economy, immigration and abortion are just a few issues that matter to Bridge USA members. Davis's main goal as president is to combat political polarization, which has been on the rise for decades now.
“I think a big part of that is the people that come to our discussions are willing to openly and respectfully engage in politics,” he said. “I'd say the Republicans that come to our discussions engage no differently than the Democrats. They share their opinions respectfully, and then everyone else listens and responds and takes it in.”
Indeed, students would like to see a potential shift towards the center in the next four years.
Read more: What do I need on Election Day? The general election is Nov. 5
“People are tired of fighting with their neighbor about politics, and they want to be able to just go back to like respectfully disagreeing and being able to talk about it without thinking that a relationship is over,” he said. “Hopefully whoever wins will be able to as a country move [us] in that direction.”
Students’ peers are influencing their voting sentiments, Marie-Napoli said. She has seen students have open conversations about their political viewpoints and learn from each other. Others are more sheltered.
“There are students that operate more in a bubble,” she said. “That's the concerning part, is when they're cut off socially, they're cut off information wise and otherwise from being able to broaden their scope of perspective.”
Marie-Napoli said she is worried about how students may be consuming news related to the election. For example, she said social media further expands this bubble and makes them more cut off from the world.
“What concerns me is that the news sources that they [students] pull in and how it influences them, becomes an echo chamber,” she said. “If they're getting a few sources of information, but they're all saying the same things in different ways, it's going to make them more deeply entrenched in one position and perspective.”
While this strategy may provide a comprehensive understanding of one side, Marie-Napoli said it can also cut them off from the rest of the issue and make it harder for them to understand it more broadly, which makes it harder for Bridge USA’s Davis to close the political divide.
“It’s important to pay attention to whatever news source they listen to or watch or read, to pay attention to what the angle might be,” she said.
When it comes to the outcome of the election, Marie-Napoli said not to assume anything upfront. She thinks the election is a toss-up.
“It could go either way really easily,” she said. “So no matter what candidate you're behind, I wouldn't take anything for granted in terms of what the outcome might be, because we certainly can't predict that. I mean, there's forecasts and there's estimates, but we don't know it until it happens.”
