In the critical battleground state of Wisconsin, where the presidential election is decided by tens of thousands of votes, students like those at the University of Wisconsin-Parkside are hugely popular.
But getting young people interested in voting has always been a challenge. And after Tuesday night’s vice presidential debate between Sen. J.D. Vance of Ohio and Gov. Tim Walz of Minnesota, the job was no easy feat.
“It’s been a long time, hasn’t it?” said Grant Pitts, a senior who serves as Parkside Student Government president, to a room full of students who groaned in agreement.
Vice presidential debates are memorable once every decade, like Sarah Palin winking at the camera in 2008 or Lloyd Bentsen humbling Dan Quayle in 1988. Even if they can produce moments, they are usually low-impact events.
Tuesday night delivered none of those moments, at least not to students at three universities in close swing states: Wisconsin and Georgia. Some students were so fed up with politics that they apparently decided long before the debate that it was definitely not on TV. Many people have already decided on a candidate, and both Vance and Walz said there is little they can say to change their minds.
At the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, only a few people attended a student government watch party that was advertised online and in the school newspaper well before Tuesday.
Vice Presidential Debate Watch Party at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. Credit…Robert Chiarito, New York Times
“No one around here seems to be interested in politics,” said Jade Rahn, 19, a sophomore who plans to vote in her first presidential election in November. I would have decided,” he said. Looking out from a nearly empty student lounge where a snack table remains largely untouched, Rahn leans toward Trump because she believes he’s doing a better job of handling economic issues. he said.
And while she’s somewhat open to changing candidates, what she heard at the debate didn’t move her much. “I’m open,” Rahn said, taking occasional breaks from the debate to finish homework. “But don’t expect anything said in this debate to change my mind.”
Young voters are a challenge for the campaigns of Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald J. Trump. Many say they are disillusioned with the negative attitude in American politics and wonder which candidates can help get the country and their lives back on track. They came of age at a time when issues like climate change and mass shootings overwhelmed many of their contemporaries, and America’s political system seemed unable to do anything to solve them.
Ethan Hightire, 21, a senior at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, said he didn’t even know about the vice presidential debate until the day before. He and his classmates came to watch in hopes of hearing from the candidates themselves, rather than relying on news outlets that he believes aren’t telling the whole story.
“It’s difficult to take a position because most of the information online and in the news is biased,” Hightire said. “I think it’s better to ask directly.”
But even that may not be enough for Mr. Hightire to make a decision with confidence, he said, because “what they say may not be what they do.”
At Mercer University in Macon, Georgia, organizers of a bipartisan watch party had no idea how many people would attend. Three weeks ago, about 60 people gathered to watch the debate between Harris and Trump. On Tuesday, the crowd fell far short of that.
Hannah Griffin, a 20-year-old M.D. student studying biochemistry, said she was eager for an election in which the vice presidential debate would help decide her vote. But as she watched it, she acknowledged that the salvo between Mr. Vance and Mr. Walz did nothing to sway her in November.
“I hope that at some point in the future, there will be a candidate who is really incredibly bad and not Donald Trump. At least for me personally, the only option is to vote for Kamala Harris,” Griffin said. said.
At Mercer’s student center, some students paid more attention than others. And neither Mr. Vance nor Mr. Walz provoked much of a reaction from the audience. As fall break approached, many students tuned in to debate while doing homework and enjoying free snacks.
For young people who have yet to experience a presidential election as a full-fledged voting-age citizen, Tuesday’s debate offered the novelty of a Trump-free stage.
Ryan Rivera, 20, who works at a Phoenix-area Target, said he was shocked, almost relieved, by how much Trump’s absence had changed the dynamics. “Honestly, it’s refreshing to see two political candidates have such genuine respect for each other,” MX said. Rivera uses they/them pronouns. “We’re clinging to the drama. It’s really nice not having it.”
Even if some voters say they value the vice presidential debate, it’s likely never to be a significant factor for many people.
Despite a spate of history-making news that could upend other presidential elections, polls have remained relatively stable this year. These include the first conviction of a former president, a late decision by a sitting president not to run for reelection, and two assassination attempts against Trump.
When Mr. Waltz jokingly thanked “people who missed ‘Dancing with the Stars'” in his closing remarks, he took a moment to acknowledge the fact that Americans have other things on their minds. He seemed to be nodding at that point.
By the time the candidates gave their closing remarks, only two students remained at the Milwaukee watch party.
The University of Wisconsin-Parkside is a small campus in the southeastern corner of the state with 3,200 undergraduate students and a more diverse student body than the state’s overall population. More than 35 percent of students qualify for Pell Grants, and nearly half are the first in their families to attend college. Freshman Maribel Muñoz, 18, said she cringed when Vance’s comments about immigration came up, particularly when the topic of Haitian immigrants in Springfield, Ohio, came up.
“I’m the granddaughter of two immigrants,” she said.
But while Vance didn’t appeal to her, she said she doesn’t know if the Democratic ticket is a better option.
“I don’t know if I’m going to vote or not,” Munoz said.
Jack Healy and Oralandar Brand-Williams contributed reporting.
