American gen Z voters share how they feel about Kamala Harris’s presidential bid, why they like or dislike her as a candidate and whether they think she could beat Donald Trump, as the vice-president races towards winning the Democratic nomination for November’s election.

‘I think she’s just what we need’

“I think [Kamala Harris] is the only one that makes sense. She will get the votes Biden couldn’t. She could get the Black, Asian, Latino, women’s, LGBTQ+ and youth votes. She stands more for progress and equality than an old white dude and if she wins it will be historic. The Democrats need a bold move and I think she’s just what we need.

“I hope the Democrats realize what an opportunity this is for them.” Will, 22, construction worker from Portland, Oregon

  • MonkRome@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    5
    arrow-down
    1
    ·
    4 months ago

    I mean… Even when we do have a primary, most of the left just stays home. It doesn’t help that most people just can’t be bothered.

    • pjwestin@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      6
      arrow-down
      2
      ·
      4 months ago

      I don’t know that that’s true. It’s kinda hard to find data on progressive vs. centrist turnout, but generally, turnout for primaries has been going up, not down, and it was definitely young progressive voters that gave Obama the victory over Clinton.

      • MonkRome@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        1
        arrow-down
        1
        ·
        edit-2
        4 months ago

        Your own link shows 28.5% of eligible voters, most would imply more than half, so I don’t know what your argument is. It doesn’t matter if it’s highest it’s ever been if it’s still pathetic.

        • pjwestin@lemmy.world
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          2
          arrow-down
          1
          ·
          4 months ago

          Yeah, but, “most of the left stays home,” also implies centrists or conservatives vote in higher numbers than the left, which doesn’t appear to be true. Voters are more invovled in primaries than they have been in years, and the left and right seem to be voting at about the same level. Like, yeah, voter apathy is really bad in this country, but it seems pretty bipartisan, so it’s not a left-specific problem.

          • michaelmrose@lemmy.world
            link
            fedilink
            English
            arrow-up
            2
            ·
            3 months ago

            It’s also fairly unfair to compare total numbers vs an assessment of the actually competitive states. Everyone knows that solidly blue and red states have little say your side is either already going to win or can’t possibly win at the national level. It’s inherently harder even if important to get people to invest in the smaller races.

          • MonkRome@lemmy.world
            link
            fedilink
            English
            arrow-up
            1
            arrow-down
            1
            ·
            edit-2
            3 months ago

            implies centrists or conservatives vote in higher numbers than the left, which doesn’t appear to be true.

            I don’t think it would imply that and it wasn’t my intent. My complaint is with the left, I couldn’t give a shit how many of the other side votes in their primary. The level of self righteous moral purity is ungodly high on the left, and yet even though 75% of our party is constantly whining about the candidate of one political position in the party only ~30% are actually voting in the primary. It’s getting old. We can have any fucking candidate we want in most primaries, we just have to show the fuck up when it matters.

            In Bernie’s first presidential campaign he did much better in caucuses, because he was good at political maneuvering, but the states with a strait up vote, he lost most of them. That says everything you need to know about the left wing of the party, all talk, low energy action.