USA 2024: 'This election has proven how important the young vote is', says a first-time voter

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00:00So, we're now in the company of a first-time voter, first-time citizen, freshman in college

00:07at the University of Maryland, Peter Andrews.

00:09Thanks for being with us.

00:10Thank you very much.

00:11I'm glad to be here.

00:12You voted already?

00:13Oh, yeah.

00:14I voted mail-in ballot.

00:15It was, I'd say, a stressful process.

00:16I wanted to make sure I did everything correctly, and I was very excited when I got the text

00:19today saying they had received my ballot, and I was very happy to see that.

00:24So you got a confirmation?

00:26I got a confirmation that they had received the ballot.

00:29And I'm glad everything went well.

00:30I made sure to go over it, review it multiple times to make sure I did everything correctly.

00:34All right.

00:35So, yeah, there's been, one of the concerns has been whether early voting is safe.

00:40There's been all kinds of questions on all sides, poll watchers under a lot of pressure.

00:45Peter, you're from a demographic which traditionally doesn't vote as much as the rest of the population.

00:53How about this time?

00:54How does it feel on your campus?

00:56I feel like this election has really proved how important the young vote is, especially

01:00in the swing states where I believe that many of the undecided voters are young voters because

01:06they are coming into politics, their opinions are new and being forged here.

01:12And I think this is, all of the young voters I have talked to are deeply opinionated, and

01:23I think the reason that there's a stereotype around young voters not being, I guess, being

01:30apathetic about politics and just not caring is that for a long time we felt that there

01:38is just no ability to get our opinions out there.

01:42No way to-

01:43But this time people are energized.

01:45Why?

01:46I think it was the change from Biden to Kamala that really energized the Democratic young,

01:53the young Democratic voters because we were, I know after that, after the debate between

01:59Biden and Trump, I was annoyed.

02:02I was angry because it was just, it was horrible.

02:07And I thought, we're just going to lose this thing and they're not good.

02:11And we knew, we all thought that, but no one was listening to us.

02:14We felt no one was listening to us.

02:15But then Kamala, Biden stepped down and Kamala stepped up.

02:20And I think that change really lit a fire under Democratic, young Democratic voters

02:27to get them out there.

02:28And just briefly, are you noticing a difference between how young men and young women vote?

02:32Are there more young men voting for Donald Trump among the people you know?

02:37I'd say definitely more young men.

02:39Yeah.

02:40I know a few young men who, I don't know any young women who are voting personally.

02:46I have seen young women who are voting for Trump and young men.

02:50The main argument for them is always the economy.

02:53They never really address any of his other points.

02:57But with Kamala, I feel like I have, I've seen an even amount.

03:01I guess I've seen more vote for Trump, but there's no gender gap in who I know voting

03:07for Kamala.

03:08All right.

03:09I suspect you'll be with your friends watching those returns.

03:12Peter Antrus, thank you so much for being with us.

03:14Thank you very much.

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