Amna: Thank you to Lisa.
In another battleground state,
Wisconsin, the senate and
governor's races are in the
spotlight.
And while younger Americans
traditionally show up to the
polls at lower rates than older
generations, one recent study
suggests young voters could play
a decisive role in the state's
elections this November.
Judy woodruff recently sat down
with a group of high school and
college students in Wisconsin
who will be voting for the first
time.
Judy: Thank you so much for
joining us for this
conversation.
We really appreciate it.
You all, the reason we have you
here is to talk about the fact
that this is the first year
you're going to be voting.
And we want to talk about what
that means to you.
So, Ryan, I'm going to start
with you.
How big a deal is it to you that
you're going to be voting for
the first time here?
Ryan: It's a pretty big deal for
me.
I mean, I sort of see it as sort
of like when you're 16, you get
your driver's license, when
you're 18, you get to vote.
Katherine: I actually registered
to vote in my ap government
class on my birthday, which was
a fun experience.
It's very easy to register
online now.
I've been very politically
engaged throughout high school
and I'm excited to get my foot
in the door and actually have a
voice in my government.
Judy: And Ben, you're turning 18
just in time to vote in early
November.
How big a deal for you?
Ben: I am very excited to vote.
Everyone in my family has always
voted, and although not a ton of
people my age do vote as it's
one of the lower turnout groups,
I'm very excited to vote because
I think having that voice in our
elections is really important.
Judy: What is it that you care
about a lot this year that is
driving you especially to want
to vote in 2022?
Katherine: I do see the
candidates, but I see pro-choice
and pro-life.
Personally, I am extremely
pro-choice.
I've always grown up with the
belief that women should be able
to have bodily autonomy in our
government.
Amaya: I agree with the
pro-choice movement.
I think women have been stripped
of their bodily autonomy
specifically in the state.
And I think that it
disproportionately affects women
of color and women from more low
income communities.
And the disproportionate effect
that that has on their access to
health care, their access to
reproductive justice, that their
just -- their right to be a
mother or to choose not to be is
frustrating to witness to
somebody who can be subjected to
these laws.
So that for me is very top of
mind.
Soren: For me, it's our economy.
I mean, I see on the decline,
everything seems more expensive.
Our gas is more expensive.
It's such a up and down, you
don't know what's going to
happen with it.
For me, it's scary.
And it's especially scary
because with everything on the
rise, I have celiac disease.
I already spend an arm and a leg
for my food.
It's going to end up hurting
people whenever they can't
afford the food they need to
feed their families.
Ryan: As the son of two
teachers, education is a very
big issue for me.
I personally, I think that
everyone should have access to
quality education, whether that
be, you know, good schools, good
public education, or access to
college and less college debt.
Ben: I think my biggest issue is
voting really in terms of the
amount of people that can't vote
under our current system.
We have a lot of laws in
Wisconsin, especially voter id
laws, that make it very hard for
people to vote.
Another big thing on my mind is
health care.
Seeing Ron Johnson vote against
the access to insulin was hugely
disappointing to me as a
diabetic, seeing that it, while
it does not directly affect me,
there's many people in my
situation where that bill would
have hugely helped them and
people are going to die if --
when people make decisions like
that.
Judy: Let's talk about the
person in office right now,
president Biden.
How do you think he's doing?
Ben: I think that with any
president, there will almost
always be argument that they are
not doing enough.
And I think that I can say that
about Biden right now.
The new decision to pardon
thousands of people on a low
level, on low level federal
marijuana charges is a great
decision, I think with his
decision to help with student
debt, though, he campaigned on
bigger promises, I think that at
least he fulfilled it somewhat.
And I think that you can always
ask for more.
But I will say that I am
relatively pleased with how he's
doing so far.
Katherine: I believe that he's
not delivering on campaign
promises that he made, such as
protecting our right to choose.
I would like to see him codify
-- I would like to see him do a
bit more to serve the American
I would like to see him codify
roe or make a more of a effort
to.
I would like to see him protect
that right, ask the senate to
protect that right.
Ask the house of representatives
to protect that right.
I want to see him fight tooth
and nail for that right.
But I haven't seen that so far.
Judy: Soren, what about you?
What is your sense of how
president Biden's doing?
Soren: I quite don't like
president Biden.
Certainly wouldn't have been my
first choice, nor would have
Donald Trump been my first
choice for this election or for
the previous election.
I think he's doing he's doing
well enough for now, but I don't
think he is doing enough.
Judy: What do you think he
should be doing that he's not
doing?
Soren: He, well, for one, I
think his Afghanistan pullout
was a disaster.
He left so many people, it was
petrifying.
He's not doing enough on the
border.
We have hundreds of thousands of
people getting in.
And it's scary knowing, you
don't know who those people are.
There's so much more that he
could be doing that he's not, I
mean, I don't know if he's made
effort to try or not.
Judy: Amaya, what is your sense
of how president Biden is doing?
Amaya: I think if I had voted in
the 2020 presidential election,
I would have voted for Biden.
I think he is not living up to
the promises he made, but I
don't know of any president that
has.
So I don't think that that's a
fair standard to hold him at.
I think as a firsthand recipient
of what the student loan
forgiveness was, my mom fought
for the United States army for
four years, was a recipient of
the gi bill, got an associate's
in nursing and still had loans.
So for her loans to be
completely forgiven means an
incredible amount.
Ryan: While I would like for
Biden to have done more, we live
in such a polarized country
right now that despite his
efforts to get things done, it's
just so hard right now to get
anything through, which is like,
obviously, I'd like, you know,
marijuana to be legalized.
I'd like to live in a country
where roe is codified, where
abortions are available.
I'd love to live in a country
where they, where I don't have
to worry about student loan
debt, but it's just hard to get
through all of that right now in
how the state of America is
today.
Judy: A couple of you have
mentioned or alluded to former
president trump.
Judy Amaya, what's your take on
the former president?
Amaya: I grew up in a very
isolated, in a very white
populated community, and I had
never experienced the difference
that I was black until trump was
in presidency.
That complete isolation that was
brought on just by this
political figure.
We had hmong facilities in my
community that were destroyed in
the name of trump.
We had monuments that were
destroyed in the name of trump.
We had people who were attacked
in the name of trump.
And I think he brought out the
worst in people and he supported
it and he didn't correct that
behavior.
And I believe no president would
ever do that.
Judy: Kathryn.
Katherine: He, by all accounts,
disgraced America in the January
6 insurrection.
He, though the hearings are
still going on, personally, I
believe that he incited the
insurrection and sent a mob of
angry people to the capitol,
which is completely
undemocratic.
And he also did not facilitate a
peaceful transfer of power,
which has been an American
tradition for hundreds of years,
which upset me greatly.
Soren: I did, do support trump
and have for quite a while.
I mean, during that time period,
he had the nation in the best
economic period we had for quite
a long time.
He kept us very well.
Unfortunately, he did have his
wrongdoings and has been a nasty
person and has almost always
been.
But he also was the person
politically wise, he ran America
as a business, in my opinion.
He ran it as though that's what
it was.
And so running it like a
business, him being a business
man, allowed us to have
financial gain, allowed us to
prosper in those times until
covid had hit and which kind of
tanked the entire world economy.
Amna: -- Judy: Would you like to
see him serve in office again?
Soren: Most likely not.
Judy: Why not?
Soren: For the sole reason of,
just it comes down to the
rioting.
It comes down to him being a
nasty person.
And I think the first four years
is good, but I don't think
another four years would be
great.
Ryan: I will agree with Soren
that the one thing good thing I
think Donald Trump ever did was
with the economy.
That is the only good thing I
will say about him.
I believe in this country we
shouldn't have this sort of the
massive division we have between
Republican and Democrat, because
working together is how we fix
things.
And Donald Trump basically drove
a gigantic wedge between people.
He was such a polarizing figure
that from 2016 onwards, the
country could never get anything
done.
Judy: As you all know, the
percentage of of people who vote
of your generation, the youngest
generation vote less frequently,
a smaller percentage of you vote
than the older folks do in the
country.
But I really do want to
understand how you see the
politicians listening or not
listening to your generation
right now.
Amaya?
Amaya: I do think that there has
been efforts.
I know several candidates
throughout the past two years
have been to campuses, have
literally been outreached.
They sit and they listen.
But once they're elected into
office, that stops.
And that communication line is,
you're emailing a staffer or
you're emailing a secretary. E odds that it actually gets that person is so slim to
none that the reality that
they're actually listening to
the complaints of their own
constituents is very like, I
have no faith that they are
listening to those.
And so it's hard to say when I
don't even know if they're
hearing the issues that are
happening in their communities.
Soren: I feel like if we had
more young voters and more
people that voted as soon as 18
or as soon as they possibly
could, I feel like we would have
more politicians listening to
our opinions, listening to what
we want.
Katherine: I think that what
politicians need to understand
is that if you start politically
engaging kids when they're 18 to
21, when they're just starting
to get their foot in the door,
in politics, you're more likely
to have an engaged audience or
an engaged constituency as we
grow up.
And I think that that's a fact
that's overlooked most often.
Ben: A lot of these politicians
are just so much older than us.
The problems that I see are
going to be very different
because for our 80 and 60 year
-- 80-year-old and 60-year-old
senate members, climate change
means three or four degrees and
then they aren't going to be
around much longer.
But for me, climate change means
I might see the world crumble
.
These politicians are so much
older than us.
They've been in these offices
for so long that they don't need
to listen to us.
They've kind of got their
election secured almost that
they just kind of keep coming
back in and they don't have to
engage anymore.
Judy: Well, this has been
-- there's so much more I'd love
to ask you, but it's been such a
wonderful conversation.
I so appreciate every one of you
sharing your thoughts.
Thank you very, very much.
Amna: And tomorrow night, Judy
will have a report on the senate
race in Wisconsin between
incumbent Republican Ron Johnson
and Democrat Mandela Barnes, one
of the critical contests that