- I don't think that the legislation was passed definitively
in the interest of putting more black people in jail.
That's what it did, but I don't think Joe Biden
was sitting in a room legislating like,
"Hell yeah, (beep) these black people",
for sure, for sure, you know?
- [Narrator] With the election upon us,
millions of Americans are gearing up to cast their vote
for the next president of the United States.
While some people will be voting independent,
we wanted to hear from Trump voters and Biden voters
about why they are voting for their candidate.
In Spectrum, we bring everyday people together
for authentic discussions
that represent what's happening now.
These discussions should not be anyone's sole source
to forming opinions on important issues.
Please do your own research, seek out experts,
push yourself outside your bubble and have empathy.
Thanks for watching.
- My name is Christine and I am 23 years old,
and I live in Houston, Texas.
I think that the overall civic health
of America is just so low.
And I feel like the more we have
these kind of conversations,
the more people will start to think for themselves.
- Hi, I'm Piper.
I'm passionate about decolonization,
systemic equality, socialism and environmentalism.
- My name is Pranav Konduri.
I'm currently a freshman
at the University of Texas at Austin.
It's one of the most consequential elections
of our lifetime.
It's gonna determine the future of our country
in civil rights, human rights, the climate,
and many other issues across the board.
- My name is Leah Thomas
and I'm an environmental activist and the founder
of The Intersectional Environmentalist platform.
- My name is Chris.
I currently live in Santa Barbara, California.
I think that a vote for Joe Biden in this election
is a vote with the idea of prosperity for all in mind.
- Hi, I'm Benjamin.
I work at the Democratic Coordinated Campaign
and I help lead young Asian Americans for Biden.
We cannot afford to be anything less than passionate
as we fight to protect our families,
our friends, our communities, and our futures.
- [Narrator] I'm more anti-Trump than pro-Biden.
Piper?
- Strongly agree.
- [Narrator] Leah?
- Strongly agree.
- [Narrator] Pranav?
- Strongly agree.
- [Narrator] Benjamin?
- Somewhat disagree.
- [Narrator] Chris?
- Strongly agree.
- [Narrator] Christine?
- Agree
- As much as I absolutely hate Trump,
there has to be like young,
especially young people,
there needs to be that energy there for Biden.
Like I know settle for Biden is huge.
Like, "Well, we'll take him 'cause there's two choices."
No, this is like literally a choice
between destruction of the environment and our futures
or building towards better progress.
We have to be more enthusiastic
and we have to bring other people along,
'cause otherwise, we're not going to win.
- Definitely agree with what you just said, Benjamin.
But at the same time, I can't deny
Joe Biden himself does not make me respond enthusiastically.
I volunteered for the candidate,
I supported him in the primary.
It was the first time I'd ever done it.
And it was because I was driven, I feel like I needed to.
At the same time,
I think I would vote for a Democratic ticket
if it was literally any other Democratic candidate.
- I understand the enthusiasm Benjamin.
And I think the reason why,
so I didn't vote.
I voted for Warren in the primary.
I was very involved with the campaign,
and if I could put anyone in the White House right now,
it would be her.
But I think like the supporting cast is so important.
Like you said, I'm voting for a better future.
And I don't think that Biden encompasses that entirely.
I think that the entire Democratic Coalition
encompasses that.
- Benjamin, you brought up a good point though.
I've read a bit about why Hillary Clinton lost in 2016.
And a lot of it was because she ran
on a very anti-Trump campaign.
'Cause Hillary Clinton was like a very hated woman.
A lot of people just don't like her.
I have my reasons for not liking her as well.
And her whole campaign was just like beat Trump,
beat Trump, beat Trump, and a lot of people,
that wasn't enough for them to get excited behind.
And so you kind of made me rethink it a little bit.
But I think also, though,
we can't get too excited about him now
because we have to still make sure
that there's room for criticism
so we can hold him accountable
once he actually gets elected.
- [Narrator] Joe Biden is too old to be president.
Piper?
- Somewhat disagree.
- [Narrator] Leah?
- Disagree.
- [Narrator] Pranav?
- Disagree.
- [Narrator] Benjamin?
- Strongly disagree.
- [Narrator] Chris?
- Disagree.
- [Narrator] Christine?
- Disagree.
- Let's say like all hell did break loose.
And like Joe Biden just suddenly
becomes cognitively incapable of doing the job.
Kamala Harris, she's a beast.
- Exactly what the vice president's for.
I think the only person
who could really say like "strongly agree"
is like a Pete voter.
I mean, the person I voted for in the primary
was also like 70 plus.
- His age kind of also fits with his demeanor,
or like his appeal.
He is more like a like a grandfather figure
of the entire party.
That age comes with a lot of experience.
And I think, right now, we need to return
to some sort of normalcy.
- I also really hate when people pick at his stutter
that he's had for like his whole life.
That is incredibly ableist.
Yeah, the candidate that I was supporting
was older than him and Trump's old, so it's fine.
- [Narrator] I believe abortion is a human right.
Piper?
- Strongly agree.
- [Narrator] Leah?
- Agree.
- [Narrator] Pranav?
- Strongly agree.
- [Narrator] Benjamin?
- Strongly agree.
- [Narrator] Chris?
- Strongly agree.
- [Narrator] Christine?
- Agree.
- I feel like there's a separation of church and state
and people just keep forgetting that, I don't know why.
And also, I don't think anyone likes abortion
and that choice is one that is incredibly traumatic
and hard for, I'm sure, a lot of people.
And I just really don't like
when people are like, "Well, no abortions,
no sex education, no free contraception, no nothing."
And it's like there's so many other things
that would actually help decrease
the amount of abortions that are had
if we could get better sex education in school,
easier access to contraception and healthcare.
- The word "abortion" is not in the Bible, step one.
Step two, I'm not having an abortion.
I would never do that if I'm in a situation.
That's what I believe, but that's not my job,
to enforce that on other people.
And going back to what you said, Leah,
like sex education, or why not putting
forth some type of like grant or something
if people decide not to abort.
Why not improving the foster care system?
I mean, they're not giving us any other options.
So you want me to have the baby,
but you're not gonna gimme anything to support it,
you're not gonna improve minimum wage,
and you're not gonna do anything in my neighborhood
to make this safe for my child, so what's next?
- First off, I don't believe that life starts at conception.
I do not believe that it constitutionally makes sense
for a fully grown woman to be constituted
on the same level as a cluster of cells,
and that they should give out...
Like they should have to sacrifice the right
to their bodily autonomy.
The second thing is also,
I kind of compare it to like prostitution.
Like it's going to happen to some extent regardless
and making it illegal and having there be institutions
and infrastructure for it to be safe and affordable
is a lot better.
Regardless of whether or not someone thinks
that an abortion is good,
you at least want like a woman to be safe.
- I think this is one of the biggest reasons
to vote for Joe Biden,
is because Trump has selected a Supreme Court nominee
who is devout at overturning Roe V. Wade.
If you support autonomy,
I think you have to vote for Joe Biden.
- [Narrator] Joe Biden has a racist past.
Piper?
- I say agree.
- [Narrator] Leah?
- Somewhat disagree.
- [Narrator] Pranav?
- Somewhat disagree.
- [Narrator] Benjamin?
- Somewhat disagree.
- [Narrator] Chris?
- Somewhat disagree.
- [Narrator] Christine?
- Somewhat disagree.
- I think this just goes back to like
what do we define as racism?
But just looking at his policies,
which are kind of the only thing we can go off of,
like the 1994 Crime Bill,
it almost exclusively targeted black Americans.
I know like he also in the Obama administration,
they had a lot of mass deportations,
war crimes in the Middle East
and all these things put together.
I can't determine his individual opinions
but all I can go off of is his policies.
And he just has a pretty racist history.
- I don't believe that Joe Biden,
the person, as an individual, is a racist man.
But I do think he has had a history
of not making choices that were the most equitable.
But I also think some of those choices
were a result of the cultural zeitgeist at the time.
And I don't think that Joe Biden necessarily
should be held to account
for the worst parts of that legislation.
Because I don't think that the legislation
was passed definitively in the interest
of putting more black people in jail.
That's what it did, because of the way everything
was structured at the time,
like more black people went to jail,
but I don't think Joe Biden was sitting
in a room legislating like,
"Hell yeah, (beep) these black people." For sure, for sure.
- Even if, which I don't believe to be the case at all,
even if he had like some ball of hatred in his heart
against like communities of color,
it's political suicide for him
not to help communities of color.
- As someone who has worked in the Biden campaign,
he has plans to help like African American communities.
He has plans to help Asian American
and Pacific Islander communities.
They're like on his website,
like they're part of the platform.
We have the power to hold him to it and say like,
"We elected you to do these things.
These are the things you promised us that you would do.
And now we expect you, because we voted for you,
like we expect you to follow through on those promises."
- [Narrator] Police departments should be defunded.
Piper?
- Strongly agree.
- [Narrator] Leah?
- Strongly agree.
- [Narrator] Pranav?
- Somewhat agree.
- [Narrator] Benjamin?
- Somewhat agree.
- [Narrator] Chris?
- Agree.
- [Narrator] And Christine.
- Somewhat disagree.
- I feel like there's not like...
If we were to defund the police now,
there's not structures in place
to reallocate that funding efficiently.
Like I feel like in order to defund the police,
we need to fund other things first.
And then we can just like build the pipeline
so that there's money to go into wherever we think is best.
I just worry that if we were to defund the police now,
it would just like get thrown back into the government
and then it would just like go somewhere else useless.
- So I say "somewhat disagree"
because like in Houston,
I'm part of like the Mayor's Student Leadership Alliance,
and something we've talked about with the mayor of Houston
is that he doesn't feel like the police should be defunded
but he feels like the money
that's in the police system right now
should go towards bringing other people into the system
to actually handle the issues
that police are getting called for
that have nothing to do with police.
Homelessness, mental health issues.
And so when I did a lot of research
and looking at what other Democratic candidates feel like,
a lot of those people don't feel like there needs
to be a defunding of the police,
but more so, a reform of the police structure
and how they facilitate the issues.
So I don't think that defunding the police
will lead to better policing.
- I think for me, after the aftermath of Ferguson,
which impacted my hometown,
I just started having some questions.
Like, why do they need tanks?
Why do they need these grenades?
Why are they at war with us?
And that, to me, just maybe take a step back
with some of the equipment
and resources that they have from the military.
And Christine, I 100% agree.
And I think when I support defunding the police,
I support dismantling the police,
which is very different from abolishing the police
even though people like to spin it as that.
And to me, there's already been enough police reform,
especially since 2014.
We've got the cameras, we've got trainings,
but there needs to be some sort of dismantling
or restructuring or something,
because whatever is happening is not working.
But of course, I would never say, get rid of the police,
but I definitely don't think that they need to have tanks,
especially if they're not doing implicit bias training.
- I think defund the police
has such a bad connotation to it,
because it does sound like this abrupt like,
"Take away all their money."
But you can't fit a whole public policy plan
into one slogan.
And I think that some of the top brains in policy writing
that support defunding the police
don't support just taking away all their funding
and doing nothing with it.
And I think honestly,
if you reallocate the funds well enough,
we won't even need police at all eventually
because why do police exist?
Because people are committing crimes.
Why does crime exist?
Because of poverty, because of all these other reasons.
So I think obviously, not all at once,
but if we gradually reallocate those funds
into other resources,
we could get rid of a lot of the things
that even require the need for police.
And maybe still have some law enforcement that exists
but it will not be as big of a thing as it is now.
- I think that is a very good point.
That one, a lot of these terms
have really strong connotations, right?
So like when Leah said "dismantle", I was like, "Jesus",
but like not even really understanding the perception
of dismantle that she had.
And so I think I really strongly agree
that when we say "defund the police",
where does that money go?
'Cause in my head, when I hear "defund the police",
I don't think that the police force
is then going to take away the ability
to buy tanks and all these different things,
I immediately think that they're gonna pay cops less.
And that's what I think a lot of people think.
'Cause what does defund mean?
And so this is what concerns me,
because like, and this is anyone, right?
You get underpaid for something that you're really good at
and you're like, "excuse me".
So I think that's a really good conversation to have.
- [Narrator] I am open to conservative ideas.
Piper?
- Somewhat disagree
- [Narrator] Leah?
- Agree.
- [Narrator] Pranav?
- Somewhat agree.
- [Narrator] Benjamin?
- Agree.
- [Narrator] Chris?
- Somewhat disagree.
- [Narrator] Christine?
- Strongly agree.
There are some conservative ideas that I do respect.
I think that a lot of what this boils down to
is not the issue itself,
but the implementation of the issue.
Like when I went to go look at the gun laws
that the Democrat primary candidates were looking at,
a lot of candidates were saying
that we should ban assault rifles.
And then most of them said
that they're not gonna buy them back.
And I'm like, "Okay, so we didn't prohibit this before.
Some people spent X amount of dollars on this assault rifle
and you're not at least gonna buy it back from them?"
Another thing I think about is the social welfare programs.
Do I think more people should be eligible for it? Yes.
Is there any measure on a lot of these programs
that get people off of the system
integrated back into the workforce? No.
So you have people who specifically
take advantage of the system,
and specifically take advantage of us as taxpayers.
- I think in life, I'm just generally invested
in just giving more.
Food, land, crops, money, whatever it is,
there is plenty in the United States.
We have the infrastructure
to support everyone in this country
significantly more than we do currently.
Warren's wealth tax is something
that I was really really in favor of.
And it's not something that those people are going to miss.
It's not like you're taking their livelihood from them,
you're simply repurposing a part of their livelihood
that they're honestly probably never going
to get the opportunity to use in the first place.
And making it so that other people
can be at least a slingshot closer.
So in that respect, I think conservative ideology
tends to be stingier, if you will.
- What America needs to do more
is to compare itself to other countries
and entities that have similar wealth.
In my political science class,
we're comparing the United States to the European Union.
Countries in the EU and large,
provide so many more social services to their people,
and their people are so much happier.
And the wealth gap in America
is so much greater than it is there.
I'm always willing to hear what the other side has to say,
but like I'm pretty well versed in politics at this point.
And I know that I honestly don't really agree
with any conservative ideas.
- I think for me, there can be a lot of unlikely allies.
But I think it depends on what the outcome is
of that conservative thinking,
like whether or not I might be open to listening to it.
So if they're like,
"Okay, I really wanna stimulate the economy.
We need more jobs."
And then the how is through green jobs
and green infrastructure, that's something
that could definitely have bipartisan support.
Like I'm talking with a church that is really passionate
and really wants to take a bold stance on climate.
And if I would've just kind of shut them out
because they do have some conservative ideologies,
then I feel like maybe we wouldn't be able
to, I guess, progress.
I don't want my ego to get so big,
where I think that the only way to be is like me.
But that doesn't justify policies
that lead to the oppression of other people.
That's another situation, but I can have empathy for them.
- [Narrator] I believe Joe Biden will win this election.
- Somewhat agree.
- I agree. But this is me knocking on wood.
- Somewhat agree.
- Strongly agree.
- Agree.
- I'm not willing to let the universe think
that I believe anything different
and I'm not willing to even let the words
from my mouth escape to encourage
any kind of taking away from that outcome.
When I get super down in the dumps,
I go on Twitter to @Trump_regrets
and just see posts from people who are like
"I can't believe I voted for you in 2016.
I'm voting for Biden now."
And I'm like, "(beep) yeah, dude",
just to see how many people have defected
and to even see the people
who hold themselves accountable in person,
like looking now, they're like,
"Hey, I thought maybe something different
would be by switching it up
and not sending a politician in office in 2016.
I am so sorry."
- It makes me hopeful
that in the same way a ton of people
have defected from Trump,
I literally do not see the opposite at all.
Like I don't see anyone who's previously Democrat,
and he's like, "You know what? (beep) it.
I'm just gonna vote for Trump."
Like no one is saying that,
which makes me like very, very, very happy.
- I mean, I put somewhat agree 'cause it depends,
like it depends on us doing the work behind the scenes
to like make that shit happen.
Elections aren't won 'cause people get complacent.
And so like, I don't want people to think for a day
between now and November 3rd
that we can take our foot off the pedal.
Like people are like,
"Oh, Biden is up 15 points nationally."
And I'm like, "Yeah. Hillary was up
like five points nationally,
and what did that do for her?"
Like we have to just keep working
to make this (beep) happen.
It's just going be a fight,
like literally every single day
from now until election day.
- That was great you guys.
- Bye. Nice meeting y'all.
Thank you so much. - Thank you.
(upbeat music)