Mixed Feelings About Presidential Election

NEW YORK CITY

“I don’t actually care that much about the direction of the country. It doesn’t matter what I think about it, because I’m not motivated enough to try and make a change in the way things need to change,” said J.C. Reyes, a thirty-four-year-old former marine from Brooklyn. Reyes’ bleak outlook about the country extends to the upcoming presidential election.  People we talked with wonder whether former President Donald Trump or Vice President Kamala Harris can make a difference.

Those who do pay attention and worry about the future said that safety, the economy and the national debt are their primary concerns. Josh Parham a thirty-year-old tech startup executive honed in on the country’s 1.9trillion dollar deficit.  He said, “I think our biggest trouble is our current fiscal debt. It’s beginning to balloon to the point where our ability to service the debt may exceed our GDP and that has serious implications and consequences to both the U.S. dollar as the leading universal global currency and our buying power as a nation. The only candidate so far within the election to offer a plan forward for the economy has been Vice President Harris but the balancing of the budget is still to be seen within congress.” 

Alex Munster, a twenty-nine-year-old banker, voting for VP Harris said, “The way politics has become more like a reality TV show than a leading guide to the nation. Now, it’s a joke to both them and the majority of people.” Munster does agree with Trump’s view that, “If nothing changes, the country falls off the worldwide stage and we lose a lot of benefits we have as being America as well as lose permanently power and respect.”  

On the campus of The City College of New York (CCNY)  Derrick Thomas Jr. worries about safety especially for LGBTQ+ people. “I feel that there has not been much legislative advancement made to ensure safety and protection for queer and trans people in the country. Over the past few years many politicians haven’t kept to their promises to enforce better procedures. Especially those that would explicitly work to limiting hate crimes against nonbinary and trans individuals and defining what is a hate crime in these instances,” he said. 

Derrick will be voting for Harris because, “I know that I cannot survive another Trump presidency, ” he explained.  He sighed and said, “I have no other choice but to vote for Kamala.”