(Julianna Frieman, Headline USA) Gen Z voters who struggled to pick between President-elect Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris revealed the key moments of the election that changed their minds in an interview released early Wednesday.
Seven of 13 voters ages 19 to 27 told The New York Times they cast their ballot for Trump—with others writing in candidates to avoid voting for Harris.
Three young voters said Vice President-elect JD Vance was instrumental in their decision to vote for the Republican ticket.
Three undecided young voters cast their ballots for Trump because of Vice President-elect J.D. Vance.
Source: The New York Times pic.twitter.com/rYTnYmuVBU
— Julianna Frieman (@JuliannaFrieman) November 14, 2024
“I shocked myself and voted for Trump. No one tell my family,” 25-year-old McLane, who lives in Washington, D.C., told the outlet. “I was so impressed by JD Vance, the way he carried himself and how normal he appeared.”
The voter added that one particular ad caught their attention.
“I think I became radicalized on the men and women’s sports issue. The ad that said, ‘Kamala represents they/them. Trump represents you,’ that was so compelling,” McLane said. “While Trump is deranged, he represented normalcy somehow to me.”
One undecided woman in D.C. says she was “radicalized” to vote Trump because of men in women’s sports.
“While Trump is deranged, he represented normalcy somehow to me.”
Source: The New York Times pic.twitter.com/Al6C1BoJ0L
— Julianna Frieman (@JuliannaFrieman) November 14, 2024
Joseph, a 24-year-old from South Carolina who voted for Trump after his appearance on The Joe Rogan Experience, blasted left-leaning media for “carrying Kamala Harris’s water.”
Meanwhile, 25-year-old Jasper of California, a 2020 Biden voter, said he switched sides for Trump because Democrats preferred her political rhetoric over policy.
Lillian, a 27-year-old woman with a young daughter, said the Left’s “abortion misinformation” lured her into Trump’s camp.
She pointed to media and White House spin of Biden’s “garbage” comment and the Puerto Rico joke at Trump’s Madison Square Garden rally as reasons for her vote.
“When I had my son almost a year ago, I had a hemorrhage. And I live in a state with an abortion ban. And I was still able to receive lifesaving care,” Lillian told the outlet. “I had a visceral reaction to people saying I wouldn’t have received care, because it’s a lie.”
She commented on how the media attempts to fuel fear.
“If they’re preying on people’s ignorance and, quite frankly, their stupidity and their fear, I want nothing to do with it,” she added.
Others also blamed mainstream media meltdowns, such as the Liz Cheney “shooting” hoax, as the reason they voted for Trump.
Only two of the thirteen voters cast ballots for Harris.
Three voters told the outlet they wrote in candidates, with a voter from Maryland writing in Gov. Larry Hogan and a voter from New York writing in former New York City Mayor Mike Bloomberg.
Democrat Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro, who Harris snubbed when she picked Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz as her running mate, was the write-in candidate of a 19-year-old male voter from New York.
However, he told the outlet he would not have voted for Harris even if Shapiro was tapped as vice president.
“Yeah, so as someone who voted for Josh Shapiro, I still don’t think I would have voted for Harris. She’d have been the president, and he would have been vice president,” the first-time voter said.
Julianna Frieman is a freelance writer published by the Daily Caller, Headline USA, The Federalist, and The American Spectator. Follow her on Twitter at @JuliannaFrieman.
