By Halcyon Orvendal
With the upcoming 2024 U.S. presidential election on Nov. 5, anxieties are rising. As a small , left-leaning liberal arts college in Portland, Lewis & Clark cultivates a unique variety of perspectives and responses with regard to this year’s election — which are highlighted by a series of interviews with faculty and students.
Leilani Meshoulam Fabian ’27 shared her experience of watching the U.S. election unfold. Fabian, who is from Mexico City, voted in her country’s elections this past June. She spoke about the impact of the U.S. presidential elections on the rest of the world, the relief and regret of not being able to vote in this election and her concerns surrounding abortion access and continued U.S. support for Israel.
This is Fabian’s first time experiencing a U.S. presidential election unfold firsthand, as a student whose residency, collegiate education and future professional opportunities will likely be impacted by the outcome of the election.
“This is my first one. The 2020 one, I was in Mexico. It was very scary. Everybody was very concerned about it,” said Fabian. “Since we’re so connected to the U.S., and everything that happens in the U.S. affects us, we’re always like, ‘Okay, we need to be aware of what’s going on there,’” Fabian said.
In response to a question about what major concerns she has regarding the upcoming election, Fabian identified Project 2025, and subsequently abortion access, as two pressing issues. She also highlighted Vice President Kamala Harris’ support of Israel and the current administration’s lack of acknowledgment of Palestinian victims as a major concern of hers.
“We already know Trump has a lot of views on Mexicans and immigrant labor,” Fabian said. “Right now, what I’m more concerned about, though, is Project 2025. I think Trump has been making a lot of claims that he’s not supporting this, but in reality, a lot of the policies that he has passed before, or policies that he has supported, support Project 2025.”
A major tenet of Project 2025 is criminalizing and reducing access to abortion, which Fabian put in dialogue with Mexico’s recent advancements in reproductive rights. Shortly after Roe v. Wade was overturned in the U.S. on June 24, 2022, individual states began to enact abortion bans to varying degrees. Fabian recalled that the regression of abortion rights on a state level in the U.S coincided with the decriminalization of abortion rights in Mexico.
“Now, a lot of people from the U.S. go into Mexico, if they’re by the border, to have abortions, because it’s legal and it’s cheaper and it’s easier, you’re not going to be prosecuted,” said Fabian.
She then pivoted to discuss her concerns about Harris as a candidate.
“The other thing I’m concerned about is Palestine,” she said. “I don’t like Trump, but I think Kamala Harris is also really bad.”
She pointed specifically to the current administration’s support of Israel.
“The support this current administration has given to Israel and the lack of acknowledgment towards the genocide and Palestine victims is so messed up,” said Fabian. “It’s a modern genocide that we’re seeing, that we’re experiencing right now, and the fact that a lot of people aren’t more concerned about that, and how current policies and current actors are affecting it, it’s so messed up. I think people need to be more aware and more active and keep moving forward and keep asking their representatives to do something about it.”
In response to a question about whether or not she felt more optimistic about the election after Biden dropped out, Fabian expressed a preference for Harris over Biden despite Harris’ relative indifference towards Palestinian victims.
“I was so happy Kamala Harris stepped up. I think it’s a really good representation for BIPOC people, for women, I think that’s great. I still think she’s a horrible monster, but I do think it’s a good step towards representation. It’s a weird dichotomy.”
She noted that in Mexico’s most recent presidential election, there were two female candidates, unlike the U.S. presidential election, where Harris is only the second woman to run for president as a major party nominee in the history of the country.
Fabian then shared her perspective on the value of voting, as someone who cannot vote in this election, but sympathizes with the moral conflict many Gen Z voters are experiencing this year.
“People should vote,” she said. “I think it’s really important. I know it’s horrible, the options that you guys have right now. It’s really bad, but you still need to be heard.”
She emphasized the value and privilege of being able to vote in a country like the U.S., whose elections and policies hold weight in other parts of the world.
“You can’t just give away that right and that opportunity,” said Fabian. “There’s people in this world that don’t get the opportunity to vote. They don’t get the opportunity to choose who’s going to be elected and who’s going to be in office.”
She urged U.S. citizens to vote, regardless of their moral conflicts about the presidential candidates.
“How can you claim to be a free state if you’re not willing to exert those freedoms?” said Fabian. “You have freedom of speech. Use it.”
She expressed a sense of relief that she did not have to navigate this election’s particular moral conflicts as a voter, although she still wishes she could have a voice in the election.
“It’s relieving, in a way, that I don’t have to make this choice,” said Fabian. “But I would so love to vote. I would love to have a say in what’s going to happen. I came here into this country because I had the opportunity to study in a place that was really cool, that has really good credentials, that’s gonna make my life better in some way. And I also have to be concerned about like, oh, this might be taken away.”
She described the potential impacts of the outcome of a Trump election in her life.
“How is that gonna affect how I’m perceived in the country?” said Fabian. “How is that gonna affect the kind of financial aid that I’m getting, or how’s that gonna affect the possibility of getting employed after college?”
Fabian re-emphasized the impact of policies on people’s individual lives.
“Policies impact stigma and stereotypes and biases, and then affect possibilities and choices and opportunities,” she said. “I would love to vote. I would love to be able to do something about it. I’m happy that I don’t have to make that choice, that I’ve already made my own choice in my country, but it’s weird. It’s weird being in a country that you can’t vote in.”
When asked to describe the upcoming election with three words, Fabian chose the words “scary,” “pivotal” and “monumental.”
An interview with Associate Professor of Political Science Ben Gaskins shed light upon generational differences in voting patterns surrounding major issues according to recent election polls.
Gaskins identified a communal sense of anxiety regarding the election in the LC community.
“Anxiety is through the roof,” he said. “This is the third election where Donald Trump has been the Republican nominee, and almost every student and every faculty thinks that he is uniquely unfit to be president, and has a huge amount of fear around what he could do as president, and this time in particular, he’d be less constrained by administration, by Congress.”
He cited the close polls as a driving force behind general concern surrounding the presidential election.
“Polls showed Clinton and Biden up by substantially more than the polls are now, and Trump beat Clinton, almost won the electoral college in 2020. Given that the polls are within, nationally, two points right now, there is just a sense of deja vu, of the Democrat being ahead, but this time far more narrowly,” said Gaskins. “There’s just a lot of concern, a desire for information, a desire to try and define what is going to happen. But ultimately, we don’t know.”
He suggested that younger generations experience more negativity and disillusionment than older generations when it comes to voting, after having seen Trump as a presidential candidate for the past three election cycles.
“The Biden administration, which Kamala Harris is obviously a part of, is so deeply, profoundly emotionally and morally repugnant to so many students,” he said. “I think that they don’t necessarily see Trump as uniquely awful, and are so deeply disgusted with the Biden administration that they feel very conflicted and perhaps less motivated to really get out and support them, even though Trump could be worse and that issue and on so many other issues, there’s just not that sense of urgency or positive, intrinsic motivation that existed, maybe when Obama was running in 2008.”
Gaskins acknowledged that in elections past, there has historically been less turnout with younger voters.
“Turnout is always and has always been lower for young voters compared to middle age and especially older voters,” he said. “So that’s a tale as old as time. I think the question is, will we see a drop off in youth vote now compared to four years ago? And will that be made up for in higher turnout among older people and middle-aged people?”
When asked about what major issues he sees as deciding factors in people’s votes this election, Gaskins identified the economy, inflation, immigration, democracy and abortion as the top five.
He explained why he thinks the conflict in the Middle East is not a determining factor in most U.S. citizens’ votes this election.
“It’s interesting, the way it can really dominate the conversation in one area, but gets much less attention in part because most Americans don’t really know or care about foreign policy. As long as there’s violence and misery happening over there, it’s out of sight, out of mind,” he said. “Kamala Harris is not pro-Palestine, or Donald Trump is pro-Israel, where there is a very clear distinction. Both are pro-Israel, with slightly different support for Palestinian sovereignty and independence and how to end of the conflict. You’re just not seeing it be this, really top-of-the-mind issue for the vast majority of voters, the way that it is for, I think, people of this collegiate generation.”
He also noted that climate change and environmental policy seems to have been deprioritized in this year’s election.
“There just really isn’t the urgency that you’re seeing from politicians,” he said. “I don’t see even the Harris campaign talking at all about climate change … I haven’t seen environmental issues really be front and center.”
He tied the presidential election back to the LC community and speculated that there could be less incentive to vote among students at LC because of the lower stakes in the state of Oregon for Democratic voters.
“We are in a weird place where we are very progressive as a school, and the student body is, by and large, in states where their vote is not going to count,” said Gaskins. “If you’re from California, Oregon or Washington, you can sit out and that’s not going to affect the outcome. We’re not Pennsylvania, we’re not Wisconsin, right?”
He emphasized the privilege of being able to choose to sit out on voting in an election.
“I wonder if that also affects the way that people see politics. Like, my vote’s not going to matter anyway, so there’s no cost to not voting. I can’t morally get behind either candidate, right? So I get to sit out. That’s kind of a privileged position to be in,” he said. “Also the sense that I’m insulated from American politics, that if Trump wins, I’ll be okay anyway. That’s in many ways a privileged position to be in that a lot of Americans aren’t.”
Laika Moran ’27 also expressed dissatisfaction with the Democratic candidate. They provided insight into what issues they think are most important to Gen Z voters and discussed third-party voting, swing states and the efficacy of democracy.
This is Moran’s first time voting in a U.S. presidential election. They will be voting in the state of Oregon.
“I get the sense that a lot of people in our generation are not super excited about this election, and I think that sentiment was there in 2020 as well,” they said. “I don’t want to speak for too many people at once, or claim to speak for a group of people, but there’s a sentiment … in terms of people on our campus, that the Democratic candidate is not really aligning with a lot of people’s interests.”
They pointed to general discontent with the Biden administration as a factor in Harris’ reputation with younger voters.
“I think in general, especially during the Biden presidency, a lot of people were frustrated with the party, particularly with the failure to deliver on some of the campaign promises,” said Moran. “The Biden administration, at least in my view, over the last four years has been pretty underwhelming.”
Nonetheless, they recalled a renewed sense of optimism when Biden dropped out of the race.
“Biden dropping out of the race did bring a new life to the campaign,” Moran said. “It made it feel a little more possible, I think. And this is entirely speculation on my part, but I think if the Democrats had decided to run Joe Biden this November, I think we would have seen a pretty decisive loss.”
Moran identified Palestinian liberation, trans rights and the housing market as increasingly relevant issues for young voters.
“I think trans rights is a big one,” they said. “I think that’s a big argument I’ve seen in favor of voting Democrat this year.”
Moran shifted gears to talk about their concerns for a potential Trump victory, and how that relates to younger voters’ concerns about Harris and the option to vote for third-party candidates.
“The biggest concern for me as a left-wing voter is the possibility of a Trump victory,” they said.
Moran described feeling “unenthusiastic” as a voter in the upcoming election.
“I think a lot of people feel like they’re voting for the Democrats out of necessity,” Moran said.
They also described the upcoming election as “anxiety-inducing.”
“I’m anxious. I imagine most of us are,” said Moran. “At the same time, though, it’s got this air of stagnancy, where it feels like there’s been very little opportunity to push for progressive policies on a national level, and I think it’s really unfortunate.”
They shared that the moral conflict they are experiencing as a voter in this presidential election primarily centers around the Democratic Party’s lack of support for Palestinian liberation.
“In the last couple months, the Democratic Party has moved somewhat from expressing ambivalence to token support to occasionally outspoken support for Israel’s actions, and I think that is really putting a lot of young people off, myself included,” said Moran. “So that’s where the major conflict comes in for me. I don’t love the prospect of voting for a candidate who is repeating rhetoric that we’re hearing from politicians in Israel, who is not outspokenly in support of Palestine or Palestinian liberation and is at best, maybe, an advocate for a two-state solution … That does not inspire confidence.”
Moran shared that they do not know anybody who is actively choosing not to vote, but that they do know several voters who, in light of dissatisfaction with the Democratic Party, will be voting for third-party candidates instead of either of the major-party candidates.
“Obviously it’s your right not to vote,” said Moran. “And I think that’s an important right that we have.”
They supported the autonomy of each individual in choosing to vote or not to vote, but emphasized the importance of a state’s political climate in informing that decision.
“I think it’s up to the individual, regardless of what I would prefer,” they said. “Personally, if I were living in a swing state — if I were living in Pennsylvania or Michigan or something — I would consider myself obligated to vote for the Democratic party. I think in this situation, unfortunately, the stakes are too high.”
Moran tied the conversation back to the unique political climate of Portland, emphasizing that left-leaning voters did not face as much pressure to cast a Democratic vote in Multnomah County, which has historically voted in favor of Democratic candidates in past elections.
“As someone who lives in a deeply blue county, I feel comfortable entertaining the idea of voting for a third party,” Moran said. “But that comes from a place of privilege, right? Living in Portland means that I can cast my vote essentially however I want, nationally, and my representative is going to vote blue.”
John Mbanda ’25, is from Rwanda. As a dual citizen of Rwanda and the U.S., he will have voted twice this year after this week — once in Rwanda’s General Elections this past July and once in the U.S. election this November. He shared his perspective on this year’s presidential election as an international affairs scholar and as a dual citizen, situating the U.S. in a global context.
“In the grand scheme of things, I think a lot of people have looked at the U.S. election as the most important one,” he said. “But the truth is, this year has been coined the year of elections by international observers, because some 3.5 billion people around the globe are either heading to the polls or have already … The U.S. is far from being the only important election.”
Mbanda identified student debt relief, abortion and democracy as three of the issues most important to him as a voter in this election.
“As a student who’s graduating soon, I care a lot about student debt relief,” said Mbanda. “I want a government that cares about its young population. I want a government that is thinking about us, that is thinking about how we can be incorporated into the larger society without having to struggle for ten years or more trying to pay off debt.”
He also expressed concern about a possible second Trump presidency.
“Having somebody in office who will not try to yield their power and turn this country into an authoritarian regime is pretty important,” he said.
Mbanda emphasized the tendency for students at LC and voters in the U.S. to overlook certain global conflicts.
“People are genuinely concerned about what is going on in Gaza, not so much what is going on in Sudan and the Congo and Ukraine, which are also very important parts of the world that are seeing conflict, but are often overlooked or brushed under the rug, especially when we’re talking about African countries.”
Mbanda called attention to the left-leaning political culture at LC.
“This is a very, very liberal bubble here at Lewis & Clark, which I’m not always fond of,” he said. “I wish there was a wider array of ideas on campus. I wish people were allowed to express their ideas, even if they don’t fit in with the conventional way of thinking here at Lewis & Clark”
He elaborated on the political climate for students who may not fit into the liberal stereotypes at LC.
“I know people, who … have pretty conservative views about things,” he said. “I definitely know people who come from the East Coast or the South, they’re just not as comfortable expressing their views compared to those who come from California and the West Coast.”
He shifted to talk about the potential global impacts of a Trump presidency.
“If Trump is to be elected, that means that we’ll go back to demonizing a lot of these countries, and more specifically speaking, these Muslim countries,” Mbanda said “They will be characterized as lesser people … But also, we’ll probably see a divergence from global cooperation and more of an isolationist standpoint of the U.S., which is not going to serve the global South.”
He emphasized that each country will experience the impacts of the U.S. election differently.
“There’s a real danger in grouping the whole global south into one, but largely speaking, I think the global South will be demonized if (former) President Trump is to be re-elected. But also, there are some worries if Kamala Harris is to be elected. So I don’t think one is good or one is bad,” Mbanda said.
He discussed the impact of the election on global educational opportunities.
“From a Rwandan perspective, which I can speak more confidently, I think that a lot of people in my country are hoping for a Harris election,” he said. “With globalization, lots of people from Sub-Saharan Africa are looking for opportunities to come and learn from the U.S., in hopes of implementing what they learn here in their countries and in their economies, in hopes that they can elevate their countries to a better standing in the global stage.”
Mbanda elaborated that he doubted a Trump presidency would be conducive to welcoming international students into the U.S.
“I don’t think that Trump will, for example, expand the number of international students who can study here, but I have a feeling that Harris will increase the number — even if it’s not too much, it’s an increase,” said Mbanda.
In his final thoughts, Mbanda expressed hope that in the future, the U.S.’ political climate would not be as polarized, and urged voters to participate in this year’s election.
“I think that this election, if it taught us one thing, is that there’s a high polarization that is happening within this country,” said Mbanda. “But I have hope still, and I really, really, really hope that going forward, we’re able to talk to each other more — conservatives, liberals, Black, white, immigrants, Natives, all of that. I think that this country is made better by celebrating diversity. And coming November here, there’s a real chance that there could be a disruption to what this country has been building since 1776 and there’s potential to go backwards. That should raise eyebrows and should raise alarms to anybody who’s able to vote, and hopefully give you reason to go out and vote.”
With election day only four days away, anxiety is on the rise. The Center for Social Change and Community Involvement will be hosting a variety of events before, during and after Nov. 5 to discuss and debrief feelings, predictions and concerns related to the election.
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