By: Preston Hill
A few weeks ago, prior to the looming October 11th voter registration deadline, the political junkie in me attempted to accomplish the bare minimum and convince my roommates to fill out the tedious forms and register to vote. Despite their disinterest in politics, I knew if I could at least register them, I could put off the part where I try to convince them who to vote for.
However, my friends, knowing I am a vehement supporter of Donald Trump, were reluctant to register and asked me a question: “You support and campaign for Trump, right, so why do you as a college student care if he becomes president as opposed to Kamala Harris; what difference does it make to you?” Allow me to tell you what I told them.
For the first time since 1892, a president of the United States is running for a non-consecutive term. In 1884, President Grover Cleveland won a four-year term but was defeated as an incumbent in 1988 by Benjamin Harrison. However, Cleveland decided to run again in 1892 and won four more years.
In the year 2024, former President Donald Trump stands in that same position. For voters, having a sitting vice president and former president on the ballot as the two main options can be vital in determining who to vote for. Voters have lived under four years of Trump as president and almost four years of Harris as vice president. Because of this very unique situation, voters can ask themselves: “Was my life better under the Trump administration or the Biden-Harris administration?”
However, as current college students, we never had the chance to live life as adults in the “real world” under Trump. However, a lot of voters have and the data suggests they prefer life under Trump.
According to a CNN poll, 55% of voters say Trump’s presidency was a success, while 39% disapproved of the Biden Administration. Of course, Harris is not president, she is vice president, so it may seem unfair to assign her blame for the unpopularity of the Biden Administration. However, in a recent appearance on The View, when asked whether she would do anything different than President Joe Biden for the past four years, Harris said that “there is not a thing that comes to mind” and that she had been “a part of most of the decisions that have had impact.” Based on what Harris said in this interview, there is no reason to believe that policies under a Harris Administration would look any different from President Biden’s.
The question now becomes: who should we college students trust more to run the country successfully for us? Uniquely, the answer lies in the records of what the last two administrations were able to actually accomplish. I will make the case that there are a few questions college students should take to the polls when considering who to vote for: under Trump or Harris was America safer? Under Trump or Harris was America wealthier? But, ultimately the question becomes: do you want to change the status quo, and return to a world under Trump, or keep life as is under Biden-Harris? Those are the two options.
As to the first question of America’s safety, two types of safety affect college students: safety from the threat of global conflict and safety in your own country. With regards to global conflicts, the Trump administration had, for the first time since the 1970’s, no new troops enter into a foreign conflict. In fact, America was withdrawing troops. Dictators like Vladimir Putin and Kim Jong Un cooperated with America, so much so that Trump was the first sitting president to set foot in North Korea. The fewest American troops died in combat since the 1990s and the threat of a military draft was extremely low, meaning you or I faced little chance of serving in conflict. Contrast this with the Biden-Harris administration. Every day, conflicts are being escalated, whether it is between Ukraine and Russia or in the Middle East. Russia is threatening nuclear weapons if NATO continues to arm Ukraine with missiles, Hamas is attacking Israel, and Israel is engaging in military operations in Lebanon, Palestine, and Iran. When the Biden-Harris administration tried to withdraw troops, 13 American soldiers were killed. A strong America is a safe America, and under Donald Trump’s leadership, America was a stronger nation.
When it comes to safety within American borders, violent crime decreased by 3% from 2017-2019 during the Trump administration, despite briefly increasing in 2020 due to a mixture of the pandemic and the George Floyd protests. By Trump’s final year, illegal border crossings were the lowest since 1972. Under the Biden-Harris administration, however, violent crime increased by 6% from 2021-2023. Moreover, the Biden-Harris administration has allowed 10 million illegal immigrants into this country since 2021 and roughly 400,000 in December 2023 alone. 13,000 of those 10 million have been convicted of murder and 425,000 were convicted of other felony crimes– and that’s only the ones who were first caught and released into the country. While President Biden has actually taken some steps to secure the border, his vice president is not so eager to do so. In fact, it is likely even more of these murderers would enter the country given that Harris says that crossing the border illegally shouldn’t even be a criminal offense at all. In the summer of 2020, Harris encouraged people to support the Minnesota Freedom Fund, a group that bailed violent repeat offenders out of jail during the Black Lives Matter riots. The records speak for themselves; America will be safer under a second Trump administration than a Harris administration.
Now, let’s move on to the topic that concerns most college students: the economy. Which candidate is going to put newly graduated college students in a better position?
To begin, let’s look at inflation.
The Covid-19 pandemic obviously has been a large factor in inflation, but even still, inflation was lower each month under the Trump administration compared to the Biden-Harris administration. Inflation rose at an average of 1.8% from 2017-2020, pre–Covid, under Trump. However, even under the best month of the Biden-Harris economy, inflation was 2.5%.
Inflation is a broad word, however, and often misses real-world economic effects felt by real people. For example, food and groceries are up 24% since 2019, despite Covid being 4 years in the past. The cost to buy a home is up 40% in that same time frame. To buy a home in the year 2024, you need to make 80% more than you did in 2019, despite income increasing by 23%. In other words, under Trump, you could make $59,000 and buy a house; under Biden-Harris you need to make a staggering $100,000. Mortgage rates have doubled from around 3.5% to 7%. Buying a home in the year 2024 is much more difficult than the 2017-2020 time period. Gas prices were at one point around 80% higher than 2019, and are still 24% higher today.
The factors that most play into the economic circumstances of college students, however, are only partially influenced by the decisions regarding monetary and fiscal policy. Much of these impacts come from other areas such as immigration policy and foreign policy. For example, the war in Ukraine caused gas prices to skyrocket, and there is a fear that the conflict in the Middle East could cause an increase yet again. Prices were low under Trump in part because of the remarkable period of peace the world experienced, resulting in no massive shortages or backups. That is until Covid, of course, which caused the world economy to tumble.
Additionally, the law of supply and demand teaches us that when there is more demand than supply, prices increase. America continues to allow millions and millions of immigrants, both legal and illegal into the country, during a time in which prices are already high, leading to even higher demand, and by default higher prices for homes and goods. College students were financially better set up to succeed under the leadership and decision-making of Trump. The policies of Donald Trump will lead to a 2019-like, pre-Covid economy, which is far better than a 2024, post-Covid economy.
Upon examining the status quo of America, the question more broadly becomes: “do you want change?” In this election, change means returning to goods and home affordability. Change means returning to a world with little conflict. Change means returning to safety both domestically and abroad. America once enjoyed this reality, and for the first time in 132 years, we get a second chance to return to the America we once experienced. The difference is this time, we college students get to be a part of it as adults in the real world. All we have to do is vote.