The campus of Johnson C. Smith University, just outside uptown Charlotte, is typically bustling with students and faculty as you’d expect any small liberal arts college to be during a fall semester.
Although the campus at the historically Black university has been shut down by the coronavirus pandemic, that doesn’t mean the students aren’t engaging in what, for many, is their first opportunity to vote in a presidential election.
Spectrum News 1 is planning live coverage from across the state for election night, including from JCSU, where we will focus in part on youth voters as the results come in on Tuesday.
Spectrum will also anchor North Carolina Election Night live coverage from Greensboro, Wilmington and Fair Bluff, which has suffered through severe flooding from hurricanes Florence and Matthew.
We will tackle important issues in the election, including climate change, social justice and the coronavirus pandemic that continues to shape everyday life for North Carolinians.
As of a week before Election Day, Millennial and Gen Z voters, ages 18 to 39, made up almost a quarter of the ballots cast. Almost 12% of the votes cast so far have been from people under 29, according to state data and TargetSmart, a Democratic political data firm.
Eighteen to 29-year-olds are showing stronger interest in this year’s election than they have in decades, according to a poll out this week from Harvard University.
“Young Americans recognize that the issues that impact their day-to-day lives are on the ballot, from health care and mental health to racial and social justice. The unprecedented interest in this election and the significant increase in early and mail-in ballots portend historic turnout,” Mark Gearan, director of the Institute of Politics at Harvard Kennedy School, said in a statement.
“As this generation becomes the largest voting bloc in the electorate, their notable civic participation is a very good sign for the future,” Gearan said.
North Carolina has become a battleground for the presidential election, with Joe Biden taking a slim lead in the polls over Donald Trump. The Senate race between Republican incumbent Thom Tillis and Democrat Cal Cunningham could also be decided by a small margin. That race could help decide the balance of power in the U.S. Senate.
Polling shows that a majority of young voters lean Democratic, and high turnout for North Carolinians under 30 in the election could be good news for Biden.
“The more young voters show up and vote, the more trouble Trump and Tillis will have this year,” Rachel Weber, with NextGen America, told Spectrum News 1. NextGen is a left-leaning youth vote organization.
She said young voters are most concerned with climate change, racial justice, health care costs and the cost of college.
Asked about their efforts to attract youth voters, the Trump campaign touted the president's economic record.
"President Trump's record of economic success and his pro-America agenda resonates with young voters. North Carolina Trump Victory shares that winning message through a robust youth outreach program that has a presence on over 25 college campuses statewide," Trump Campaign North Carolina spokesman Gates McGavick said.
A recent Spectrum News poll found that a majority of North Carolinians, 60%, say that racism is a “significant problem” in the state. Fifty-four percent of the state supports the Black Lives Matter movement, according to the poll.
The poll showed the biggest issue for a majority of North Carolinians of all ages is the coronavirus pandemic, followed by unemployment and health care.
But for many young voters, racial justice and the Black Lives Matter movement has been a major part of 2020.
Charlotte has been the scene for regular racial justice protests over the summer after the police killing of George Floyd in May, and in the runup to the Republican National Convention. Other cities in North Carolina, including Raleigh, Greensboro and Wilmington saw protests over Confederate monuments and response to police killings.