Note: This roundtable is a collaboration between Daily Campus, the University of Connecticut’s student newspaper and The College Voice.
As Election Day quickly approaches, students at the University of Connecticut and Connecticut College are solidifying their voting plans. Some will return to their hometowns to cast their ballot, while others will participate in mail-in voting or early voting. With the great accessibility to gather information and election news, students are using a variety of platforms, including social media, to learn about the candidates and make informed decisions. In this roundtable, writers from The Daily Campus and The College Voice interviewed their peers to gather insights on how Connecticut students are approaching this election.
Karla Perez, Associate Managing Editor for The Daily Campus, she/her/hers, karla.perez@uconn.edu
This presidential election will be the second time Mia Jaworski, a senior journalism major at UConn, will be voting. She will be commuting to cast her ballot in her hometown of West Hartford, Conn. She said that she sees voting as taking part in something momentous.
However, for this presidential election, Jaworski said she has not been following it very closely because it is “overwhelming to the point of [her] becoming upset.” She said that what election content she does come across is on TikTok. However, she said that she does not seek the information out. Rather, it’s the algorithm that brings the content to her attention.
Jaworski said she feels “powerless in presidential elections” because she feels that there is a lot of pressure on the president. She said that because of the intense polarization within the Senate and House of Representatives, presidents rarely can accomplish all that they may want to. She said she thinks that many conversations between political candidates steer toward attacking other peoples’ characters rather than discussing policies.
Jaworski’s first time voting was during the 2021 state elections. She said that she believes that voting for representatives of a specific area gives voters “power in things that directly affect [them].” Despite her sentiments toward the presidential election, she still believes that voting is important.
Bridget Bronsdon, Sports Editor for The Daily Campus, she/her/hers, bridget.bronsdon@uconn.edu
As social media’s influence grows by the day and becomes one of the biggest parts of today’s interconnected world, many students turn to various platforms to receive their news. Though there can be valuable and factual information on the platforms, it can also be plagued with dangerous disinformation.
Elliott Greenblatt, junior political science student at UConn said he gets most of his news from X, formerly known as Twitter. Greenblatt said the app is riddled with “conspiracy theories” and “misinformation,” and it is often “very hard” to sort out the truth. “You’ve got to find multiple sources and corroborate it with a couple other sources just to make sure it’s actually true,” he said.
As for the politician’s pages on X, Greenblatt said there is a wide variety of content posted. Some solely use their page to “trash their opponent” while others post “uplifting” information regarding their policies and plans for office, he said. While Greenblatt said the “trash talk” is disheartening, those posting factual policy plans are helpful for the public.
Despite the misinformation, Greenblatt said he is “feeling good” about the election. Though he plans on traveling 40 minutes to his hometown to cast his vote, Greenblatt is motivated to vote against Republican candidate Donald Trump and “his policies.”
Dan Stark, Campus Correspondent for The Daily Campus, he/him/his, daniel.stark@uconn.edu
Elijah Hammond, a freshman analytics and information management major at UConn, is one of many students who has been following the presidential election closely and plans to vote in-person in his hometown of Southington, Conn., on Election Day. He’s been keeping up with the campaign by getting news from a variety of sources, but he is dissatisfied with what he views as the overall negative tone of election coverage.
“I try to diversify and get viewpoints from both Republican and Democratic views,” he said. “It is definitely difficult during this time frame because I feel like instead of reporting on actual news they’re just attacking the other party, which makes it extremely hard to gather any sort of truth.”
Among the issues that are most important to Hammond are gun control and abortion. However, what’s most important to him is finding compromise on those issues, which he said is key to making legislative progress.
“My whole ideology is that nothing’s going to happen unless there’s compromise,” he said. “You can say guns are bad all you want, you can say guns are good all you want, nothing’s going to change if you’re on both sides of the extreme.”
Hammond said that while he’s not feeling stressed about the election, he’s more concerned about the two-party system as a whole and what he views as the flaws of the system.
“The fact that we only have these two options and that there are people who have no idea who they’re going to vote for is evidentiary to the fact that our political system is sort of failing, and that’s how I’ve been thinking for a long time,” he said.
Tara Kamen, she/her/hers, tkamen@conncoll.edu
As dedicated ambassador for Camels Vote, Connecticut College’s voting initiative program, Sophia Williams ‘26, a Government and Dance double major, is passionate about motivating students to take an active role in shaping the future of their country.
“Our Camels Vote team has been working tirelessly to host events that resonate with students,” Williams said. From engaging events like “Goats for Votes” to lively debate watch parties, the initiative aims to make civic engagement both fun and meaningful. “I want to instill in students that engaging in democracy matters, whether at the local, state, or national level,” she said.
In her role, Williams helps facilitate discussions about the importance of voting and shares vital information about registration and voting options. “Our main purpose is to equip students with the tools they need to participate in our democracy,” she said. The initiative has included visiting classrooms to raise awareness about upcoming elections and ensuring students feel informed about their voting rights. A highlight of her involvement this semester was serving as a panelist for debate for Connecticut’s second district, noting that “it was an incredible opportunity to represent student voices and engage in discussions that matter to our community.”
The response from her fellow students has been overwhelmingly positive. “Political engagement among our peers is incredibly strong,” Williams noted, mentioning that Camels Vote has seen significant interest in voter registration and participation. “We currently have the highest percentage of students in the country who have taken The Pledge to Vote, with over 500 Camels committed to casting their ballots this November,” she said.
“Being part of this election feels monumental,” she said, reflecting on her journey. “I want to inspire others to recognize the power of their vote and encourage them to be engaged citizens.”
Kevin Lieue, he/him/his, klieue@conncoll.edu
While most young adult voters rely on mainstream media for information on candidates, Mia Whipple ‘27, a English and Philosophy double major, gets most of her information straight from the source. “I’m getting most of the information from the candidates directly since I follow them [on social media],” said Whipple. “I feel like seeing it from them is the best source of information because it can’t be fabricated at all.”
Whipple believes that this is changing her perception of the election but not necessarily in a bad way. “When you are seeing something live you see what people say and the facts,” said Whipple. “The more news sources and journalists [information] goes through the more possibility there is for misunderstanding or manipulation of what candidates said.”
Although there are news sources that are not all manipulating the words of candidates, Whipple believes that most are. “There are news sources that are obviously more center but in general it is very left or very right and while I obviously have a party alignment, I don’t like to read things from the lenses of a party, which is generally hard to come by in news,” said Whipple.
As a result of journalistic manipulation, Whipple believes a lot of people don’t have the right information. “I’ll be talking to someone who will say ‘Oh I’m voting for so and so because the other candidate said this’ but then if you look it up the candidate actually didn’t say that,” said Whipple.
The content Whipple has seen has not had a terrible impact on her mental health, though today’s political upheaval does worry her. “The current political polarization definitely upsets me a little because people mostly get their news from places they are loyal to and believe that the news they are getting is true, which is not true,” said Whipple.
Central to Whipple’s motivation to vote is the opportunity to be heard. “It’s important to make your voice heard,” said Whipple. “A lot of people in my life have said that it’s not that important to vote because our state is not a swing state but if everyone had that mentality then no one would be voting.”
