US Presidential Elections 2020: Young Voters Wary of Climate, COVID-19

Young voters in Florida, the US presidential election battleground, claim that America faces an image crisis under the Trump administration for its stand on climate change and dealing with the coronavirus pandemic.

Although some say that Donald Trump has done very well on the economic front as a continuation of the policy of the previous Obama administration, he doesn't think much for science-based policies that talk about sustainability.

"Trump is not doing anything good as far as climate change is concerned," said Samantha Schwarz, a first-year student of Biology at the University of South Florida, Tampa on Thursday.

She is one of 12 students — most of whom are first-time voters — to share their views in communication with a group of journalists who engage digitally in the "2020 US Presidential Election Reporting Seminar" organized by the East-West Centre in Hawaii.

Samantha said that she was worried about regular weather disasters such as the Florida hurricanes and the California wildfires. According to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, almost 4.4 million acres of California's 100 million acres of land have been destroyed by a series of wildfires since October 27 this year, making 2020 the largest wildfire season ever recorded in modern state history.

Trump withdrew from the 2015 Paris Climate Change Mitigation Agreement in 2017, upsetting world leaders and campaigners competing to save the world from global warming.

Young voters wary of climate change and America's future said they mostly voted early for Joe Biden, the Democratic presidential candidate, considering that his policies against the environment, the coronavirus pandemic, immigration, and even foreign relations would be much stronger than Trump's.

This notion from Florida voters is noteworthy considering the fact that the state has been a deciding factor in the presidential victory of previous years. As one of the crucial swing states, Florida was responsible for the 1992 victory of the Republican George W Bush (Jr) over his Democratic opponent, Al-Gore. Florida has ensured the popularity of President Trump in 2016.

This year, in the opinion polls, Biden is ahead of Trump. In Florida, the majority of polls find 50-52 percent support for Biden and the highest 47 percent support for Trump, a Republican candidate.

Liz Dorn, a political scientist and program coordinator at the East-West Centre, said that Florida has 29 of the total 538 votes cast by the 50 US states. A candidate would require a minimum of 270 votes to become President in the elections to be held on 3 November.

Analysts say that refugees and ethnic groups will play an important role in the forthcoming US elections. Many African Americans who voted for the Democrats did not vote in the 2016 elections, creating a difference that contributed to Trump's victory. This year tends to be different with high voter turnouts, including mail-in ballots.

"If Trump remains president, he wouldn't do better," said Samantha.

She is also concerned about the foreign policies of the Trump administration. She said she's been to London recently and found people looking down on America because of Trump — something that hurt her. She thinks that Biden will help to boost international ties.

Alexis King, who was also the first to vote for Biden a week ago, said she came from a Hispanic immigrant family and expressed the pain of the immigrants. The Trump administration had an anti-immigrant policy that put many of the migrant families and their children at risk.

In contrast, Biden seems immigrant-friendly. "I hope to see better," she said.

Samantha Cavallaro, a student of Psychology at the University of South Florida, says she has a number of friends and relatives in Australia. When she is informed about the Covid-19 cases in Australia, she feels down given huge number of cases and deaths in America.

Australia has less than 30,000 Covid-19 cases, while the US has more than nine million cases. About 230,000 people died in the most powerful country in the world. Trump, who himself suffered from Covid-19, has long been resistant to the use of face masks.

"Our administration is not handling the pandemic with science in the name of economy," Cavallaro said.

Asked what if Trump came to power again, Abdullah, another university student, said he will continue to help and work for the liberal Democrats, not only from an economic or nationalist point of view.

"The Democrats have higher degree of respect for environment, immigrants and of course, the American citizens."