Daniel Breen
/
Little Rock Public Radio
Arkansas Razorback fans gather around cheerleaders at the Hogs’ first home game of the season in Fayetteville on Sept. 28, 2024.
MR: What other political topics were college students talking about?
DB: Well a lot of students we talked to had two main political concerns; the economy and reproductive health. A lot of students said they were disappointed that they wouldn’t be getting the chance to vote on legalizing abortion in Arkansas this election cycle. But UAPB student Imani Hopkins said she’s still optimistic about going to the polls.
“No cap, I’m really excited. It might be a female president, so I’m glad to be alive to see that history being made.”
DB: And when it comes to the economy, a lot of students said they felt a disconnect between the people in power and the people who are really hurting. Van Ezell is a senior biology major at UCA, and says he wants more transparency about how our tax dollars are spent.
“I think people would really want to give if they could actually say to you, like, ‘We all gave to this, and here’s the fruits of it.’ Right now it kind of feels like it’s being wasted, so yeah, I would like less taxes for sure.”
DB: Cole Young also echoes those sentiments. He’s originally from Washington State, and is just now beginning grad school at Arkansas Tech in Russellville. He feels pretty strongly about keeping money out of politics.
“There need to be amendments passed saying that no Congressional member or Senate member should take foreign aid, as well as the president, or as well as other money from companies. And I know that’s a hard thing because they’re already doing that right now.”
Students at the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff speak with LRPR News Director Daniel Breen.
DB: Young says he’s also in favor of term limits, and of the federal government focusing more on domestic priorities rather than foreign policy. He says he originally supported independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr., but since he dropped out of the race, he’s been on the fence.
“COVID was kind of a derailment and I think he did a terrible job with it, but I think he’s kind of grown from that. And so I lean a little more towards Trump. And I think Kamala, while I think potentially she could do some good, I feel like she lies a lot and I don’t really want that from a politician.”
DB: And we also spoke with Marleigh Hayes, she’s president of a relatively new student organization at Hendrix College called the Hendrix Justice Initiative. She wants judges to do a better job educating the public about what happens in the courtroom. She says that’s a barrier that leaves people confused and sometimes intimidated to go into the courtroom.
“That impacts appearance rates, that impacts the outcome of appearances, and that’s something that I, in my work at Hendrix with our Faulkner County court watch and my work at DecARcerate, value deeply.”
DB: And that’s just a very brief rundown of some of the political issues we heard from college students across Arkansas. But one theme I noticed is that most of the students who spoke with us are really more interested in more quality-of-life issues on the community level. And we’ll talk a bit more about that in the second part of our conversation Friday.
Source link : http://www.bing.com/news/apiclick.aspx?ref=FexRss&aid=&tid=672386db996749cd813fcd95f4bce97e&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.ualrpublicradio.org%2Flocal-regional-news%2F2024-10-31%2Fwhat-do-arkansas-newest-voters-think-about-the-2024-elections&c=3806113242467274736&mkt=en-us
Author :
Publish date : 2024-10-31 02:10:00
Copyright for syndicated content belongs to the linked Source.
