In a mock statewide youth election, a majority of keiki under 18 in Hawaiʻi voted for Donald Trump as president over Kamala Harris, according to the results.
Kids Voting Hawaiʻi recently gave students in public, charter and private schools the opportunity to vote in their own election. The nonpartisan organization created an online platform for students to register and vote. The final results do not count in the actual election since kids cannot cast their votes until they are 18, although they can register at 16.
Trump received 906 more votes than Harris. But the results also showed that when it comes to the congressional and legislative races, students voted for more Democrats.
In addition, they voted more progressive on the ballot questions. Some of the questions included: Should artificial intelligence (AI) usage be banned in schools?”; “Should the state institute a green fee on tourists to address climate change issues?” and “Should Americans be able to carry guns for self-defense?”
Punahou School students Sophia Howell, Khan Ho and Lulu Cole were tasked with encouraging civic participation ahead of the November presidential election.
Howell, a junior, said an explanation of why Trump might have won in the youth elections was name recognition.
“Some students may just have more familiarity with the name Donald Trump versus Kamala Harris, and she did come into the race just 100 days ago,” she said.
There’s also been a political shift as the 2020 youth election results showed that students favored Joe Biden as president over Trump. Biden had more than 4,000 votes over Trump.
Ho, a senior, said there has been a significant shift, and added that social media played a big role. He also said social media campaigning changed in this past election.
“I think a lot of the candidates use social media more than in previous elections, even in 2020,” Ho said. “Kamala Harris caught a lot of support on TikTok pretty early on. But towards the end of the election, Donald Trump was pretty prevalent on TikTok and Instagram.”
He added that Trump targeted the younger male demographics like internet personality and online streamer Adin Ross and American podcaster Joe Rogan.
The youth election results also showed a low voter turnout, which parallels Hawaiʻi’s historically low voter turnout in the actual election.
More than 72,000 students statewide registered to vote in the youth election, but only 34,145 cast their ballots.
