MIAMI — Turning Point, a conservative organization known for organizing young voters, came to South Florida this weekend for a political convention featuring Republican presidential candidates and some of the country’s leading right-wing pundits.
The Miami Herald spoke with young attendees about who they are — and aren’t — supporting in the upcoming presidential election. Here’s a glimpse into what they had to say:
Cristen Lameira, 22, said she plans on solidifying her support for a candidate after the primary debates, but as of now she wants to support former President Donald Trump.
“I just love that he triggers the establishment,” said the Florida International University student. “I believe in the founding fathers and the motto that government is a necessary evil and I think Trump is the one that scares off the establishment. He’s the one that scares international powers. I think he’s the one that’s most equipped to defend us domestically and internationally.”
Colton Langs, 21, said he’s voting for Trump as well. The University of Florida student said that while other candidates interest him, he believes Trump has the best chance of winning the Presidential election out of all the Republican candidates.
“I will be supporting Trump because while I like candidates like DeSantis and (Vivek) Ramaswamy, Trump is able to turn out his base more effectively than DeSantis,” said Langs.
Melissa Villalobos, 18, said she’s thinking of voting for Trump based on the work he did as a former president. However, she said she still needs to do more research on the other candidates. The San Francisco native said she’s interested in learning more about DeSantis.
“(Trump) really loves our country, loves the people and so, I’m thinking about leaning towards Trump,” she said. “However, I will do more research on DeSantis and if I do like DeSantis more than Trump I will change my voting stance, but I’m leaning towards Trump right now.”
Ethan Greene, 19, said that although he is still researching both political parties, he said if he had to pick a candidate now it would be Trump. His friends, Zachary Workinger, 18, and Jayden Gallagly, 16, said they were Trump supporters.
While many of the students who spoke to The Miami Herald were interested in Trump, some students were excited about a newer candidate: Ramaswamy.
David Ibragimov, 20, said he’s “unofficially” rooting for Ramaswamy — who spoke Saturday at the conference — and has been following him closely.
“He has been really showing that, even though his gains and polling is very small, he is very palatable to the American people and the American people are starting to pay attention to other candidates that are not Trump or DeSantis,” said Ibragimov.
Bharat Nair, a University of Texas student who recently became a United States citizen, said he is looking forward to getting to vote in his first presidential election. He also plans on supporting Ramaswamy in the upcoming election.
“(Ramaswamy) knows the immigrant story,” said Nair, 21. “He understands what the true American dream is and I think the American dream should be about coming here, seeing the opportunities and seizing them. I think he did that great as a second-generation Indian American.”
Some of the young voters also shared why they would not be supporting specific candidates, many of which spoke of their lack of faith in DeSantis as a future president.
“DeSantis is too busy talking about cultural wars, cultural wars, culture wars,” said Langs. “The main thing that people are going to be focusing on is economics, food on the table and high housing prices.”
“I think he’s a great governor, he handled COVID really well, his policies in Florida were amazing,” said Nair. “However, I think him on a foreign policy stage is something I’m hesitant on.”
Gracie Cooper, 21, said that while she’s still undecided on who she wants to vote for, her hesitancy toward DeSantis also has to do with how he’d handle being on the international stage.
“I think he’s a great governor but I’m not sure how he would do as a president,” said Cooper. “I’m kind of scared that he would lean more towards going towards war against other countries and so that’s not something that I’m super interested in. I’d like to keep the peace if we can.”
