American gen Z voters share how they feel about Kamala Harris’s presidential bid, why they like or dislike her as a candidate and whether they think she could beat Donald Trump, as the vice-president races towards winning the Democratic nomination for November’s election.
‘I think she’s just what we need’
“I think [Kamala Harris] is the only one that makes sense. She will get the votes Biden couldn’t. She could get the Black, Asian, Latino, women’s, LGBTQ+ and youth votes. She stands more for progress and equality than an old white dude and if she wins it will be historic. The Democrats need a bold move and I think she’s just what we need.
“I hope the Democrats realize what an opportunity this is for them.” Will, 22, construction worker from Portland, Oregon
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Definitely the biggest, but not the only. Two others that stand out to me are his breaking of the rail strike, and his border policies.
But of course, this all comes with the caveat that all of this, under Trump, would be unimaginably worse
Biden got the union workers their largest demands after ending the strike. People are stuck on the headlines immediately after ending the strike and apparently missed this fast follow a few weeks later IIRC
It doesn’t matter what happened after. The optics of breaking the strike set unions back decades. That damage can’t be undone just by doing then a few favors later.
It absolutely does. The administration fought to get the workers what they wanted. That’s more effective than a strike.
Unions have not been set back decades either. In fact, they’re more powerful than they’ve ever been. UAW brought auto manufacturers to their knees. SAG joined forces with writers to get their due from Hollywood and secure worker protections against AI.
This is what a pro union administration emboldens. Let’s not pretend that the rail strike was a simple black and white issue. It could’ve caused delays that would make water undrinkable in cities, prevent electricity or heating in winter, and delay crucial medication shipments.
Congress broke the strike with a veto-proof majority, Biden didn’t have much choice in the matter.
At least Biden was able to negotiate and apply pressure to get most of the demands met for the rail workers after the strike was prevented. The unions were largely grateful for the administration’s efforts on the issue.
Biden called for them to pass it.
my emotions in this chain have been so far:
I think I’ll settle on the idea that whatever Biden did, it was at least better than what Trump would’ve. Then again it’s this exact same blind logic that Trump supporters say about Biden.