The 2024 Presidential Election and Voting at MSU: How do students play a role?

In the upcoming presidential election, East Lansing can expect a large Democratic campaign.

A recent report from The Cook newspaper named Michigan as a “critical tipping point” state in the 2024 presidential election. Matt Grossman, a political science professor at Michigan State University, said the term refers to “one of those battleground states that could very well determine the outcome of the entire election.”

Grossman said the college student vote is crucial for Democrats in the upcoming election because, while college students aren't necessarily high-turnout voters, they typically vote Democratic. Michigan State University, with its 51,316 students, could have a big impact on whether Michigan flips to Republican or Democratic this fall.

Dante Chinni, director of the American Community Project, said Ingham County, and East Lansing in particular, will be a focus area in the 2024 election.

Chinni said college students, who have historically leaned Democratic, are also one of the most inconsistent groups of voters when it comes to showing up to the polls.

Chinni said college students are “the demographic that is most likely to swing up or down depending on who's on the ballot and what's going on.” By comparison, older voters “are more likely to always show up to the polls” and vote Republican.

“It's really important to Democrats in particular,” Chinni said, “and to be honest, to Republicans too, who don't really want the college student vote.”

He said Democratic candidate Joe Biden has not been able to garner the enthusiasm needed from 18- to 29-year-olds to turn out to the polls on Election Day.

“Biden doesn't inspire people very much. Joe Biden has very few enthusiastic supporters,” Chinni said. “Younger voters especially want to be inspired, and Biden isn't inspiring them.”

Michigan has long been a political battleground state with 15 electoral votes at stake. Grossman said the swing state trend is largely due to the makeup of Michigan's districts and the demographics of its voters. He also said candidates must operate as if the election comes down to one state.

“In the end, it turned out there was a pretty good chance that state was Michigan,” Grossman said.

This pattern isn't necessarily new, Chinni said: Hillary Clinton failed to win Michigan in 2016 in part because her campaign failed to draw college students to the polls.

“If Democrats had gotten the votes they expected or wanted in Ingham, Washtenaw, Kalamazoo, Isabella, if they had gotten the votes in these places, these college towns, (Clinton) would have won. It was that close,” Chinni said.

MSU Vote is a campus initiative to increase the number of registered student voters, and member Erin Kramer said that when it comes to college students, “it was just a handful of votes that made the difference” in recent elections.

“When it comes to student voting, it's essential that students go to the polls and vote, or vote for whoever they support on whatever issue, and that their voice is heard,” Kramer said.

Kramer said the issue of college students voting isn't just about the current election cycle, but about the beginning of a “lifelong pattern of responsibility and participation in society, wherever you are.”

Election Day is November 5, 2024. You can register to vote online, by mail, or in person up until 15 days before Election Day. To register within two weeks of Election Day, visit your local Clerk's Office.