What do young undecided voters want to hear from Harris and Trump in Tuesday's debate?

Zivvy spoke to undecided Gen Z voters about what they're looking for as they watch the upcoming presidential debate.

Vice President Kamala Harris and Donald Trump will face off in a presidential debate for the first time on Tuesday, with ABC News’ David Muir and Linsey Davis moderating the event in Philadelphia. With election day fast approaching, many voters—especially the growing Gen Z demographic—are still deciding who to support.

Ahead of the debate, Zivvy News spoke to a number of undecided Gen Z voters from across the U.S. to learn what issues they hope both candidates will address. The top concern? The state of the economy.

“I'm looking for houses already,” Gabriel Villarreal, a 21-year-old from Santa Clarita, California, tells Zivvy News. “I'm looking at it, and I'm like: ‘I'm never going to be able to afford one.’”

His frustration is common among his peers. A new NBC News Stay Tuned poll on Gen Z voters reveals that inflation and cost of living are the most important issues for Gen Z voters this election cycle. “Threats to democracy” ranks second, followed by abortion rights.

Villarreal hopes that the debate will help him make up his mind.

“Kamala Harris is incompetent, and Donald Trump is just too much,” he says, referring to the former President’s personal attacks on opponents. Villarreal is also concerned about Harris’ shifting positions on issues like Medicare-for-All and fracking since her 2020 presidential run.

Other voters are unhappy with Harris’ stance on the war in Gaza. Although the Vice President’s statements have not shown much daylight from President Biden’s policies on a potential embargo on U.S. aid and arms to Israel, she briefly met with leaders of the “Uncommitted” Movement to hear their concerns. Leaders of the movement expressed dissatisfaction after its delegates were not granted a speaking slot at the 2024 Democratic National Convention.

Cecelia Escobar, a 23-year-old from North Carolina, does not see herself voting for Donald Trump as she disagrees with the Republican Party’s stance on many issues, especially abortion. But she remains unsatisfied with what she sees as the Biden administration’s lack of action to protect abortion rights nationwide. She also criticizes the Democratic Party’s stance on military operations in Gaza, which she views as a genocide, so is also hesitant about supporting a Harris-Walz ticket.

“I don't think the Republican Party has any means of trying to sway me,” she tells Zivvy News. “They would have to completely 360 on some topics. With the Democrats, they would need to end trade with Israel and just acknowledge that they are listening to the voters. At least for me, it feels like they're lying to us and saying that they're trying. They’re talking endlessly about a ceasefire, but we're still sending weapons to Israel.”

If Harris doesn’t take a firmer stance toward the Israel-Hamas war, Escobar says she’s considering third-party candidates like Jill Stein of the Green Party or Claudia De La Cruz of the Socialist Party, both of whom have focused on anti-war and pro-Palestinian messages.

As Zivvy News previously reported, one of the biggest concerns regarding third-party candidates is that a third-party vote is a “wasted” vote—or even a vote against more progressive causes. But Amit Bhalesha, an 18-year-old from Houston, Texas, can’t help but feel like his vote would be “wasted” either way because he lives in a Republican stronghold.

“It’s my first ever election to vote in,” he says. “I also live in, well, not a swing state. Texas is usually considered a Republican state, so the concept of voting on its own seems not quite valuable just because my vote will most likely be canceled out by someone, like a Republican, voting somewhere else.”

Like Villarreal, Bhalesha wants to hear more concrete policy positions from both candidates, especially on the economy, climate, and student loan debt. He likely won’t watch the debate live, but will watch next-day recaps and clips instead.

Though a first-time voter, he was previously involved in President Joe Biden’s 2020 campaign and Senator Bernie Sanders 2016 presidential bid, though he doesn’t necessarily agree with all of the stances of either politician. In fact, Bhalesha—who leans liberal on social issues but conservative on economic issues and gun rights—tells Zivvy News that he might have voted for Donald Trump in 2016 if he were of voting age.

“After January 6th, I'm not a full Trump loyalist,” he says, “but I would consider myself more of an old-guard Republican. I look at the days of Reagan, or even George Bush Sr. Those are the good old days, and I assume Republicans now want that back.”

His final decision on whether to vote for Trump, for Harris, or not at all, he says, will probably be made one or two days before Election Day, depending on how this debate and the succeeding news cycle unfold.