Young voters volunteer for Nikki Haley as the right candidate for Gen Z
Young voters volunteer for Nikki Haley as the right candidate for Gen Z
Student volunteer for the Nikki Haley campaign believes the economy is one of the biggest issues for Gen Z voters
By Genesis Magpayo, American University
NASHUA, N.H. – On a frigid winter Saturday night in Nashua, N.H., former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley got up close and personal with potential supporters at a local Irish pub.
One of Haley’s campaign volunteers, Liam O’Connor, a sophomore at Le Moyne College in Syracuse NY, came in late the night before to assist in setting up events. O’Connor is a Gen Z Haley voter who believes in Haley’s message and what she can do for his generation as he starts to become a young adult.
“Nikki is a very strong woman with a lot of optimism and I think that strength and optimism in the future is something that my generation looks for in a candidate now,” said O’Connor.
O’Connor believes Haley’s record as former governor of South Carolina, where he says she “brought economic opportunity and lower cost of living for her constituents,” makes her the right candidate to fix the economy - which he feels is a top issue for Gen Z voters.
Gen Z, he says, is graduating college, entering the workforce and thinking about starting a family. But fear of the future is a big concern.
“I worry that there is cynicism with my generation because there are so many things that we see and feel,” said O’Connor. “We feel bad that we may not be able to own a home someday or we feel like the amount of money that it took for maybe our parents or our parent’s parents to get by and to live off of is not the same as it is today.”
Though she lost the New Hampshire primary to Trump, Haley engaged in traditional retail campaigning to drive momentum and get voters to the polls. She poured beers, attended local events and sat down to talk to New Hampshire residents - a unique aspect of the first-in-the-nation primary.
Growing up in the Syracuse area, O’Connor watched local Republican leaders lean across the aisle to work with Democrats, which drew him to the GOP. Haley, he feels, might be able to “emulate bipartisan spirit.”
Now, he is excited to support Haley by going door-to-door, advocating for her and getting voters to the polls.
“Nikki is one that we are very optimistic is going to bring back the Republican party in a big way and some communities that we’ve lost and we’re not as competitive with anymore,” said O’Connor.