These young Michigan voters are divided on Biden’s handling of the Israel-Hamas war and aren’t guaranteeing him their votes
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Midterms are over and finals are just ahead in a semester that included a big new experiment for Wayne State sophomore Maya Siegmann: “I joined the breakdancing club.”
“I’m learning a new skill,” Siegmann said with a smile. “That kind of shocks people a little bit. Unexpected. But it’s really fun.”
It is not, though, the biggest change for Siegmann this fall. She is active in the Jewish campus organization Hillel and her frequent visits to its lounge and library now include greeting the police officer standing watch outside. It is part of the new normal here since the October 7 Hamas terror attack on Israel.
“That we need to have a police officer outside the office, it is upsetting,” said the soft-spoken Siegmann, who’s studying to be a social worker.
“There is definitely a divide between the pro-Palestine students and the pro-Israel students,” said Siegmann. “The division is very clear. The tension on campus is very high.”
Wayne State is a sprawling 200-acre campus in downtown Detroit, a place that takes pride in being part of a great American city’s resurgence. The 24,000 students are a diverse melting pot and the urban location means campus politics tilt decidedly blue.
It is a community where support for abortion rights runs high. And LGBTQ rights. College costs come up a lot in conversations. The climate crisis, too. It is an issue mix that favors Democrats, and Wayne State is among campuses critical to President Joe Biden’s Michigan win in 2020 and big gains by Democrats here in 2022.
At the moment, though, there’s a Democratic divide over the Israel-Hamas conflict and Biden’s handing of the crisis. CNN recently visited Michigan as part of a new project designed to track the 2024 campaign through the eyes and experiences of voters in key areas – in this case, young voters.
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