Trump or Clinton? Neither, millennials say

If a recent gathering in a Merced park is any sign, playing “Pokémon Go” and lamenting over the presidential candidate options for the November election are part of the life of a millennial.

And that matters because millennials, which the Pew Research Center defines as people born between 1981 and 1998, hold a particularly powerful deck of cards this election. Many of them say they are exasperated with their options for president in 2016.

Aaron Lequia of Merced, who plays the mobile game in local parks, said he’s struggling with how to cast his vote in November. Ever since he first heard Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders speak, he was sold.

“I’ve been a Bernie supporter for like 10 years,” the 31-year-old said.

Wearing a black flat cap and sunglasses atop his red-bearded face, the registered Democrat said he’d be “hard pressed” to ever vote Republican. But neither is he excited about Hillary Clinton, the Democratic presidential candidate.

At least, he added, he has the benefit of living in a blue state, because California is unlikely to garner enough conservative support to give its electoral votes to Republican candidate Donald Trump.

“If I went third party, I wouldn’t feel bad,” Lequia said. “It would be like a protest vote, essentially.”

Another player recently spotted in Applegate Park in Merced is approaching the election from the other side of the aisle. “I typically vote Republican,” Robert Kostecky of Merced said. “I definitely got some issues with Trump.”

The bearded 26-year-old, wearing flip-flops and a superhero-themed T-shirt, described Trump “like a bull in a China shop,” questioning if the candidate could be diplomatic enough to be president.

“You can’t speak to the foreign minister of China the way he speaks to the American people,” he said.

Kostecky said he liked Sanders but didn’t think his ideas, like free college tuition and health care, would realistically work.

Across the country, the disappointment in the two-party system making millennials uncertain for whom to cast votes stands in stark contrast to the exuberance young voters expressed eight years ago when the first African-American president, Barack Obama, was elected.

“I am kind of surprised how little excitement there is about the possibility of the first woman president,” said Alyssa Holznagel, a 22-year-old social worker in Cleveland.

Holznagel said millennials haven’t been as pleased as they had hoped over the past eight years and are chiefly concerned about their school debt and finding jobs that can accommodate them financially.

Concerned about the high cost of tuition and dealing with debt, Holznagel said most of the energy of young people was behind Sanders.

Holznagel said the disillusionment about the election has kept the seemingly expected progressive enthusiasm down, but that won’t stop millennials from participating.

“I think we are smart enough to go out and vote anyways,” she said, mentioning she would probably be voting for Clinton. “At least, I hope millennials still show up to vote. We know how important this is for us.”

In 2008, according to Pew, 50 percent of eligible millennials voted – a record. That number dropped to 46 percent four years later.

Jamieson Weaver, a 21-year-old volunteer for Eagle Forum, a conservative interest group, handed out anti-abortion materials during an abortion-rights protest in Cleveland.

A registered Republican from Ohio, Weaver said she did not vote for Trump in the primary. She also said she wouldn’t describe herself as a “hardline Republican.”

“A vote for Trump is a vote against Hillary,” she said, “although neither candidate really has a good track record.”

Other millennials interpreted the political divide as an indicator that there needs to be more peace and cooperation in America.

Zac Alberty, 18, a registered Democrat who graduated from high school earlier this year, said he does not want to vote for Trump or Clinton.

Quite frankly, the Cleveland native said, he isn’t sure about this election. He said he just wants everyone to get along.

Alberty, whose tall frame was enhanced by his gelled-up hairstyle, held up a “Shrek is love, Shrek is life” sign – a reference to a popular meme among millennials.

“I marched with the anti-Trump coalition yesterday,” he said. “Trump’s whole wall thing – come on, dude. Why can’t we all get along and love each other? Hate kills every day.”

Twenty-two-year-old Joseph Offutt is a member of Kindness 365, an organization advocating for people to be more compassionate.

“There are so many issues today,” Offutt said. “And we can’t address them divided like this. We need to stand together.”

This story was originally published July 26, 2016 at 2:57 PM with the headline "Trump or Clinton? Neither, millennials say."