DNC Launches Campus Voter Registration Campaign at HBCUs, MSIs
Credit: Kevin Dietsch / Getty Images- The “I Will Vote” campaign includes voter registration kiosks and poster advertisements on how to register to vote. The DNC also wants to share its warning against Project 2025.
- Project 2025 is a conservative manifesto of potential actions many believe former President Donald Trump’s administration could take if he’s reelected.
- A new poll by Harvard University found that Vice President Kamala Harris leads Trump among likely young voters in favorability, personality traits, and issues.
Students at historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs) and minority-serving institutions (MSIs) in crucial election battleground states will be seeing a lot more voting ads from Democrats.
The Democratic National Convention (DNC) began the “I Will Vote” campaign on Sept. 19 to mark National Black Voter Day and Hispanic Heritage Month at HBCUs and MSIs in:
- Georgia
- Wisconsin
- North Carolina
- Arizona
- Nevada
- Pennsylvania
The voter registration campaign includes campus kiosk advertisements and multilingual posters with QR codes to register to vote alongside DNC warnings against the conservative think tank Heritage Foundation’s Project 2025.
“Young voters are critical to the coalition that Vice President Kamala Harris and Gov. Tim Walz are building ahead of November’s election,” said DNC Chair Jaime Harrison. “The DNC is taking every opportunity to reach students where they are and make sure they have all of the tools they need to vote this November on the issues that matter most to them.”
HBCUs have been important players this election season. Just as students returned to classes, Xceleader’s Vote HBCU “Say It Louder” tour took off, hitting 10 schools in seven states, including North Carolina, one of the battleground states.
Vote HBCU hosted workshops, panels, and booths where students could register to vote. In addition to equipping students to vote, the organization educated them on disinformation and the steps they can take to keep their elected leaders accountable.
The DNC’s presidential nominee, Vice President Harris, also shares a strong connection with her alma mater, Howard University, an HBCU in Washington, D.C. Her sorority, Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc. (AKA), backed her vice presidential campaign in 2020 and came through again, with a group of 44,000 women — mostly sorority sisters — raising $1.5 million in over three hours for her 2024 presidential campaign.
The DNC’s voting ads on college campuses call for students to act against Project 2025, a playbook of actions former President Donald Trump‘s administration could take in the first 180 days of a new presidency “to bring quick relief to Americans suffering from the Left’s devastating policies.”
Project 2025 includes privatizing the federal student loan system and ending the current system. Student loan experts, however, doubt the plan’s viability.
A new Harvard University poll of 2,002 young voters, ages 18 to 29 years old, found that an overwhelming number of students oppose Project 2025, with only 6% favoring it overall, and only 14% of Republican respondents favoring it.
The same poll found that Harris holds a 64% lead over Trump’s 32% in a one-on-one hypothetical. She also substantially outperforms the former president on personality traits and issues like empathy, relatability, honesty, climate change, abortion, healthcare, and gun violence prevention.
“In just a few weeks, Vice President Harris has drummed up a wave of enthusiasm among young voters,” Anil Cacodcar, Harvard public opinion project chair, said as part of the release of the poll results.
“The shift we are seeing toward Harris is seismic, driven largely by young women. Our poll provides a deep dive into the values of this generation that will drive them to the polls in November.
“Harris is enjoying a perfect storm of personal appeal, policy support, and positive reach on social media.”