HAMPTON, Va. — For many younger college students, the 2024 presidential election was their first opportunity to cast a ballot in a general election.
That includes Genesis Isom, a freshman at Hampton University.
"I feel like we (college students) made a difference," Isom told News 3's Jay Greene. "I feel like for Hampton, I saw so many people from my community going different places, joyriding, trying to get there (to the polls) and vote."
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On Election Day, long lines were reported at the Phoebus High School polls. The school is the primary voting location for students at Hampton's campus.
Throughout the evening, buses transported students to and from Phoebus High School—many of them filling out provisional ballots. That created some long lines that, at times, wrapped around the building. Some had to wait at least two hours to vote.
"I just really loved having a voice," said Averi Easter, another student who goes to Hampton University.
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For Isom, she described what it was like to be included among her peers.
"It means a lot because when I went back and saw how many Black women voted I felt like I was a part of that majority, and it was a lot of Black women that voted so I felt like I was, seen," she said.
When it came to attracting younger voters, though, experts said it was all about the messaging, and how the campaigns delievered to those messages to college-aged generations.
According to CBS News exit polls, the gender gap in the 2024 presidential election was similar to 2020: more men were voting for Preisdent-elect Trump and women are breaking for Vice President Kamala Harris – these margins are similar to 2020.
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Additionaly, the polls showed Trump made an appeal and attracted the vote of younger men, while Harris has a big lead among young women under 30.
"When you look at the loss of Vice President Harris, there were three demographics that actually played into her loss, which actually played into President Elect Trump's win. That's white women, Latinos and young voters, more specifically, young men between the ages of 18 and 29 years old," said Dr. Eric Claville, News 3's political analyst.
Democrats pushed women's rights as one of their catalyst issues, but experts say that may have not been enough.
"Because of the gender gap with women, more women that are registered to vote than men, it played very well as ballot measures the last two years. So therefore the Democrats continued to play that particular card, Dr. Claville said. "Unfortunately, this time it fell short capturing the majority of women as it relates to messaging for young men. President elect Trump actually had a populist message for them, stating that there were immigrants taking their jobs and that 'this is not the America that your parents had'. He's going to "make America great again," whether it was misinformation, disinformation, the packaging for this particular message resonated with young men, 18 to 29 who were either in college or not college educated, especially in rural areas."
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College students told News 3 that the economy is something they'll be watching closely the next four years as they graduate and look for an employment and more permanent housing.
Meanwhile, other students like Genesis Isom, encouraged her peers to get out and vote in the future.
"Even though you don't think it's going to make a difference, it will," she said.
