Pitt students fatigued by election ads but eager to vote

Election Day is upon us, and some students say they are annoyed by the slew of political messaging. There’s no escaping it. From Forbes to Fifth to Cathy and everywhere else on campus, students can’t go anywhere without seeing a voter registration table.

“It’s definitely getting annoying,” Sammy Davis, a senior finance major, said. “Getting papers shoved in our faces trying to walk to class and seeing the same ad every time I want to watch anything on TV.”

Over the course of this election season, the candidates have topped a combined $1 billion in Pennsylvania on advertising to try and get out the remaining votes. As election season winds down, students say they are ready to move forward.

“I feel bombarded with a lot of the people around me asking me to vote — like the organizations that come up to campus and stop students [on the street],” Wabona Dandi, a senior computer science major, said. “It feels like they’re forcefully holding [us] up.”

Ariel Goldenberg, a first-year political science major, shared Dandi’s annoyance over people stopping students in the street.

“I’m definitely looking forward for them to stop,” Goldenberg said. “I’ve already voted … I understand they’re still trying to get people that are just doing regular voting to vote, but it’s been a lot the past couple weeks. They’ve just been completely bombarding [us]. You can’t even walk to class without getting stopped.”

The campaigns have utilized text messages as their choice phone-banking technique, and some students are frustrated by the barrage of messages.

“I’m receiving texts like 12 times a day, so I’m kind of excited for it to be over,” Isabelle Beams, an undeclared first-year, said.

Leah Weinberg, a first-year nursing major, said she’s “really not into politics” and doesn’t plan on voting, despite the politically charged atmosphere on campus.

“I feel like there’s no point for me to vote because I don’t follow [politics],” Weinberg said. “My parents are not big into it either. I don’t even know if they’re voting. I was just not raised in a household where politics were a big thing.”

Ilana Raykin, a first-year nursing major, said that she plans on voting, but doesn’t care about the candidates’ policy positions.

“I am voting, but I think I’m just doing it because my parents influenced my decision on who to vote for,” Raykin said.

Students who said they understand the value of voting, like Ethen Dias, are still “sick” of it being in their faces.

“I think that constant bombardment of it honestly makes me feel less inclined to do it in the first place, just because I become sick of the thought,” Dias, a junior biology major, said.

Despite his election fatigue, Dias is excited to vote in his first election. He also expressed concerns about how this election will affect the mood on campus.

“I think it’s a very exciting time,” Dias said. “We’re deciding who’s going to be running the country for the next four years. But at the same time, I do have concerns about how it’s going to impact student life on campus. There’s fear of violence [and] there’s fear of things not working out like they should.”

Even though Pennsylvania is a hotspot for election ads, many students are excited yet worried about voting in an all-important swing state.

“I’m a bit anxious and a bit excited,” Goldenberg said. “I’m obviously anxious about the results, especially being in a swing state, but, you know, we’ll see what happens here.”

Although Dandi feels bombarded by election texts and ads, he feels that they serve a necessary purpose.

“We want to make sure that everybody here is registered to vote so they can represent themselves in this election with whatever candidate that they vote for,” Dandi said.