The 19th: Their votes are key to the 2024 election. They’re feeling both confident and worried.

By The 19th

Their votes are key to the 2024 election. They’re feeling both confident and worried.

A focus group of women, from diverse ideological backgrounds, presented a snapshot of the hopes and worries of a critical swing vote in the 2024 election.

May 17, 2024 | Barbara Rodriguez, Mel Leonor Barclay | The 19th

Roughly six months before the presidential election, a group of 15 women from diverse backgrounds, in key battleground districts — Kent County, Michigan; Bucks County, Pennsylvania; and La Crosse County, Wisconsin — gathered as part of a focus group to discuss their views on the state of democracy in 2024.

The 90-minute session on May 7 presented a snapshot of the complex highs and lows of civic engagement in this moment: a general appreciation for the importance of voting — but also a disillusionment that it may not make a difference on the federal level, in part because of extreme political polarization.

The focus group was organized by Keep Our Republic, a nonpartisan organization that works to strengthen trust in the electoral system through community outreach programming. …

“People are hungry for information” and are wading through “a lot of garbage and a lot of disinformation and misinformation out there.”
-Kasi Meyer