DETROIT — Jorge Palafox registered to vote three weeks ago at a bus station.
He works construction four days a week with his dad. Every other day, he attends community college to take English classes and study auto mechanics. The 18-year-old said he remains undecided on who to choose for president in one of the most critical battlegrounds in the race for the White House. His dad keeps asking, but Palafox says he still needs more information.
“More money for me, for the people,” said the Mexican immigrant on what he wants for the future. While Palafox said former President Donald Trump’s immigration policies seem “radical” at times, he just wants to “vote for the person who [will] improve the economy.”
Palafox said he just doesn’t know who that person is yet: Trump, or Vice President Kamala Harris.
Conversations with dozens of other young voters in Michigan over the last week revealed a growing sense of disillusionment and uncertainty about the Nov. 5 presidential election, which is now less than five weeks away. At campaign stops, football games, college campuses and protests in the swing state, Generation Z voters, or those aged 18 to 29, said they had concerns about both nominees.
“We’re f-----d, basically,” said Jo Blocton, 22, who voted “uncommitted” in the Democratic primary.
Blocton is one of more than 100,000 Michigan voters from the “uncommitted” movement who protested President Joe Biden’s support for Israel’s bombing campaign in response to the Oct. 7 attack by Hamas, a militant group designated as a foreign terrorist organization by the U.S. More than 40,000 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza since, according to the UN.
The February “uncommitted” effort has only strengthened in the months since Biden dropped out of the race, as evidenced by a protest last week in Dearborn.
Michigan is home to the nation’s largest concentration of Arab Americans, an important voting bloc that both Harris and Trump are attempting to win over in the swing state. But students like Blocton, who was an active member of a pro-Palestinian encampment at Wayne State University earlier this year, aren’t convinced. Harris hasn’t diverted much from Biden’s policies in the Middle East, even as escalation rises.
Hundreds of green and red Lebanese flags waved in tandem to Palestinian flags at the rally. More than 1,000 people, many of them with family in Lebanon, came to protest an Israeli offensive against Hezbollah. Several attendees blamed Harris and Biden for U.S. arms shipments to Israel, whose airstrikes in Lebanon have already caused over 1,500 civilian casualties, according to the UN.
The question for many in this group isn’t who to vote for; it’s whether to vote at all. Some said Trump isn’t equipped to mitigate the conflicts and restore peace, but Harris’ actions are incomprehensible. Gen Z attendees were outspoken with reporters: neither of the nominees can expect their vote come November.
Nearly 1.3 million Gen Zers are registered to vote in Michigan, according to Michigan’s Secretary of State. Biden won the state by a narrow margin — just over 150,000 votes — in the 2020 presidential election, where nearly 16% of the total votes were cast by youth.
Blocton, a lifelong resident of Wayne County, is studying psychology, with a minor in music. The fifth year student opened up about the presidential race last week in between classes at Wayne State. They are scared of moving to Florida for graduate school next year. Blocton said they “feel very pressured” to vote for Harris and protect reproductive rights. A Harris presidency is “better than facism,” they said.
Others support Trump, and cite something he’s been using on the campaign trail all year: there were no wars during his time in office.
“You want to kill people in your countries? That’s okay. But if you do, I’m going to charge you [a] 200% tariff to do business with the United States,” Trump said at a town hall Friday in Warren, Michigan. “They called me back two days later. Sir, we’ve made peace.” The crowd packed into the community college in Macomb County nodded in approval.
Christina Paciocco, 25, waited hours to see Trump speak. She came to the town hall alone, but bonded with another mother in line.
Paciocco has two kids, aged four and five, and said she has struggled to support them after a recent car accident. She said her children’s health benefits were just cut, while prices and energy bills are up.
“I’m out working all the time,” said Paciocco, who has never voted in a presidential election before. She is currently unemployed, but takes odd jobs in the service industry. “There needs to be a change.”
Under Trump, who promises to crack down on immigration and secure the U.S.-Mexican border, Paciocco hopes her next four years in Macomb County will be easier.
“It’s not fair,” she said. “They take from us.”
Trump and his running mate, Ohio Sen. JD Vance, have done several events in Michigan over the last week, and he plans to return again next week. Harris has been to the state several times and is returning on Thursday. On Saturday, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, the Democratic vice presidential nominee, met with students from the University of Michigan.
Eric Veal Jr., 20, was among the group welcoming Walz at the airport. He also works for the Harris-Walz campaign as an operation and leadership intern.
“Voters are excited to see the fresh energy on the campaign trail,” said Veal, who told a reporter that he had spoken with Walz about educational equity. Veal’s mother is an elementary school teacher, so he values Walz’s background as a former educator.
“We have a lot at stake this year,” said Veal. “Students are backing Kamala’s message of ‘We’re not going back.’”
A recent poll by the Harvard Kennedy School’s Institute of Politics shows Harris had a 31-point lead over Trump among Gen Z voters. Young Democrats are more likely to vote than young Republicans, with Harris outperforming Trump on key issues of climate change, abortion and gun violence prevention.
The race is going to be decided in pockets of this state with its 15 electoral votes.
It’s up to Harris and Trump to motivate their people and convince undecided voters in fewer than 35 days.
Palafox knows it. Like many other first-time voters, he’s just excited to finally cast a ballot in November — once he figures out which person he wants to be president.