The time has come for the monthslong battle between Republican nominee Donald Trump and Democratic nominee Kamala Harris to finally come to an end and emerge with the United States’ future president. With only four days until Nov. 5, tensions run high in what can only be considered one of the most politically polarized election years in history.

For newly eligible voters in the U.S., casting a vote may seem daunting, considering the general disillusionment expressed towards these candidates. With a wide variety of USC’s undergraduate population categorized as first-time voters, it’s important to record the student body’s attitudes and motivations surrounding the presidential election.

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Maximus Allen, a senior majoring in theatre with an emphasis in acting as well as English with an emphasis in creative writing, is originally from Brandon, Miss. Allen faces a difficult choice — deciding whether to vote in his red home state or go through the process of changing his voter registration to vote in California, which heavily leans blue.

“[Voting] feels like it’s a necessity right now because it feels like our country is hinging on two very different futures,” Allen said.

As both Mississippi and California are nonswing states, some may feel like their vote won’t matter in the long run; however, Allen noted that individually educating oneself can also have a big impact.

“It’s one of the unique positions we’re in as American citizens,” Allen said. “People always say that one of your rights here is to vote, and by not doing it, you are wasting that … I’ve always felt a little bit guilty about that … I believe in the power of an individual, and that if we individually educate ourselves and do what it takes, then that can be reflected in a bigger picture.”

Omoye Ehimare, a sophomore majoring in human biology, is from St. Louis, Mo. She plans to cast an absentee ballot for the 2024 election cycle. Her politically active father and grandmother always encouraged her to vote “no matter what and no matter where you are.”

With both presidential candidates having high-profile positions on key issues, it is a tense playing field for voters to come in for their first election.

“Back at home, my school district sparked national controversy about critical race theory,” Ehimare said. “I didn’t really realize how serious it was until it was the fall of my senior year, and our school board had recently voted to cut a lot of programs for minority students as a result.”

Students have varying perspectives on what policies they want to see implemented. Dane Mackey, a junior majoring in business, said economic stability is a major priority.

“Trump says something [about] how he’s going to try to lower the gas prices [and] give more jobs. I think it’s extremely beneficial for everybody because unemployment is a huge issue,” Mackey said.

Largely championed by the Democrats, reproductive rights is also on the table for this election cycle.

“I’m hoping we can see some change from Harris in terms of making that more accessible,” Allen said. “Abortion was made illegal in a lot of southern states, and I believe it’s still illegal in Mississippi. Right now, a lot of people are having to travel … out of state for that kind of care.”

Voters must consider the danger of misinformation and disinformation before casting their ballot. The prevalence of social media makes information easily accessible to everyone, but that also means that disinformation seeps into news outlets and social media content about the election.

Professor Mark Marino, a director of the Humanities and Critical Code Studies Lab, participated in an Ahmanson Lab collaboratory that researched the use of bots to spread disinformation through social media algorithms.

“Since the election — at least for the big races — tends to be pretty tribal, I’m not sure that the mis/disinformation does much more than reinforce where the students already are,” Marino said. ”Students, perhaps, could be nudged one way or the other more easily by a story they come across, especially in this 11th hour right before voting.”

When it comes to candidates approaching voters, the information gap has proven to be a major factor in how young voters will swing.

“Candidates and campaigns use what’s called ‘voter models,’ and young people are out of that modeling,” said Mindy Romero, professor at the Price School of Public Policy and director of the Center for Inclusive Democracy. “They’re going to get much less contact from campaigns and information about candidates than older voters.”

In terms of the changes in information consumption patterns, Marino said some young voters are “threatening their vote” to pressure candidates to address conflict in the Middle East.

“There’s more young people talking about the Israeli-Gaza war,” Romero said. “In their attempt to influence, to get leverage, in their protesting, some of them are equating the vote with the issues.”

Marino believes that many first-time voters will rally to the polls in part because both campaigns have painted the election season as “apocalyptic.”

“We train everybody as well as we can to be critically minded when it comes to that sort of information, [and] the number one way we would battle against this is by having interesting discussions on campus,” Marino said. “I’d like to see us lean into that a little bit more if we really do want to claim to be a site of higher learning.”

As the countdown to the election draws near, it’s important to remain cognizant of the power of the Gen Z vote; however, it’s also up to candidates to listen to young people’s concerns and enact concrete change.

“You have to prove to them how you’re really going to make change, and that is hard, because most campaigns are not even trying,” Romero said. “A meme that might get the attention of some young people, it’s not going to make anybody vote, because they’re discerning. They want to know what’s really behind all of that.”