You Op To Know: Going into midterms as a moderate voter

Welcome to You Op to Know, The Daily Orange Opinion section’s weekly podcast.

This week, The Daily Orange Opinion section brought on some of our political columnists to discuss the 2018 midterm election.

If you have any questions or comments, feel free to submit a letter to the editor at opinion@dailyorange.com.

Check back next week to listen to a dialogue about the most viewed column.

TRANSCRIPT

ALLISON WEIS: Hello everyone, I’m your host and producer Allison Weis and welcome to The Daily Orange’s opinion podcast You Op To Know. Tonight we have moderate columnist Jaylen Coaxum on the show to discuss the upcoming midterm election. Welcome Jaylen.

JAYLEN COAXEM: Thank you

WEIS: Why did you start writing your particular column?

COAXEM: Well I started to write my column because I felt like there were a lot of people talking on the left and the right but not a lot in the middle. I wanted to speak for them.

WEIS: So first, to start off, what is it like to be a moderate going into the election this year with the political climate right now?

COAXEM: To be honest it sucks. There’s so much talk on both the left and right and the people in the center who may believe in some liberal causes and some conservative causes, they don’t see a way because it is so polarized. I feel like even with me writing my column, even if you agree with both I think you should be open to that, and have mixed feelings. I think it’s totally okay to not be with one or the other.
WEIS: In the political scene today, it feels as if the right and the left are as far apart now as ever. As a moderate, do you think that our heavily divided political scene can come together, should it, and how do you think that can happen.

COAXEM: As someone in the middle I think the biggest thing is tolerance but tolerance for everything. Tolerance for both liberal ideas and conservative ideas. If we all first calm down, because there’s a lot of screaming, a lot of name-calling, a lot of throwing shade on both sides. I feel like if everyone calms down listens to what everyone is saying, even if you strongly disagree with it, you can better your argument even with people that are against you. I think that in this climate, we can come together, we should come together for the betterment of our nation, and I think we do have a bright future.

WEIS: If we can talk to each other. What are your general feelings about the midterm election this year? How do you feel about the likelihood of the blue wave? Are you nervous about election day?

COAXEM: I do think that the liberal side definitely has strengthened its voter base given that we do have a conservative leadership in congress and in the presidency. I think the left has done a good job in getting people motivated to vote, but I don’t think that it will have the effects that many people think it will have.

WEIS: So how do you feel as a moderate, with a lot of voter turnout talk coming from the left? Do you feel left out?

COAXEM: I don’t. I feel like both should be encouraged to vote. On social media I think a lot of sources are moderate to liberal leaning so I think that’s why you’re hearing so much about the left, but I think the right should be just as motivated to go out and vote. I think especially young conservatives should be encouraged to go out and vote, because their vote counts as anyone. In terms of the blue wave, I don’t think people should just vote for a party, because you can vote for a party and you may not agree with some things but you’re just voting on the block based on who their friends are voting for. I think people should vote for who they want to even if it’s not the party that all their friends are with.

WEIS: Do you feel alienated by the politicians being so polarized?

COAXEM: I don’t think that our politicians are doing a good job in bridging the gap. At least right now the right is trying to keep trump and trump like figures in power. The left is just anti-trump. Peoples whole platforms are based on just being against trump.
They’re so focused on this one man. Despite him being in office, the main thing should be them keeping us together. The main goal should be keeping us together, keeping us unified.

WEIS: What can Syracuse clubs and organizations do on campus to motivate young moderates on election day and beyond?

COAXEM: I think what they’ve been doing, certain organizations will tell their own audience to vote but not tell the general student body to vote. If college democrats for example, I would encourage my own organization and people who are like me to vote for people that my organization agrees with. If I was in that organization I wouldn’t tell people to vote for Trump. Even though they are College Democrats and College Republicans, I think they both need to be more bipartisan in terms of voting specifically. They should encourage both to vote, even though they may disagree and have different opinions, everyone should feel like their votes count, especially Conservatives and Moderates.

WEIS: What were your thoughts on the Student Association encouraging voter turnout?

COAXEM: I think it was good, it wasnt partisan and it didn’t have certain key words to suggest they were on one side or the other. I think in terms of voting and civic participation, being as neutral as possible is best. Especially because we are encouraging voter turnout. We are instilling a culture of voting to a new generation. Hopefully, like what’s the plan, this young generation shows out in larger numbers to vote, hopefully that’s for whoever they choose to vote for because they are all very different. With Syracuse doing that, I think it was good that it was very neutral and general because people won’t will feel that this isn’t for me or that they don’t care what I have to say.

WEIS: Do you have any final thoughts or advice for voters going into the midterm election?

COAXEM: Do your research and vote for who you want.

WEIS: Thank you so much for joining us Jaylen!

COAXEM: Thank you.

WEIS: Stay tuned for next week’s podcast where we will discuss more of our columns. If you have any questions or comments, feel free to submit a letter to the editor at opinion@dailyorange.com. We’ll talk to you next week!