Students react as the results roll in during the USC Annenberg election night watch party. (Photo/Mike Baker)
Election watch party at USC Annenberg draws enthusiastic crowd of Gen Z voters
Trojans, many having voted in their first presidential election, come together for camaraderie, expert insights — and “moral support.”
It wasn’t just for the pizza.
Students showed up in droves Tuesday to take part in the presidential election night watch party hosted by the USC Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism, engaging with experts, including faculty who have covered elections and others who have advised political campaigns.
Among those in the audience was Emma Fallon, a junior studying political science at the USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences. Fallon is a member of Generation Z and was celebrating her first time voting in a presidential election.
“I think this is probably one of our most important and historic races of all time,” said Fallon, who is originally from Massachusetts. “There’s so much on the line here, and I really wanted to come and be engaged with the community and watch with people and have conversations and just have, honestly, some moral support as we watch.”
In recent years, USC Annenberg has made an event of watching election results unfold, often with the support of the Center for the Political Future at USC Dornsife.
Kambiz Akhavan, the center’s executive director, said he thinks that while some people mistake the young voters of Generation Z as disengaged, he said those who come to these watch parties are active participants seeking purpose and connection. They, much like any other voter in the country, want change for the better and are hoping for leadership that will make a difference, he said.
“The things they care about most are gun violence, climate change and whether they’re going to get a good job after they graduate,” Akhavan said.
Akhavan said that the USC Annenberg watch parties hosted for primaries and elections can kindle positive involvement and sustained engagement.
USC election watch party: “They need to participate”
“Our system depends on full participation. It’s a system of self-governance, and if we tune out and we’re not governing ourselves, that means those who have the resources or the time to invest their voice matters disproportionately and in ways that can be not just opposed to what young people believe in, but sometimes can be harmful to their values,” Akhavan said. “So they need to participate. They have the second-largest generation in American history, with lots of political power, but they are underutilized.”
Throughout the night, Christina Bellantoni — director of the Annenberg Media Center, professor of professional practice and former Los Angeles Times politics editor — hosted panel discussions with political experts including writers whose prior work as journalists involved covering specific issues, such as religion.
By interviewing other students or hosting experts including counselors such as Kelly Greco of USC Student Health, Bellantoni and her colleagues explored the heightened emotions and significance of the election as a shared moment for the students.
For some Trojans, Tuesday’s election was their first in which they voted. Welela Solomon said she found the experience of voting and attending the watch party a bonding moment with the community.
“I think it was super exciting,” said Solomon, a junior studying health promotion in global health at the Keck School of Medicine of USC who is from the Seattle area. “Also, I felt like I made a little bit of a difference, as much as I could make. But I just, I think it was super empowering, as well, to see other people doing the same thing.”
Sense of community at USC election watch party
Gordon Stables, director of the School of Journalism at USC Annenberg, said students are inspired to attend to the events at Wallis Annenberg Hall because “they get a real sense of the campus community here.”
He noted that many have a stake in the election outcomes because of their own experiences and backgrounds — whether the students are first-generation U.S. students or students from overseas.
People may not think of USC as a politically engaged campus, but the watch parties show otherwise, Stables said. Nodding toward the audience of more than 400, he said, “I think we have a lot of interest.”
