Below is an election guide, compiled by Student Life writers, to help WashU students understand Missouri candidates and ballot initiatives. If you are not registered in Missouri, or if you have more questions about voting, polling locations, and Election Day, visit the WashU Votes information hub.

Thousands of newly-minted voters at WashU will cast their ballots in one of their first major elections in November. With presidential candidates who are nearly neck-and-neck according to recent polls and contentious state issues such as abortion and sports gambling on Missouri’s ballot, how are WashU’s newest voters feeling about the upcoming 2024 election?

Ahead of the 2024 presidential election, Student Life spoke to a few WashU students about who they are supporting and what political issues are motivating them to engage.

As American citizens across the country consider who to cast their ballots for, college students grapple with the implications of not only who to vote for but also where to vote. At universities like WashU, where 90% of students are not from Missouri, that added consideration is a personal decision that varies depending on political position, ballot issues, and connection to home states. 

Ahead of the presidential election on Nov. 5, WashU launched a new political science course for the fall 2024 semester, “Topics in Politics: The 2024 Presidential Campaign,” focusing on the 2024 United States presidential election.

As President of the College Democrats, I’ve found that a few students on campus and in College Democrats are committed to engaging with the political process and doing the work of canvassing, door-knocking, or anything needed to win an election. However, increasingly over the past four years, I’ve observed a tendency of left-leaning students to see themselves as unimportant or unheard and to disengage from the electoral process. 

As President of WashU’s College Republicans, I have found that WashU, though possessing a similar left-liberal monoculture as most other universities, is fairly tolerant and generally open to ideas. Maybe it is just that people on campus think of conservatives and conservatism as quaint, rare, and non-threatening, but I’d like to think this is due to a greater commitment to free dialogue on the part of the University and its students. 

In our increasingly online world, viral sound bites and video clips hold more weight in electoral politics than ever. Today, more than half of Americans get their news from social media sources. With that in mind, here are five of the most viral moments of the 2024 election that you may have missed.

Every year, Congressional Democrats and Republicans face off in a baseball game (Republicans lead 46-42 games all time). This got us thinking — what if we did something completely different and unrelated? So, Student Life sat down to craft football teams of Republicans and Democrats from past and present, and we’re here to show you the lineups and our predictions for America’s real pastime.

Roan does not need to endorse a candidate. But if her goal is for voters to “think critically” about the election, she must equip the young people who listen to her with some basic political realities. Blue states protect queer and trans rights; red states do not.