Democracy is on the ballot this November. If we elect Donald Trump again, I am scared for the future of our democracy. You see a lot of people saying President Trump would be a threat to democracy but, I feel that because of that we've had the assassination attempts on him … The country is deeply divided.
It's highly polarized along partisan lines. He wants to be an autocrat himself. Our country will be dead if she gets elected.
There are a lot of people on the left that genuinely don't see us as equals just because we think a certain way. The hardest part is, how do you find that balance of working with people on certain issues that they don't even want to meet in the middle for. This completely extreme side.
We're also going to stand fast on what we believe in which is preserving the American heritage and way of life. It's about the future of this country but it's also about the future of our generation. Hi sir, are you a registered Democrat by chance?
No ma'am. No? All good.
Hi ma'am, are you a registered Democrat by chance? No. OK, have a great day.
Republicans show up y'all. Sabrina Bousbar is nearing the end of the campaign trail, hoping to represent the Democratic Party in the House of Representatives. We are at a time in our politics, unfortunately, where it's very divisive, where it's very hateful, where we have extremes on both sides and we're really not talking about: the beauty of America is that our differences is what makes us the United States.
Aged 27, Bousbar would be the first-Generation Z Congresswoman. But first she faces a ‘primary' election within her own party up against four fellow-Democrats to become the candidate for her district in Florida. Bousbar has been hitting the streets, canvassing daily for several months now although in her eyes, there's more at stake in the upcoming state and national elections than just her own political ambitions.
This is about the future of our democracy. This is about defending democracy. This is about the American Dram and making sure every American has the ability to achieve the goals that they want to achieve.
Like her party's presidential candidate Kamala Harris, she was born to immigrant-parents in her case to a Moroccan father and a Colombian mother. My parents came to this country 34 years ago. And from a young age, they really taught me the beauty of America, the ability to stand up for what you believe in, to show up for your communities, and how important it is to give back.
So I definitely developed that passion of giving back in public service and really found my love for it. And that's why I chose this over money or over power, over whatever it might be. My name is Wyatt Gable.
I'm running for the state house. I'm the Republican nominee. Just trying to come and introduce myself to everybody and see if you have any questions for me.
A little young. I'm 21. I'll be 22 on Monday.
I get a lot of excitement, I think because due to the fact that our current president is in his eighties and the Republican nominee is almost 80, a lot of people are looking for maybe a younger candidate and a fresh set of ideas. If I win, I will be the youngest current member of the general assembly. Wyatt Gable is hoping to represent the Republicans in the North Carolina state legislature.
The election will take place on the same day as the vote for president: November 5th. Gable's idea to run for office originated during the COVID pandemic in response to the restrictions imposed at his university. If you were not vaccinated for Covid, which I am not, you had to get tested every week.
And then if you did not get tested, they would turn your student ID off so you couldn't eat. So basically just trying to starve you into submission and not caring what you believe in, your medical freedoms. And I just kind of felt like no one cared.
So I figured: well, I'll be the one that cares and listens to everybody. Congratulations, good luck. I saw the flag.
I'm a Trump supporter as well. So thank y'all for your time. Wyatt's district is majority Republican and pro-Donald-Trump.
But not everyone is which can result in awkward confrontations. I see the sign. Probably not on the same side of things, but How old are you?
You might think about changing sides. Yeah, I don't know about that for me. But you must not like women or gay people or minorities.
No, that's not it. You want somebody that follows the rule of law in the country is what you're saying? Republicans have lost their way.
I'm afraid. I really am. I'm afraid if him and his cronies get into power again, I may have to leave this country.
Seriously. And the reason is because I'm a gay man. How do you do that, man?
Have you been to a psychiatrist anytime? I think I have to get to people who actually will vote for me. Thanks for your time, though.
You hear stuff like that all the time. I don't think he's a bad person or anything. I don't think everyone that supports Kamala Harris is a bad person.
It's just you get that stuff where they think because you might have a difference of opinion, that you're mentally unhinged or something. I'm so used to it now, it doesn't really affect me in any way. Maybe if we sat down and we did talk for a while, we could have found some common ground on something.
But, again I'd like to say that but in reality, I know it's kind of difficult to actually convince people to sit down and try and find those things. Our politics is divided. I think it increases the vitriol.
Jane Hall is a professor of media and politics at the American University in Washington, DC. For years she's been observing the deepening divide in American society. There are people who say we are more polarized than we've been since the Civil War.
I think that our media and our politics amplify each other. The floodgates have been opened to all kinds of hate speech: particularly against vulnerable groups, particularly against women. That polarization is something Sabrina Bousbar has also observed in her daily campaign-trail chats.
My son is a Trumper. It's difficult, because he watches Fox News and some of those other extreme right-wing channels. My son and I have had many heated discussions, and they didn't end well.
So we have agreed to not talk about politics, at Thanksgiving or things like that: just to keep the peace. Bousbar needs to find a way of talking politics with the opposing side even if that can be a thankless task. The difficulty is: how do you work with someone who's disrespectful?
How do you find that balance of working with people on certain issues that they don't even want to meet in the middle for, or completely believe it's against American values. That's why I call them extremists. Rather than your moderate Republicans, who are willing to meet in the middle and bring back respect towards other people.
This breakdown in communication on a personal and political level is having dramatic consequences. It means deadlock, division, and it means that now we're questioning the basic norms of electoral democracy. At the renowned Stanford University in northern California, James Fishkin has been examining the causes of this polarization and its impact on both the political landscape and society in general.
And he's observed a growing departure from traditional democratic principles. If my team doesn't win, maybe we don't play anymore. Maybe we can't accept the outcome.
The other team coming to power becomes an existential threat. Is it this perceived threat that makes certain people resort to extreme actions? Wrongfully, you see a lot of people saying President Trump would be a threat to democracy.
But then I feel: because of that, we've had the assassination attempts on him recently. And I think the more and more people say stuff like that from both sides, it kind of makes things heated unnecessarily. And there has been plenty of heated rhetoric from the Republican side too including from influential influencers on the conservative right.
Among them is Charlie Kirk, founder of Turning Point USA. The youth outreach organization claims to have over a quarter of a million members and a presence at several thousand high schools and college campuses nationwide buoyed mainly by annual donations totaling over 80 million dollars. Its founder, Kirk, does not shy from making comments that are not just inciteful but outright racist.
If I see a black pilot, I think: boy, I hope he's qualified. So white privilege is a myth and a lie and should be completely destroyed. It's rooted in racism.
It's a racist idea. This is about bringing in voters that they like and, honestly, diminishing and decreasing white demographics in America. Wyatt Gable was himself president of his university's Turning Point USA chapter before deciding to run for political office.
Turning point is a nonpartisan nonprofit. Has conservative values like capitalism, first amendment, second amendment, God, limited government. All those things are something I believe in.
And at the chapter we have meetings. We talk about current events and things going on in the political world and on campus. It's a great time, and you get to meet a lot of like-minded people.
Turning Point's advocates are quick to dismiss criticism of their group. We don't encourage hatred of any other groups. We do encourage a lot of diversity within what we do.
However, we're also going to stand fast on what we believe in which is preserving the American heritage and way of life. William He is taking the fight to Turning Point USA. As the son of Chinese immigrants, I take personal offense to their hatred for immigrants and they're anti-Americanists, for what they're trying to push.
In 2023 he founded the progressive youth organization Dram for America. We're trying to build an organization that reclaims freedom and patriotism as liberal values and building a liberal alternative to Charlie Kirk's Turning Point USA. As a matter of fighting for our future.
We feel this sense and urgency that we have to get involved. Still just 17, his outlook has been shaped by only knowing the US as a bitterly divided country. I grew up during the Trump presidency.
I have seen and came of age during such a historic and unprecedented time of apathy and disillusionment and anger towards government, towards institutions, towards media and towards each other. And so all of that combined with all the hatred and division that's going on: I feel a deep personal conviction for continuing the fight in politics. What's scary about Turning Point USA is actually they have ties to far-right extremism.
They have white nationalists speak at their events. They funded buses to take 350 students to Trump's January 6 insurrection. Candice Owens, their former comms director, said that 'Hitler was okay until he went global.
' And they have a history of sexism and misogyny. Telling students they should have as many children as possible to stop the Muslim takeover of American culture and government. If those are the ones worst examples that you can give, I think it's pretty weak.
You know: telling Christian Americans to have more children because Muslims are coming here and having more children than we are. Yeah, that is just factually true. I think it's very fair for Americans to want to protect their own way of life, and if a way to do that is to try and bolster our own demographics: yeah, that's completely fair.
Would his "own demographics" include the likes of Sabrina Bousbar? The child of immigrants but herself American born and bred. I'm proud to be Colombian-Moroccan, but I'm also proud to be American.
I'm American first, right. I was born here, I was raised here. This is my home.
This is my country. And I've always felt that sense of service and gratitude, for what this country did for my family. If it wasn't for America, I wouldn't be here.
My parents, coming from two different countries with two different kinds of cultures: they really loved how this country allowed people to be different and still marry, right? Having the ability to not be judged because a Muslim man and a Catholic woman decided to get married. Donald Trump frequently uses his public appearances to make sweeping and inciteful statements about immigrants.
Illegal immigrants coming in, many of whom are killers, many of whom are drug dealers, many of whom are gang members and many of whom came out of prisons from all over the world. In Springfield, they're eating the dogs, the people that came in. They're eating the cats.
The kind of rhetoric that further polarizes the country. There's been appeals to nationalism, to racism, in my view. There are a lot of appeals that are out there that are alienating to some people and also feeding into a narrative that somebody is the other.
That's a very important concept: that I don't really know you. You are somebody that I don't relate to because you've been dehumanized. But Democrats have also resorted to marginalizing and denigrating their political opponents.
You know it, you feel it: these guys are creepy and, yes, just weird as hell. That's what you see. They're trying to push this idea that conservatives are awful and that they're weird.
That kind of slander and that kind of negative talk towards our side: that does exist on our side towards them, but nowhere near with the viciousness. I don't disagree with the criticism of the idea that somebody should be looked down on, calling them weird. I personally would not have called anybody weird.
I have a feeling that it reflects what probably has been an unfortunate elitism in our media: for not speaking to these people and looking down on these people. And the reason that's so difficult is what's called American has also gotten politicized. Increasingly, voters from the two sides of the divide are living in different worlds not just ideologically but also in geographical terms.
Some have even moved to a different part of the country for political reasons. Unfortunately, we are out of Trump signs. Oh no.
And we are out of Mark Robinson signs. Really? I came down from Massachusetts.
I came from California. I'm a refugee from California. Oh my God.
I'm a refugee too. They ruined that state. Massachusetts is so bad.
Sanctuary city. Really, really bad. So, yeah, that's the best thing I ever did.
I think the big reason we've gotten to the point is because of social media and things like that. Whereas before you talk to someone face to face, now you're doing it behind a computer screen where it's a whole lot easier to lob insults over a keyboard versus face to face. And I feel the more people shift online, the worse that's going to get.
There used to be more of a shared public sphere, where if somebody said something that was false, it was corrected. Or if somebody said something that was obviously misleading, it was corrected. But that's broken down, because the other points of view are never heard.
The corrections are never heard, because everybody's in their own enclave, their own filter bubble, their own source of information. James Fishkin wants to help people with differing political views find more common ground with what he calls "deliberative polls". He compares participants' opinions before and after they discuss contentious issues such as immigration and abortion with each other.
He conducted one such experiment with young voters in the summer of 2024 with remarkable results. We find that when people deliberate together, they not only come to an informed judgment, but they depolarize. And to my surprise, it's the people with the most extreme opinions who depolarize the most.
People say the current divisions are calcified. They're immovable. But they're not calcified because we see that they move.
Sabrina Bousbar is hosting a meet and greet event as she tries to reach out to voters in her congressional district. I actually believe in working with everyone. What a concept!
You know? But I tell everyone: obviously we're going to disagree. There's going to be controversy, and how do we actually go about it?
But frank and honest discussions with the other side are in reality rarely easy even if many wish they were. I think I would like to see the country to be less polarized. I would like to see both ends of the spectrum come together.
I think that hopefully, in my own personal life and also my professional life, that I get into the habit of calling people in to discuss and to share, rather than calling people out on things that I believe are wrong or at fault. I don't think enough people reach out and create that space for those discussions to happen. It's possible that young people can help overcome polarization, because I don't get the feeling that young people are nearly as polarized but they are not speaking to each other as much as they should.
The Democratic convention is now underway in Chicago and outside the venue the party's opponents challenge its supporters. while inside, the atmosphere is triumphant. This year, 17-year-old William He is still merely a spectator but he knows what role he and his generation have to play in their divided country.
It's vitally important that we offer some hope and brightness as an alternative. Our goal is really to make that fundamental cultural shift towards the values that we think are going to be best suited to help push this country in a better direction. And I'm excited to hear about the future of the country and play my small role in trying to guide this.
Our nation, with this election, has a precious fleeting opportunity to move past the bitterness, cynicism and divisive battles of the past. A chance to chart a new way forward. Not as members of any one party or faction but as Americans.
The convention ends with current vice president Kamala Harris accepting the party's nomination as candidate for the presidential election in November. Whether Sabrina Bousbar will have the chance to potentially join the presidential hopeful in Washington will be decided this evening. It's the Democrats' primary day in Florida.
Bousbar is one of just two Gen-Z candidates nationwide still in the running for a seat in Congress. Tonight's an important election for this race, but also for the future of Gen Z and young people in office. And so we're excited.
I do think regardless, no matter what, we've ran such a wonderful campaign that I think we've proven to people: young people do deserve a seat at the table and we should be heard. Bousbar has had the support of her family from day one. Now, all they can do is wait nervously for the returns.
Over in California, James Fishkin is working on an AI-assisted online platform to facilitate civilized debate, especially between young people of all political stripes. Close to 41 million Gen Zers will be eligible to vote in this year's elections almost a fifth of them first-timers. My ultimate aspiration is to spread the deliberative process, so that more and more people are coming to their considered judgments about what should be done.
And if we can get it in the schools, then we can reach millions more people. It really is transformative and would help create a more deliberative society and more respect for the ground rules of electoral democracy. In North Carolina, Wyatt Gable is attending a Republican party meeting in his own county.
Given the current situation, for many Americans the idea of engaging with the other side and bridging the gulf between the political parties seems barely feasible. How can they live together again? I don't know that there is a way right now.
We've got to have a cleansing, an awakening. And I think we're seeing that. We're seeing a lot of young people that have the right attitude and the right reasoning in what they want, such as Wyatt Gable.
That's what we want. We need new leadership. We need new foundation.
This young man was raised with strong foundation, and this is what we got to get back to. This is what our nation was founded on. For the first time in my life, I'm looking at an election where we have a literal communist running for president.
Those people who are voting for Kamala Harris are voting for a socialist Marxist. The Democratic ideology is seeping through our society, and it's pathetic. You have to vote Donald Trump in for President of the United States.
Candidate for North Carolina House of Representatives. At just 21 years old, Wyatt has already made a significant impact by winning a Republican primary for District 14. Join me in welcoming Wyatt Gable.
We know around here it's very Republican, but we have to make sure we all get out and vote. We all have to get out and door-knock. We all have to get out and phone call.
We have to go stand outside the polls on election day and early voting, because if everyone in here goes out and does that, we will win in a landslide. I'm proud to be an American… It's an election where for each side victory at the polls is seen as confirmation of their ideology and values. It's the moment of truth for Sabrina Bousbar.
Did her commitment translate into enough votes? Will she be the Democrats' candidate for Congress in November? The tension mounts as she and her supporters wait for the results.
Just knock on wood. It's out? Damn!
No, we lost. She has 23,746 and we have 6,757. That's OK.
We're still winners! Second place … second place! Second place.
The young aspiring politician concedes defeat something that not everyone is happy to do. Her own race is over – for now. But tomorrow she'll be continuing her fight for her vision of her country's future.
It's about moving towards a vision for this country and a value set that is more hopeful and inclusive. This is not the end. This is just the beginning.
We need to take all this energy and get our first Black female president elected. We will have a Republican president, a Republican governor, a Republican council of state, Republican super majority, and we will be Republican top to bottom. Let's go win big in November.
I don't believe we should compromise our values. Your values and your beliefs are your values and your beliefs. That's it.
But what we should do is still work with one another. You can trace it back to any war. The end, the treaty that ends the war has to be discussed at some point.
We still have to have that discussion. You can't just put up a wall and say, I'm not going to talk to this person ever again, because that's when bad things happen.
