PITTSBURGH — Kamala Harris campaigns on moving forward, frequently telling supporters, “We are not going back.” But college students here simply don’t believe her — and they’re not alone.
“She’s going back,” Phil Leraris, a University of Pittsburgh freshman, told The Post. “She’s a cop,” he said. “She’s saying pro-wall things.”
The vice president used to call former President Donald Trump’s border wall a “medieval vanity project.” Now running for president, Harris has pledged to sign the bipartisan border bill that would continue building the barricade.
It’s just one of her turnarounds sparking concern among progressives — especially young voters typically a strong base of Democratic support.
“The left of left feels isolated in a world that increasingly feels right,”said Leraris, 19, who hails from Indianapolis.
Standing at the opposite end of the quad from where conservative activist Charlie Kirk would debate Pitt students that same day, Leraris said he’ll vote for Harris, but he’s less than thrilled at the prospect.
“I will vote begrudgingly,” he said, because “I hate Trump.”
Though Gen Z voters are more liberal than older Americans, 43% don’t identify with either major political party.
The Harris campaign has tried to reel in these younger voters with “brat summer” memes and celebrity endorsements from the likes of Taylor Swift and Billie Eilish.
But polls show Harris does not have the same support from younger voters that President Biden did in 2020 — which may be vital to winning Pennsylvania’s 19 electoral votes.
One reason is the veep’s sudden shift to the center, students told The Post.
“She’s so moderate,” said Kush Rajeshi, another Pitt freshman. “Like a façade of change that’s not going to happen.”
In her play for the White House, Harris has backed away from her progressive past, eschewing her support for Medicare for All and fracking bans and embracing issues like border security instead.
“She’s being campaigned as this beacon of hope for minorities because she’s a minority, but she’s a hypocrite,” Rajeshi said.
Hailing from the San Francisco Bay Area, the 18-year-old Rajeshi is familiar with Harris’ tenure as California’s attorney general, in which she sent more than 1,800 people to prison for marijuana offenses.
While he said he “hates” Hawaii ex-Rep. Tulsi Gabbard, Rajeshi conceded the former Democrat’s takedown of Harris’ record as a prosecutor in a 2019 Democratic primary debate clearly left an impression on progressive voters.
Rajeshi also believes Trump’s attacks on Harris labeling her a Marxist and extremist liberal will help her campaign.
“They’re calling her all these radical things, which she’s not,” he said. “They’re kind of making her cooler than she is.”
Rajeshi will cast his vote for Harris too but said he sympathizes with people who aren’t going to vote.
“I just don’t want abortion to be banned,” he explained.
Other Pitt students who spoke with The Post agreed that while they don’t like their options, they think Harris is the lesser of two evils.
“Out of the two choices, she is the best,” said freshman Emilia Chuhran with a “Legalize marijuana” sticker in hand.
While she doesn’t like Harris’ record as a prosecutor either, she backs the veep on immigration and abortion rights.
“I don’t think you should be idolizing these candidates,” she added.
“If you’re trying to have this Democratic big-tent kind of campaign, there really is only so much you can do for young voters,” said Luke S., referring to his peers in the 18- to 24-year-old cohort, who trend more Democratic than any other age group.
Though he’s not a fan of Harris’ plans to reduce immigration, the 18-year-old Baltimore native told The Post that having a strong Border Patrol is important.
Of Harris’ economic plans, Luke said her proposed grocery price caps could be bad for the economy, but he’s fully on board with her promise to continue the aggressive antitrust actions of the Biden administration and “break up the grocery industry to create local competition.”
When Luke heard those plans, he said, “It gave me some hope.”
Luke noted Harris’ early campaign tried to appeal to younger voters with “a fun persona.”
But he thinks the VP’s outreach to young voters has evolved from memes and dances to a more issue-based approach.
“Now she’s putting forward more real issues rather than coconut-tree jokes.”
Still, he wishes Harris would take a stronger stance against Israel in the war in Gaza.
“I don’t think we should be giving funding to an apartheid state,” he said.
Luke tried shredding his electric guitar to disrupt Charlie Kirk’s campus visit before being shut down.
But this punk rocker is more pumped than his peers to pull the lever for Harris on Election Day.
“I’m more excited to vote for her than the average person in my political sphere,” he conceded.
