Swing-state college students largely support Harris but acknowledge ‘razor-thin’ margin with Trump

FOUNTAIN HILL, Pa. – Students at one major Pennsylvania university in a “swing” area of the commonwealth were bullish on Vice President Kamala Harris’ chances in November but acknowledged the race remains tight.

Fox News Digital visited Lehigh University, a prominent private college in Bethlehem, with such famous alumni as Chrysler Chairman Lee Iacocca, businessman and NASCAR team owner Roger Penske and top Trump confidante Alina Habba.

The Philadelphia Eagles once held training camp at Lehigh’s Murray Goodman athletic campus on the other side of South Mountain.

Along Packer Avenue in the middle of the main campus, Jack Ciavolella of the Lehigh University College Democrats was staffing a Democrats table Tuesday with other students and a volunteer from the Harris-Walz campaign.

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Democratic students post campaign signage at Lehigh University in South Side Bethlehem, Pa. (Fox News Digital/Charles Creitz)

A colorful totem pole of campaign signs stood waving in the wind next to the table for Harris, Sen. Robert P. Casey Jr., D-Pa.; Eugene DePasquale, a candidate for attorney general; and State Rep. Malcolm Kenyatta, D-North Philadelphia, a candidate for auditor general.

“Since Northampton County is a swing county in a swing state — and probably one of the most important states in the Union — we kind of got to do our part,” Ciavolella said.

“So that’s what I’m here for.”

He added that as Election Day draws nearer, the campaigns are increasingly becoming a topic on campus, whether from Trump-supporting students, independents or those who agree with Ciavolella’s group.

Fox News Digital reached out to the College Republicans via an email listed on the campus website but did not receive a response.

“A lot more people are starting to get interested about it, about how the election’s coming and its razor-thin margins,” Ciavolella said. “So, people start to get a lot more interested in things like this.”

Students are more engaged in politics this term than they have been in recent years, he said.

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The Asa Packer Memorial Chapel at the center of Lehigh University’s main campus. (Fox News Digital/Charles Creitz)

As Fox News Digital conversed with other students walking down the mountainside campus from Sayre Park, none who stopped identified as Trump supporters.

Ciavolella said his group has been more visible as the deadline for voter registration approaches.

In the nearby vestibule of a campus coffee shop, a volunteer for a nonpartisan voter registration group was indeed trying to do just that.

Lehigh is not unlike other schools in Pennsylvania, like Penn State, where students often register to vote on campus rather than in their out-of-state hometowns. That dynamic has made Centre County, where State College is located, into a swing county in national elections.

Meanwhile, Eric Cepeda from New York said he is registered to vote on campus at Lehigh and said equality and community issues are most important to him this cycle.

Tuition costs are also top of mind for him these days, he said, adding Lehigh has been helpful to students who need assistance and that Harris is the better candidate to address college affordability.

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Blast furnaces and stacks from the former Bethlehem Steel stand silently along the Lehigh River on the Christmas City’s South Side. The area now hosts an entertainment venue, museum, PBS affiliate and casino. (Charles Creitz)

Ethan, a student from New Jersey, said abortion and student loans are major issues for him this election.

“Just, morally, how people are going to handle being in charge of the country and in charge of people,” he said.

“I’ve seen people from both sides.”

Political advertising has also been very noticeable in the area as of late, he added, crediting Pennsylvania’s “swing state” position for that increase.

“Personally, I like to do my own research and not get, you know, swayed by the opinions of others,” he added.

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Looking down toward the rest of Bethlehem, the roof of the historic “Hotel B” stuck out next to the busy Hill-to-Hill Bridge, as the rusted, long-silenced blast furnaces from Bethlehem Steel lined the near bank of the Lehigh River below.

Noticeably absent from the city’s skyline, however, was Martin Tower, the blue and silver cruciform-shaped skyscraper north of Center City that once housed Bethlehem Steel’s headquarters. The site, which also hosted a Durkee spice factory, is being redeveloped, a theme throughout much of the Lehigh Valley.

Down at the end of campus closest to the steel stacks, Mina Handelsman of California and Sophia Ross of Washington, D.C., were waiting for a campus shuttle that runs to Lehigh’s nearby Mountaintop and Goodman campuses.

Both political science majors said abortion rights are a big issue for them, adding there are several important subjects that come to mind.

A digital billboard on I-78 near the Goodman Campus of Lehigh University in Hellertown, Pa., advertises for Democrats. (Fox News Digital/Charlie Creitz)

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“I also think plans for both the national debt and student college debt [are important],” Handelsman said.

“Student loan programs: I agree,” added Ross. “What I think is really important and then also some economic issues. And I think some of the immigration policy is pretty interesting.”

The students said they are both enrolled in classes that deal with elections and politics. 

“[W]e don’t hear a lot of discord or disagreement [on campus],” Ross said, adding it is important to get registered to vote either way.

Handelsman said she predicts Harris will win Pennsylvania but have a tougher time in other swing states.

“In Pennsylvania, young people are really being mobilized to get out the vote. And I think that as the younger generation, a lot of us, our issues are being more represented by Kamala Harris.”

“I’m guessing it will be Kamala Harris, but I really don’t know,” Ross added.

The Lehigh Valley is also home to several other schools, including DeSales University in Center Valley, Muhlenberg College in Allentown, Lafayette College in Easton and Moravian University in Bethlehem, where students’ votes weigh heavily in the swing area.