​​This is republished as part of a series in collaboration with the Progressive electoral challenge. The New York Times’ Chalkbeat and Headway will ask young people to share their ideas and perspectives throughout the 2024 presidential election.

Arnav Goyal, 14, lives in Powell, Ohio, about 30 minutes north of Columbus. In 2020, Donald J. Trump, the Republican candidate, won Delaware County, where Powell is located, by 6.9 points. Mr. Trump carried Ohio by eight points.

Jaden Puttiram, 17, lives in South Ozone Park in Queens – a place that tells a very different political story. Joseph R. Biden Jr. won Queens County by about 45 points.

As the Headway Election Challenge, in collaboration with Chalkbeat, has shown week after week, teens like Goyal, a freshman at Olentangy Liberty High School, and Puttiram, a senior at Thomas A. Edison Career and Technical Education are closely monitoring developments. next elections, which will take place in just two weeks.

Although they come from politically different parts of the country, they agree on one thing: representation in politics goes beyond simple identity.

Problems matter most

Mr. Goyal and Mr. Puttiram both say that when it comes to identity, Vice President Kamala Harris’s South Asian and Caribbean heritage partly reflects their own. Mr Goyal’s family is from India, while Mr Puttiram’s is Indo-Guyanese.

But their support for different candidates reveals a common dynamic among our respondents: identity may foster connections, but issues determine policy preferences.

Goyal identifies as conservative and supports Trump. He said his political views were shaped by family values, his own curiosity and research. “I feel like just based on identity would be a weird situation,” he said of representation in politics. “So I think values ​​are much more important than identity.”

Puttiram, meanwhile, supports Harris. “One of the issues Kamala Harris is focused on is tax cuts for middle-class families,” he said, adding that he believes the proposed tax cuts would benefit her. family.

Last week, we asked challenge participants how well represented they felt on the issues they care about. When asked about representation within the problemsabout 30 percent of teens felt “mostly” represented, but none felt “completely” represented. Only about 11 percent said they didn’t feel represented at all.

We also asked to what extent their identities were represented in the list of candidates from their region. About 6 percent said they were “fully” represented by the candidates on the ballot, and nearly 17 percent said they were “mostly” represented. Although identity is important, many teens believe that politics and action are what matters most.

Ambivalence of social media

Are young people’s opinions heard? According to the teens we’ve heard from, the answer seems to be somewhat. More than three-quarters answered “a little” or “a little.”

Almost all of the teens we interviewed expressed a complicated relationship with social media, where young people often set the tone and agenda. It’s a place of discovery, awareness and action, but it also brings a lot of skepticism, both about what is shared and how politicians use it.

Goyal believes that some politicians use social media to reach out to young voters and encourage their participation, while others “still neglect social media and the youth and stick to their complete and utter base of seniors.”

From Puttiram’s perspective, teenagers seem more empowered and engaged than in previous elections. He said he noticed more articles, more videos, more “everything” about the election.

“There are a lot of people acting in my age group,” he said.

Parents: the ultimate influencers

The teens we spoke to said their parents had significant influence over their political views, followed by teachers, friends and social media. While some teens told us this year that they stray from their family’s politics and sometimes avoid conversation, most of our respondents said family discussions expose them to political ideas.

Puttiram said discussions with his parents shaped his political consciousness and sparked his interest in politics. He also credits his government professor for helping him review candidates’ websites and campaign speeches.

Although he mostly shares his family’s politics, Goyal said he regularly researches candidates and policies on his own. “My parents don’t have an outsized influence on my politics, but they tend to have a subtle influence,” he said.

Goyal’s interest in politics began when he was just 10 years old. “Right after the 2020 election, I remember my parents showing part of it on TV,” he said.

This insight into the electoral process fascinated Goyal, he said. “I just decided to, you know, take a look at what it is,” he said. “And then I fell down this rabbit hole and never escaped.”

Let’s move on to week 8, less than two weeks until Election Day!

As the critical day approaches, we want to take a snapshot of how young people think about the elections. What are their hopes, expectations and fears for what will happen on Election Day and beyond? What role do they think their peers will play in the outcome?

We would like to once again open these questions to all adolescents.

After the election, we will check with participants whether their expectations match reality and what they learned from what happened. Once the votes begin to be counted, our memories of this election will be shaped by the results. So if you are a teenager, we hope you record your thoughts now before the outcome is set.