I vote at 18 in 1980 while serving in the Air Force. I knew jack shit about the candidates, except that my friend hated Ronald Reagan (who I had never heard of), and that Jimmy Carter had been rather pathetic. The "Bomb, bomb, bomb, bomb Iran" music of the October surprise added to that perception. I ended up voting for Independent John Anderson. Been voting for Independents and loser ever since. Trump was my first presidential win! That said, coming from an unpolitical family, and not being particularly interested in it, I didn't know enough to vote. Nor did I have strong opinions based on experience, or based on expectations for the future.