Voters elected former President Donald Trump as the 47th president of the United States, Wednesday, Nov. 6, leaving Drew’s largely liberal campus reeling.
Associated Press News said his election was “an extraordinary comeback for a former president who refused to accept defeat four years ago, sparked a violent insurrection at the U.S. Capitol, was convicted of felony charges and survived two assassination attempts.”
The Republican candidate cleared 270 electoral votes early Wednesday morning after winning Wisconsin and several other important swing states. Trump won the presidency with 295 electoral votes and 50.9% of the popular vote.
Wednesday afternoon, Harris conceded to Trump over a phone call and President Joe Biden congratulated him, thus beginning the transition of power.
Voters from all sides said the issues that are most important to the country are the economy, abortion and immigration.
Trump won the election with a platform calling for sweeping, conservative changes.
According to his website, his policies include taking action to “rebuild the greatest economy in history,” “reject globalism and embrace patriotism,” “protect parents’ rights,” “end censorship and reclaim free speech” and “drain the swamp of Washington corruption.”
His website says some of his proposed actions include “dismantling and destroying the left-wing censorship regime” and “[cutting] federal funding for any school or program pushing Critical Race Theory or gender ideology on our children.”
“The victory validates Trump’s bare-knuckles approach to politics. He had attacked Harris in deeply personal—often misogynistic and racist—terms as he pushed an apocalyptic picture of a country overrun by violent migrants. The coarse rhetoric, paired with an image of hypermasculinity, resonated with angry voters – particularly men – in a deeply polarized nation,” said AP News.
However, despite such a decisive win, students on Drew’s campus said the results of the election scare them. Throughout the day, students across campus turned to their communities to process the results of the election.
Katie Germinder (‘27) described their state of shock and said “The result of this election makes me scared for the future of America at this point. I have cried over it and hugged so many friends.”
Throughout the day, a juxtaposition of celebratory remarks and messages rooted in fear spread across social media platforms.
Dee Cohen (‘26) turned to their Instagram story to express their frustration with third party and Trump voters, saying that they “doomed” the country.
Addressing these voters, they wrote, “You have failed women, people of color, immigrants, members of the LGBTQIA+ community, people of the lower class, teachers and students, civil servants and the people suffering in wars across the world. I hope you’re happy with your vote.”
Many Drew students agree with their sentiment, including Sabr Keres-Siddqui (‘27), who expressed concern about their future as a person of color.
“I feel absolutely terrified at what the results of this election might mean for both my own future and the future of my non-traditional families and incredibly diverse friends,” they said.
Keres-Siddiqui explains that after their experiences during the first Trump administration, they find it hard to hold onto the “American Dream.”
“I feel abject horror every time I think about all of the extremely dangerous ways in which I have no doubt that this administration will put the lives of me and the people I care about in jeopardy…Make no mistake—fear, hate, ignorance and bigotry have won this election,” they said.
Sierra Walker is a senior majoring in marketing and media & communications, minoring in Spanish.
Featured image courtesy of Pexels.com.
[…] […]