“I was pretty surprised, honestly. I think if there’s anything I’m not surprised about, it’s that we got very divisive afterward,” said Evan Zemaitis, a junior studying civil engineering.
“I went to bed early last night. I didn’t stay up because I assumed that Hillary Clinton would win. I get the CNN alerts on my phone, so when I woke up this morning I was shocked when it said the president-elect was Trump. I sat in my bed in shock for probably 30 minutes, just reading everything as if it couldn’t be real,” Madison Teeter said, a sophomore majoring in political science.
“Next, came sadness and anger. I think the nation underestimated where America stands on key issues that are really important and it shows how we haven’t progressed as much as we thought we had because of the things that Donald Trump stands for,” Teeter said.
“There are different outlooks [as to why he won]. People thought Hillary Clinton had it in the bag, so a lot of people didn’t go out and vote and that hurt her a lot. People a lot of the time don’t vote because they don’t think their vote matters even though we try to shove it down their throats as much as we can and also because of the mantra that ‘Donald Trump could never be president; this is a joke.’ Even though Hillary Clinton was seen as the lesser of two evils, people still weren’t excited about her; they didn’t feel the energy to go out and vote,” Teeter said.
“Not enough people voting in the primaries definitely had a big hit on this election. It seems like a lot of the times the moderates won’t vote in the primaries and the moderates are stuck with the radicals for the general election,” said Jacob Daye, a sophomore majoring in aerospace engineering.
“On people’s reactions to Trump, I am also shocked, angry and upset. It’s scary in some ways. I feel like a lot of people are trying to not accept the results and I’ve seen a lot of posts say ‘He’s not our president’ and he is. Democracy only works if we accept what the majority chose. In this case, we may not like it, but the only way this country operates is if we accept what the majority chose and deal with it for the next four years. It’s sad and it’s scary; like when Donald Trump said he wouldn’t concede if Hillary won, that’s not democracy,” said Benjamin Laramee, a sophomore studying engineering.
“It was a very shocking election. I didn’t expect the results to be the way they are; the primaries were different. I was watching movies and looked at the results and Trump had won. I didn’t really mind. I didn’t like either of them. I just didn’t know he would get that far,” Flavio Leon said, a freshman studying engineering.
“I did stay up to see the results. It got to a point where it was too much for me to handle so I went to sleep, and I’m not necessarily too surprised with the results. It seems as though hidden emotions in America are finally coming to light, which a lot of us knew were held in the dark for so long,” said Malik Simpson, a senior studying agribusiness management.
“I didn’t stay up to watch it, but I try not to expect anything from it. In the end, I was surprised when Trump won. I think I’m just overall sad that there’s still so much hate in the world and it just took one man who had a lot of money, to say the right hateful things to really reveal all of that. I’m really concerned about the environment because of him,” said Jaspreet Pooni, a junior studying wildlife sciences.
“I was honestly surprised and very disappointed that he won. I just don’t see how someone who said so many hateful things about so many people can be the head of a country and a role model to people around the world. It just opened the door for hate. I think it’s going to be an interesting four years. I hope he proves us all wrong, but I don’t know how the next four years will be,” said Linda Meadows, a senior studying fisheries and wildlife science.
“I did not expect the result that came out. I really expected Hillary to win. I did stay up to watch it and the whole time I was just like ‘Wow, this isn’t happening.’ I had done all the research and watched the polls and watched a lot of respected websites and all of them predicted a Clinton win. When Florida flipped, I was like ‘Oh man, Florida’s going red; this is actually happening, this is the end.’ In terms of what’s actually going to happen, I don’t think Trump is going to do that much bad. I don’t expect he’s going to destroy the economy or the nation as a whole. But the fact that Congress is all now Republican, I’m worried he’s going to be given a blank check. As long as the party supports his decisions, he’ll have a whole lot more power than if the Democrats took control of the congress,” said Alex Peck, a sophomore studying computer science.
“I voted for Trump, and I supported him. I did stay up to watch it, but I fell asleep around 1:30. I was waiting for Pennsylvania. When I saw Florida change, that’s when I knew,” said James Einwaechter, a sophomore majoring in exploratory studies.
Lisa Wong, a senior studying graphic design, nervously watches the election results in Talley Student Union on Tuesday.
