Sophomore Midori Aguilar started her Wednesday morning checking who won the election and the results certainly didn’t come as a surprise to her.
“Honestly, I expected Trump to get away with winning somehow. I kind of just expected him to win instead of Kamala no matter the amount of support she got,” Aguilar said. “I’d say we’re all screwed. Trump wants to do so many things that are not so amazing to this country. It’s not too great.”
In the evening of Nov. 5, the election results were posted showing that presidential candidate Donald Trump was in the lead over presidential candidate Kamala Harris. On the morning of Nov. 6, the Associated Press published the results of Trump winning the election with 277 electoral votes over the 224 electoral votes that Harris gained.
“Well, I saw a lot of people talk about the ‘red mirage’, which basically is, when Republican votes are counted first. That wasn’t true. I mean, typically it happens but not this time,” senior Jo Sanders said. “I don’t know… I feel like they (voters) would rather elect a very bad guy than a woman. That’s not good.”
The 2024 presidential campaign was eventful, starting off when President Joe Biden withdrew from the presidential race on July 21 and endorsed Vice President Harris to step in. On July 13, Trump survived the first assassination attempt near Butler, Pennsylvania and was shot in the ear. There was a second assassination attempt on Sept. 15 at Trump International Golf Club in West Palm Beach, Florida, and in this incident Trump was not injured. Although all of these events make this election a historic one, for most, it had an unexpected outcome.
“What surprised me the most is that most of the states voted for Trump,” sophomore Giancarlo Valdez said about the outcome of the election. “There was nearly 50/50 in the beginning. I watched the news on Monday and it was 50/50. They (presidential candidates) said things they want to do to win.”
On campus, students express their opinions about which candidate they support and why. Valdez shared not having a particular opinion about the election results, since the citizens still can’t know what impact the new president will make on the country.
“I am disappointed in the results,” junior Jordan Viviano said. “I personally am anything but a Trump supporter. I really do not like Trump, I don’t think he was a good president. I don’t think he’s going to do well for this country. I think the best thing he has going for him in terms of impact is the tax cuts. Even then, it isn’t really going to be a big thing for anyone but (who do) not already have a lot of money or (who) has a big source of income.”
Sophomore Ethan Sokol is content with the election results and feels hopeful about the next four years of Trump’s presidency.
“I expect four years of hopefully (a) better economy,” Sokol said. “The economy was better when he was the president. (So) four years of good presidency, good governance. Like the 2016 to 2020 was.”
Many students were shocked at the results of the election, believing that the election would play out differently. Junior Abraam Grigorian believed that Harris would win the election due to hearing people’s increasing support for Harris. For many students, the unexpectedness of the election results sparked many emotions and thoughts.
“From the very beginning, I didn’t really expect him to win because by just listening to the conversations, by knowing his background and just by listening to all my friends, what my friend’s parents think,” Grigorian said. “I really expected Kamala to win, but it just didn’t happen.”
Opinion Editor Sophie Ortega contributed to this story.
