Students share perspectives on contentious election
Donald Trump accepted the position of president-elect of the United States around 3 a.m. on Wednesday, Nov. 9. By the time Saint Joseph’s University students, faculty, and staff arrived on campus later that morning, Trump’s election had already become the primary topic of conversation at St. Joe’s.
“It’s historic, because he was the underdog, in a way, as many people thought,” Zachary Burns, ’18, Student Senator and president of the College Republicans, said.
Burns, along with other members of College Republicans, watched the election live and celebrated the outcome. He doesn’t, however, support all of Trump’s policies.
“I liked Hillary Clinton’s social policies,” Burns said. “I tend to be more moderate; I’m pro-gay marriage [and] I’m pro-choice. But one thing that I realized is Hillary Clinton wanted to raise taxes and the health care plans that she has are expensive…I basically had to put some of my social point of view and beliefs aside to help our economy.”
From Burns’ perspective, Trump represented change, not necessarily Republican ideals.
“Honestly, I just see him as somebody who’s not a politician,” Burns said. “Just because coming in, he doesn’t owe anything to anyone. There were organizations that endorsed him, but none really that gave enough financial contributions that he’d be loyal.”
Claudia Wert, ’17, member of the College Republicans, also believes that Trump isn’t an average politician. This belief increased her support for the Republican candidate.
“I was proud to vote for him because he stands against establishment norms,” Wert said. “He’s for replacing corrupt politicians. He’s an outsider; he’s not someone who is entrenched in the collusion that is Washington, D.C.”
Trump’s election is part of a larger pattern that Wert sees happening across the U.S. as well as in Europe.
“The anti-establishment movement that’s sweeping the nation isn’t confined to America,” she said. “You see it in Brexit; you see it in the UKIP [United Kingdom Independence Party] movement; you see it in France with the National Front and Marine Le Pen; you see it in the Netherlands with Geert Wilders…It’s trying to tell the establishment, ‘What you’re doing isn’t working.’ That the path we’re on, this globalism, this increasing corruption, isn’t what the people want.”
Trump’s anti-establishment campaign may have garnered support from voters across the country, but on Election Day, he was not expected to win. In the week leading up to the election, respected statistician Nate Silver, founder of poll analysis site FiveThirtyEight, predicted that Clinton had a 72 percent chance of winning the election. Both Burns and Wert attribute much of Trump’s success on Tuesday night to the same phenomenon: a silent majority.
“I think that the silent majority in America really came out and voted last night,” Wert said. “They voted with their hearts and they voted against the establishment, and no one could have predicted it.”
Many Clinton supporters at St. Joe’s spent the day making sense of the unexpected election results, as well.
“I was really surprised,” said Ethan Flanagan, ’18, president of the College Democrats. “I thought it was going to be a lot different, especially in Pennsylvania and Florida. I thought it was going to go for Hillary.”
Flanagan believes that one of best things Clinton supporters can do after her loss is to remain politically active.
“Democrats need to get people motivated to vote in the midterm elections in 2018, because they’re very important, and Democrats turn out a lot less in the midterms than they do in the general,” Flanagan said.
Ann Marie Maloney, ’18, communications director for the College Democrats and secretary of St. Joe’s Politics Club, agreed with Flanagan. She also added that the most important thing for America to do at this point is to avoid hateful language and move towards inclusion.
“I think we need to cure our rhetoric, that’s the biggest thing,” Maloney said. “The Republican Party, especially Republicans who didn’t support Donald Trump, really need to demand that their party doesn’t let that happen again, and changes their rhetoric so that it doesn’t support hatred, or promote hatred, or legitimate hatred.”
Though this message is forward-looking, Maloney was still devastated by Trump’s win.
“I knew that America wasn’t in a good place before this, but we’re in a worse place now,” Maloney said.
Christina Ciconte, ’17, shared these views. As co-president of the Women’s Leadership Initiative (WLI), she voiced concern about what Clinton’s loss indicates about gender in America.
“I think we also need to have conversations regarding why a woman can’t be president; it’s kind of like the underlying message,” Ciconte said. “Yes, someone could have the highest qualifications, but then she’s outperformed by a reality TV star.”
Ciconte led an emotional meeting of the WLI on Wednesday night. Close to 75 students attended the meeting to discuss the future of the country, how to overcome messages of hate, and what it means to be an ally for students of color at St. Joe’s, not limited to those who feel threatened by Trump’s presidency.
Wert, however, is confident that Trump will be an advocate for women’s rights; it’s one of the reasons she voted for him.
“His company hired more female executives than they did males, and they tend to pay them more, too,” Wert said.
Trump’s attitude towards women’s rights as president remains to be seen, but Burns believes that Trump should begin to bridge the gap between the two sides of the divided country as soon as possible.
“What Donald Trump really should do is look at exactly what Hillary supporters wanted and try to get cabinet members that revolve around that,” Burns said. “You have half the population really upset about their candidate losing; why not bring some of that into your administration?”
While students’ perspectives on Trump’s victory vary widely, Burns concluded with an outcome he views as positive for everyone at St. Joe’s.
“I talked to the College Democrats, and both of our clubs have grown in size,” he said. “People are engaged, active, and that’s pretty much the one thing that we wanted to get out of this.”