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As a Pennsylvania native, Syracuse University junior Teagan Rowland closely followed the 2024 United States presidential election with a sense of anxiety Tuesday night, knowing that her state could decide the winner.

After hours of watching YouTube live streams and refreshing her social media feeds, Rowland decided to go to sleep, anticipating that the winner of the presidency wouldn’t be announced until at least late Wednesday. But she woke up to the news that former President Donald Trump had beat Vice President Kamala Harris and won the race.

When Trump defeated Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in 2016, hundreds gathered outside of Hendricks Chapel the next day for a “Syracuse University Stands Against Hate” vigil. When President Joe Biden unseated Trump in 2020, students living in the University Neighborhood blasted music and honked their car horns in celebration of the decision.

After Trump’s early Wednesday morning victory, several SU students told The Daily Orange the campus felt quiet, with many shocked by the results.

“I feel really sad and really disappointed,” Rowland said. “We just had class, and everybody was just silent … it’s just a very dreary atmosphere on campus.”

Students described feeling disbelief as Trump gained more Electoral College wins throughout election night, claiming battleground state after battleground state. Initially neck-and-neck in the pre-election polls, many outlets projected the race for president to be close, though most didn’t predict a winner.

Sam Bevans, a freshman majoring in history, said that though he doesn’t identify as a Republican, he attended an election night watch party hosted by SU’s College Republicans chapter. During the party, Bevans said he watched CNN and Fox News along with MSNBC’s coverage of the race, and continued to refresh other news sites for results afterward back at his dorm.

Bevans said he was confident in Harris’ chances of winning the presidency since she became the Democratic nominee after Biden’s drop-out in July. On election night, he said he waited for the “red mirage” to disappear, but was surprised when it never did.

“I saw that (she) was not only losing the Electoral College but also the popular vote, I had to think, ‘Did I insulate myself too much? Did I not get enough sources from the other side? Was I too biased?’” he said.

Echoing Bevans, several other SU students across the political spectrum said they didn’t expect a Trump victory, especially by such a significant margin. Sonya Dunham, a freshman inclusive education major, and Chloe Fatuova, a junior majoring in television, radio and film, both said they were shocked by the results and the speed at which they came out.

Some students, like JJ Kravitz — a freshman in SU’s Martin J. Whitman School of Management — said they didn’t share this sense of disbelief.

Kravitz said that he wasn’t surprised by the election’s results and thought the candidates had an “equal chance” of winning — especially considering how close the polls were in the weeks leading up to Election Day. He said both candidates had pros and cons they brought to the table, so it was up to voters to decide what was most important.

Andrew Long, a freshman architecture student, shared Kravitz’s lack of surprise and highlighted issues in Harris’ campaign strategy.

“Democrat(s) strategy was more about attacking Trump, more about attacking Trump’s mannerisms and character as opposed to focusing on policy,” Long said. “I think it caused some voters to … lose sight of what the actual policy decisions were on each side.”

Throughout Harris’ short campaign, she struggled to separate herself from Biden, whose approval rating tanked in the past year and a half. Her proximity to Biden proved to hurt the vice president in the polls. Harris also faced criticism for struggling to differentiate her policy goals from the current president.

Samantha Wilson, a third-year architecture student, said early demographic breakdowns also revealed places where the Harris-Walz ticket fell short. According to CNN, Trump performed better than Harris with almost all minority group populations. In 2020, Biden performed particularly well with Black and Latine voters.

Wilson said she voted for Harris in her home city of Detroit, Michigan, through an absentee ballot. As results came in, she said she was disappointed by the number of people who cast their ballots for third-party candidates or chose not to vote.

In Michigan, the AP reported that over 100,000 votes were cast for third-party candidates, predominantly Green Party candidate Jill Stein. Harris lost the state of Michigan by approximately 80,000 votes. Many members of Arab-American communities in Detroit suburbs voted for Stein due to Biden and Harris’ handling of the ongoing Israel-Hamas War.

“In my political science class, we talk a lot about electability,” Wilson said. “I genuinely hoped that people would view her as electable even though a lot of this country thinks or looks down on Black people and women, specifically Black women.”

Connor Bankoff, a freshman broadcast and digital journalism major, said he appreciated being able to vote in the presidential election for the first time. This year, over 40 million members of Generation Z were eligible to vote, a roughly eight million voter increase from the 2022 midterms. Bankoff said despite his initial excitement, he was left feeling disappointed with the race’s result.

“I’m definitely a little bit frustrated,” Bankoff said. “I’m working to get over it, but I feel bad for the women in my life, my mom, my sisters as well.”

While Trump says he opposes a federal abortion ban, he has also previously taken credit for overturning the Roe v. Wade decision. Trump’s support for restrictions on abortion access has left many worried after his reelection.

Alexa, a graduate student who asked to only share her first name, described Trump’s re-election as a “huge loss” for women across the country, citing his previous sexist remarks and stance on reproductive healthcare.

Harris won 57.5% of the votes in Onondaga County, according to unofficial data from the Onondaga County Board of Elections.

“Post-election, I can tell that the community here, the environment is super somber, very quiet on campus,” Fatuova said. “There’s a lot of tension, no matter who you voted for.”

Published on November 7, 2024 at 2:31 am

news@dailyorange.com