As of November 15, 2024, Trump has 312 electoral votes and 76,058,938 votes. Kamala has 226 electoral votes and 73,122,530 votes. Students throughout the school have many controversial opinions that have been shared. Junior Marli English wasn’t surprised by the outcome but the gap between the two candidates was not a part of her thoughts.
“I expected the outcome,” English said. “I didn’t expect it to be this aggressive of a response like I didn’t expect it to be this big of a majority.”
Along with this rivalry, Junior Maddox Jones, who thought it would be close, was in agreement with English and her anticipation of what was to happen by the end of the polls.
“I expected what happened,” Jones said. ”It’s a close race, and then Trump kind of pulled ahead at the end so that’s kind of what I expected.”
Based on what happened, there are varying opinions on why Trump was the side to pull ahead in the race by the end. Junior Aaron Oesterle felt that he connected with the public more than Harris was able to.
“I feel like Trump really just connected more with the audience, with the voter bases that he needed to, especially in those swing states as well,” Aaron Oesterle said. “I think he really connected with just your everyday person.”
Taylor Ray, a junior, is in agreement that he was better at talking, but also believes it wasn’t necessarily truly him and what he believes. According to Ray, what he talked about was just a tactic to get more votes.
“I think what led to Trump winning was that he is very good at knowing what people want,” Taylor Ray said. “He is very good at maybe not saying what people want outright, but like, he knows in his supporters what they truly, truly want. So he will kind of not manipulate, but manipulate those people into liking and believing him.”
Another outlook on how Trump was able to gain more votes than Harris is because of the attention he got from the shots fired at him during a rally. Senior Darren Reeves also believes the publicity from the attempt is what helped Trump push ahead.
“I think it was all the publicity from Trump getting fake assassinated,” Reeves said. “Or it could have been real.”
Many people believe this election is the most important election in our lifetime. Others take a more carefree side when it comes to what happens in the election.
“Well I don’t think I really cared all that much, because it’s only stuck between the two, you know,” Reeves said. “Jill Stein only got like 700,000 votes. She doesn’t stand a chance against the main two.”
Although Reeves was uninterested, Jones took a more involved stance when it came to the most recent presidential election.
“I wouldn’t say I was too invested but I was definitely watching the polls and stuff, keeping up,” Jones said. “I actually did watch the news on the night of the election for a good couple of hours or so.”
Unlike Jones, Ray decided to start keeping up with everything after the current president decided not to run again.
“At first, I was not that invested. I of course had fear over Project 2025, but I truly thought that a lot of younger people would not like him so they wouldn’t vote for him,” Ray said. “But until Biden dropped out and I realized how big this election is, I started following along.”
Immigration played a massive role in the decision-making for people in this election. Many fear what his policies on immigration and immigrants may be, there is especially fear around the possibility of mass deportation.
“Kicking out the immigrants is a bad idea,” Reeves said. “They make up something like 60% of the workforce, and they make America the money.”
While Reeves takes the stance that we don’t know about a lot of what happens with migration and the secrets, Oestrele believes that the legal process to get citizenship is the best and most important route.
“With immigration, I feel like, pretty much like him, being able to take that step, because there are certain legal processes to go through,” Oesterle said. “And I feel like if we enforce that legal process, it’ll be better.”
English, however, is in agreement with Reeves on this topic due to the cut she believes immigrants have in the American Economy.
“Illegal immigrants have such a large pocket of the job market,” English said. “I feel deporting them will massively tank the economy.”
With the overturning of Roe V. Wade, many believe it will go even further with a national abortion ban, especially since many Conservative politicians have given their support to a national ban.
“I think a lot more women are going to die. If you take the case in Texas, Neveah Crain, was denied care when having a miscarriage. She wanted to keep the baby but the baby died and she went to get emergency help. The doctors didn’t want to help her because they were scared of the legal repercussions they may face,” Ray said. “I think that a lot more of this is going to happen. I also think a lot of women are going to get abortions done illegally which can also be very dangerous.”
Oesterle took the viewpoint that it would give more people a bigger say so that it is more of what the people want versus what the government wants.
“What I’d say, I guess one on the topic of abortion. I mean, with the overturning of Roe v Wade, it pretty much gave the rights to the states and the people to really vote on what they want on that certain issue,” Oesterle said. “It’s really just giving the people more of a say in what they want in their state.”
Project 2025 is a policy wish by the far-right extremist group The Heritage Foundation. Their goals are to strip the rights of minorities away especially those of ethnic, religious, and queer minority groups. While Trump has not given in support for Project 2025 many of his followers and Conservative politicians have.
“Project 2025 scares the crap out of me. Not only as a queer person in the south but also just as a person in general,” Ray said.
Due to the immense writing in the paper of the project, Oesterle doesn’t think it’s going to cause any issues especially since it is so extreme at points.
“Then project 2025 for me, I don’t think it’s really anything to worry about,” Oesterle said. “I just feel like it’d be hard to get through every single thing, especially because there are certain parts that are really extreme in it. So I don’t think it’s anything we have to really worry about as a country.”
English doesn’t think it is going to be a good thing for the United States and that it shouldn’t pass or be any sort of law due to what she believes her country to be founded upon.
“I hate it,” English said. “It should not be something that should be brought into any sort of bills or laws that should not be passed. It’s undermining the American idea of liberty, and that’s what this country was founded upon.”