Winning both the popular vote as well as the necessary electoral votes, Donald J. Trump has won the 2024 Presidential Election defeating Vice President Kamala Harris. This comes as a historic win for Trump as no candidate for president has served two separate terms since Stephen George Cleveland in 1893, nor has any candidate been a convicted felon.
According to the Associated Press [AP], at the time of publication, Trump received 296 electoral votes and Harris received 226 electoral votes. In addition, according to the AP, Harris received 67,714,775 votes and Trump received 72,389,776 votes total. Niles West students and faculty expressed their opinions on the results of the election.
Junior Elyse Tregoning expressed her disappointment in the results wishing that Harris had won.
“I was disappointed to say the least. I was really hoping for Harris to win the election. I agree with a lot of her policies, I agree with her stance on a lot of things and issues,” Tregoning said.
Sophomore Muhammad Junaid was shocked with the outcome of the election because several polls indicated that Harris would win, but he was happy with the results. Other students like Senior Eduard Simion wore apparel including “Make America Great Again” [MAGA] hats, a common slogan that Trump has often repeated, to show their support for the winner.
“The better candidate that should have won, won…I feel like both of them I didn’t really like that much, but one thing that set them apart was that Trump really promoted his views and values for the country. He said what he was going to do for the country and his goals. I feel like Kamala, a little bit, skipped out on those parts. Also with Kamala and Joe Biden, she could’ve been a little bit better. I feel like people realized that,” Junaid said.
Many who disagree with Trump often cite that he is a convicted felon and that he was impeached twice by the U.S. House, first in 2019 for abuse of power and obstruction of Congress and then in 2021 for inciting an insurrection.
“Morally I just can’t support a felon being in office. I mean if a felon can’t vote, why can a felon run for president. I just think it’s really hypocritical. I’m just disappointed to see these results, but you can’t deny them at this point, sadly. I’m not going to be like the MAGA people and try [to] deny the election,” Tregoning said.
Social studies teacher Mike Wasielewski described a few of the possible reasons why Trump won and Harris lost.
“First and foremost, many Americans do not feel that they are in a better place financially than they were five or six years ago. Whether that feeling is backed up by data or not doesn’t matter because it’s all about what people feel and what people perceive. The second part is that it’s really hard and never been done successfully to switch presidential candidates in the middle of the summer with only 100 days until the election. Harris didn’t have the same foundation as Trump had. Say Harris’ message as being this candidate of change yet she was standing right by Joe Biden for four years, that’s a mixed message,” Wasielewski said.
Once the results are certified in each of the states, the U.S. Congress will certify the results on Jan. 6 2025.
“There is nothing we can do now except just hope for the best, keep using our voices for what we believe in and be appreciative for the area that we live in,” Tregoning said.
