On Nov. 6, Donald J. Trump officially won the popular vote and electoral college, declaring him the president-elect of the United States. Trump led the presidential race to victory over opposing democratic candidate Kamala D. Harris, winning 295 electoral votes over Harris’s 226 votes.
California is a majority democratic state, specifically Santa Clara County voted 66.87% in favor of Harris. Following Trump’s victory confirmation, the mood among students was shocked the ensuing day. Amid Del Mar students there were mixed reactions and thoughts on the election results.
Raiden Anderson, a Republican senior, believes there have been a lot of negative things “going on the past 4 years with the administration that was running the country… it wasn’t good at all.” Another reason Anderson is happy with the election results is that “with Kamala Harris, she had open borders and millions and millions of people were pouring into this country and taking our jobs.” Anderson agrees with Trump’s administration to close the borders and increase their security.
Jesus Cruz, a senior, shares similar views. He notes, “Throughout [Trump’s] whole term, his last term, I feel like the country was overall much more stable than it is right now.” Cruz also shared that compared to Harris he thinks “Trump was the better fit this election, and I feel like he could take us forward.”
Cruz mentions that Trump’s relationship with international leaders is another reason he believes Trump was the better pick. He says, “Our relationships with foreign leaders, as [Trump] was doing in his last term with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, Vladimir Putin, and Xi Jinping, they were probably the three people you want to be friends with, and that was a good thing for us.”
Grace Davis adds that she feels good about the election results because she shares similar views to Trump due to her religion of Christianity, The Bible never talks about abortion. So I am pro-life.” However she is concerned in situations where rape victims would want an abortion, Trump addresses his exceptions to limited abortion access in cases of rape, and incest and to protect the lives of mothers.
Davis also mentions how she disagrees with Harris’s views on gay marriage, she discusses how in her religion, the bible “talks about a man and woman being together. It never says anything about like a woman and woman, or man and man and so that’s why I believe that it is wrong…But I totally respect anybody’s decision or what they want to do in their life. It’s their personal life.”
Overall Davis agrees with Trump’s actions but not how he words them, “The way he talks is nasty, for sure. I don’t really like the way Trump talks … Like the way he talks about women is nasty, you don’t want to be president like that.”
On the other side of the political spectrum, Ethan Gannon, a senior, expresses that he is “kind of upset” about the election results. He states “I disagree with what Trump has to say, and I don’t understand how, like, a criminal can become a president.”
He shares that if he was able to he would “vote Kamala Harris, because her policies were created to help out lower-income families, like since Trump wants to implement tariffs, which affects a lot of our resources that come outside the country.”
Junior, Nalani Jackson, shares that the results of the election are not a surprise to her but “as a woman of color, it hits hard… it feels like a letdown.” She expresses her concern for people of color who will be going to college during Trump’s term, as compared to the opportunities that would have been available if Harris was elected.
Jackson is frustrated that she could not vote since she believes that Harris advocates for the American people while holding the belief that all people are equal, while Trump does not.
On the other hand, Lulu Ajluni shares that she is not very happy about the election results “but I wouldn’t have been happy about it either way.” Ajluni also states that the Israeli and Palestinian war is an issue she takes into consideration for her political opinion because “it’s hundreds of billions of dollars of our tax money going there, and it could be relocated and reused in America to benefit America.”
Ajluni says if she were able, she would vote for Jill Stein, a Green Party candidate. “I would vote for her because of her environmental policies, her foreign policy, she wants to raise the wages, she wants to focus on the working class, and most importantly is that she wouldn’t take money from lobbyist groups.”
Trump will be sworn in as the 47th President of the United States on Jan. 20, 2025.
