As the final votes were tallied in this year’s presidential election, Republican candidate Donald Trump’s margin of victory reached a staggering 312 electoral votes, surpassing his tally in 2016 and easily beating Democrat nominee Kamala Harris. Harris received 226 electoral votes, falling short of the 270 required to win.
Trump won every swing state, leading most by a large margin despite predictions of a toss-up. Whitman students had mixed feelings about the results. Senior Lakshmi Sundrum expressed her frustration about Trump’s win.
“I was pretty sad when I found out and kind of shocked,” Sundrum said. “I kind of knew deep down that he was going to win, but I was still pretty disappointed.”
Some students who followed the polls closely were less surprised about the results, including Junior and SGA Treasurer Hugh Golub, who attributed Trump’s victory to people’s concerns over the economy and immigration.
“Unlike a lot of people, I kind of expected this,” Golub said. “Polls were a lot closer this time than in 2016 and 2020.”
Several issues were pressing for students in this election, such as immigration, the economy, reproductive rights and gun policy.
“I think, for me, the biggest issue this election was definitely the economy,” Golub said. “The Biden-Harris administration wasn’t as strong on those issues as the Trump administration was. I definitely think of myself as more of a fiscal conservative, so I favor lower taxes and anything that gets the economy going.”
Some students aren’t convinced by conservatives’ reasons for supporting him. Senior Claire Gerber feels that Trump supporters hide behind his economic policies because that’s the only “acceptable” reason to support him.
“I’d like to sit down with some of these ‘Trump supporters’ and have them give me three good reasons besides the economy,” Gerber said. “He promotes so many hateful policies and ideas, and it seems like they just try to ignore that.”
Trump’s previous scandals and remarks remain on the minds of several Whitman students. This year, state courts found Trump guilty of 30 of 34 felony counts of falsifying business records related to a pay-off for porn star Stormy Daniels in an attempt to cover up their relationship. On January 10th, ten days before the inauguration, Trump was sentenced. However, he was unconditionally discharged, meaning he faced no jail time for his crimes. In 2023, state courts also found Trump liable for the sexual assault and defamation of journalist E. Jean Carroll.
“Trump stands for everything that is un-American and undemocratic,” sophomore Beza Poulter said. “It’s so disappointing that our country elected a convicted felon, racist, rapist and someone who caused an insurrection at the capital, over a woman who is more than qualified for the role.”
Poulter also pointed out Harris’ experiences in all three branches of government, compared to Trump’s complete lack of experience in politics before running in 2016.
“All he cares about is giving tax cuts to the top one percent — Harris’ policies would have benefited the lower and middle class much more,” Poulter said.
Even though Maryland is solidly blue, many Whitman students lean Republican. Senior Ava Soto is more optimistic about Trump’s presidency, she said.
“I think him getting to serve four more years will be good for everyone,” Soto said. “My biggest concern would be him speaking to the media because he usually does such a good job, but sometimes people will pick at what he says. If he just doesn’t speak and does more action, I think people will see that a little bit more.”
Reproductive rights were at the forefront of many voters’ minds as well. After the conservative-packed Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in 2021, abortion rights returned to the states. Since then, 21 states have imposed bans or restrictions on the procedure. The overturning has resulted in several deaths from doctors’ inability to treat life-threatening events like ectopic pregnancies and miscarriages, sparking outrage across the country.
Gerber said that she feels lucky to live in a blue state with fewer abortion restrictions but that not everyone has that privilege.
“When we’re protesting and fighting, we have to act like we live in those areas too,” she said. “We can’t just fight for ourselves; we have to fight for every woman out there who doesn’t have the right to choose.”
Trump was inaugurated on January 20th and immediately signed a flurry of executive orders. These include ending birthright citizenship, a given Fourteenth Amendment right, ending DEI in the government, recognizing only two genders, and several more. He also pardoned or commuted the sentences of every January 6th rioter, including those who had committed violent crimes.
Gerber also noticed an uptick in hate speech following the announcement of election results.
“People are being encouraged by this election to be racist and homophobic,” she said. “We literally just had an incident with students across the country receiving racist text messages.”
Only a day after the election, a series of texts were sent to Black Americans across at least 30 states, telling them they had been “selected to pick cotton at the nearest plantation.” Students enrolled in HBCUs—Historically Black Colleges and Universities—were one of the major victims of the attack. Since then, the FBI has gotten involved, and local officials have warned people to report these messages to the police if they receive them.
Poulter also cited a right-wing, anti-choice message spreading on X and TikTok directed toward women, warping the feminist slogan “my body, my choice” into “your body, my choice.” Poulter recalled seeing several of these comments under many girls’ social media posts. Despite this, she is trying to keep a positive outlook in the years to come.
“Like Kamala Harris said in her speech, the stars can only shine brightly when it’s dark out,” Poulter said. “It’s gonna be a really dark time for America in the next four years, but that’s when the strongest people are brought to light.”