As the election results continued to trail in, many students expressed fear and anxiety about the implications of the presidential election between Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump on Tuesday evening.
McCormick sophomore Lucy Madsen said her biggest anxiety about this year’s election is related to environmental policies. As an environmental engineering major, she said she is concerned that Trump may roll back the Environmental Protection Agency, affecting her future job prospects.
She added she has found Trump’s rhetoric to be very concerning, especially after comedian Tony Hinchcliffe called Puerto Rico a “floating island of garbage” at a Trump rally.
“I’m really concerned by the dehumanization that is happening in a lot of the (Trump) campaign,” Madsen said. “The whole talking about Haitian immigrants earlier this year turned into a joke for everybody but it felt really, really scary in the moment to just be like, ‘Oh, now that’s just normal to paint these people using dehumanizing language.’”
Coming from Utah, a red state, Madsen said it can feel like her vote doesn’t matter. However, she said she always votes in local elections — where change is more possible.
Ahead of the election, Madsen said she has been trying to avoid watching the news as a way to relieve her election anxiety.
“The stakes of the election feel really high,” Madsen said. “It’s just hard having it so close, you can’t see who’s actually ahead.”
Weinberg freshman Andrew Onema said he is concerned about the possibility of increasing violence during and after the election.
Onema said while this election is the first one he has voted in, he is scared about increased polarization in politics.
“I feel like there might be backlash on either end of or protest on either end of whichever candidate wins,” Onema said. “I do think back to some of the larger protests on Jan. 6 as well, and how that seemed to be a really crazy thing that happened at the Capitol.”
Onema said he feels the unrest could repeat itself.
Statistics and data science masters student Spencer Alvey said he is concerned Trump’s plan to add tariffs on foreign goods will hurt consumers. Alvey said one of his other major concerns is Trump repealing the Affordable Care Act, which allows children to remain on their parents’ health insurance until they turn 26.
“I have hearing issues and I rely on my parents’ health insurance,” Alvey said. “If I ever want to get constructive surgery in the next three years — I’m 23 — then I will be screwed without health insurance because I’d lose my parents’ health insurance for it.”
SESP sophomore Kris Yun said she is concerned about the widespread claims of election fraud and stolen elections by conservative politicians.
Many Republicans still claim, without evidence, that the 2020 election results were illegitimate, Yun said. Due to these claims, she said she hopes Harris wins with a clean sweep to help prevent these claims.
“If (the election) is so close, people are going to constantly doubt the government,” Yun said. “I wonder how that will affect us long term because of the fact that many Republicans feel like the government is not on their side and that there is a sense of insecurity.”
Yun said voting helped alleviate some of her anxiety, but waiting for the election results has caused her to be stressed.
As a woman, she said she is concerned with how the election will affect accessibility to reproductive healthcare.
“I think after Roe v. Wade was overturned, that was when politics became really real for me and I think that’s actually a very universal sentiment across a lot of women,” Yun said. “(Women) have to take ownership and make our voice heard when it comes to ensuring that our rights are protected.”
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