As the election heads into its final hours, The Eagle talks with students about how they're feeling towards the election, their perspectives on the candidates and this year's major issues and what they hope to see happen after the race is over.
How are you feeling now that the race is tightening, as compared to the start of the night?
Afreen Tharani, a junior in CAS from Chevy Chase, Maryland
"I'm terrified. I know in the back of my mind I don't think I've actually ever considered a possibility that he might win and like now I'm considering all the repercussions, not just like internationally for the U.S., but for me and my family personally and they're pretty big. I'm Muslim, I'm Indian, I'm first generation American, I'm a woman, and all of those things have been threatened by Donald Trump. I do not feel comfortable if he is president that I'm going to be able to stay in this country when he has threatened to ban all Muslims and kind of go on a crusade against them. It's not something I would willingly put myself or my family in the path of, so that's another whole dimension."
Charlotte Hisel, a freshman in SIS from Lakewood, Ohio
“Anxious, like kind of in a panic attack mode. In my mind i literally have to block out the possibility that Trump is going to win. I can’t even think about what’s going to happen. Being a woman, and a bisexual woman at that, there’s so many negatives that would happen to me.”
Sophia Pintar, freshman in SPA from San Diego, California.
"This is just really unbelievable. I kind of went into this day and had a lot of hope for what was going to happen, but I don't know, it just wasn't something I was prepared for. I'm Mexican, I'm a woman, like I don't think a lot of people understand this is real and really scary right now. That wall's in my backyard."
Why was it important to you to vote in this election?
Henry Carmichael senior in SPA from Hound Ridge, New York
"Personally I wanted to go with a very free market candidate because I'm very excited to go into the job market after school and I want America to have a very healthy economy. At the same time, you know I feel that the government should make a few directions in some areas in the sense of helping to build a great national economy. But I just didn't feel that [Clinton or Trump] was really conductive to a free market or a good kind of Public partnership economy. So I really wanted to go with some who was you know really for a free market, free society so I went with Gary Johnson."
Mary Freitas, freshman in School of International Service from North Grafton, Massachusetts
"I don't want walls in the U.S. I think this election it was really about voting for inclusion and not being racist and separated, and we need our nation to be united, and if I didn't vote, I think our nation would fall apart."
Paige Lambermont, freshman in the School of Public Affairs from Butler, Pennsylvania
"I voted for Gary Johnson because I want to make sure that the libertarian party gets at least 5 percent of the popular vote this year to get major party status. I think that we're going to have a harder time going forward staying in a two party system and the eventually [this election] is going to lead us to question even the way we do polling and the way we do voting. It's going to be interesting to see how that plays out."
Sam Schoemann, sophomore in SPA from Las Vegas, Nevada.
"Being a gay man in this country if Donald Trump were elected president it would set back a lot of the progress that our community has made over the past 30 years, especially if we look in terms like one of the biggest decisions our president has to make is choosing the next Supreme Court justice. So that's a really important situation."
Taylor Dumpson, junior in SPA from Salisbury, Maryland.
"The future of America is at stake, I don't know how else to phrase it. Civil rights are on the line, humans rights, women's rights, all sorts of intersectional rights are on the line and one candidate is going to destroy all of this."
Anthony Mensah, sophomore in School of Communication from Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
"I think it's important because you know, it's a right that we have and it's something that we have control of and not just on the big presidential level, but you know on the state level. Sometimes I feel powerless and this is the one way we can actually impact at least our local communities. As much as I'd love to say 'I'm not voting this year' because I don't like the candidates, there's one clear choice in my mind that makes a lot more sense."
How are you feeling about this election?
Pei Ivans, freshman, West Hartford, Connecticut
"Pretty terrified. I’m looking at all the results and I’m concerned Trump is going to win. I feel absolutely terrified.”
Afreen Tharani, junior, from Chevy Chase, Maryland.
“Terrified and ecstatic” she said. “Terrified because of what a Trump presidency would mean for the country… everything he’s been saying, how he’s undermining the electoral system… Ecstatic that I’m old enough to be a part of the process now, I mean this is my first General Election. So it’s amazing just to be here… If everything goes for the Democrats, for Hillary, we’re going to have a Madame President-Elect tomorrow morning and that’s a historical moment that I am ecstatic to be a part of as an American, but also as a woman.”
What was the most important issue to you this election season?
Nicholas Roszkowski, freshman from Lenox, Mass
“Unlike typical elections where I’m voting for maybe more of a nuanced in a candidate I’m choosing, this election was really about preventing disaster.”
Kwesi Billups, freshman from Bowie, Maryland
“Racial justice and human rights.”
What do you want to see from our leaders in the future?
Kwesi Billups
“Honesty and transparency in terms of the way [our leaders] run the government behind closed doors.”
