DeKALB – Early Wednesday morning, former President Donald Trump was declared the president-elect by the Associated Press. Wednesday evening, Vice President Kamala Harris gave her concession speech at Howard University in Washington, D.C. Now the uncertainty of the presidential election is over, there are many different thoughts about how the election went and its results.
Mitch Pickerill, political science professor at NIU, shared his thoughts about how the election went.
“I think that the polls were more or less right. Everything was within the margin of error, so statistically, it was a dead heat. There were some things in the last week to think that Harris had gotten some momentum back, but after her initial bump when Biden dropped out and the Democratic National Convention, we’ve seen the polls slowly shift in the Republican direction. So I can’t say I was surprised,” Pickerill said.
Macy Papp, a junior secondary English education major, said she was disappointed in voter turnout for the election.
“I feel more disappointed in women this election. I would have expected more people to go out and vote for Harris,” Papp said. “I also think it was a lot of people choosing not to vote this time because they didn’t like either candidate. They decided not to play a role in the election and I feel like that kind of skewed what the American people want.”
Maggie Cramer, a junior English major, said she felt irritated by the women who voted for Trump.
“That’s so crazy to me because Trump’s taking away women’s rights and trying to go backwards when we should be moving forwards,” Cramer said. “As a woman, I will never understand.”
In terms of major turning points in American election history, Pickerill said he does not believe it is a realigning election, which refers to when there is a significant shift in party values and voter behavior.
“We’re going through a period of time here where neither party is able to consolidate a majority coalition. And it’s why we’re going back and forth, back and forth,” Pickerill said. “In terms of where this election stands, I think it’s too early to tell, because we don’t have a good handle on exactly everything that Trump is going to do in office.”
This election comes at a time when America has seen increasing polarization, something that Pickerill believes played a role in this election.
“Every time a party gets a majority, it’s by a sliver, but they act as though they’ve won by 15, 20 points. They pass legislation that nearly half the population opposes. When the next election comes around, everybody’s mad at the incumbent,” Pickerill said. “From everything I’ve read, I’m convinced that Harris associated too closely with Biden and voters in the middle that the Democrats needed, at the end of the day, didn’t like Biden.”
Pickerill said he believes that this electoral decision comes down to what Trump actually does in office.
“I want to be an optimist and be hopeful, but I don’t know that his rhetoric gives us a lot of hope. Unless you’re a firm Trump supporter, I would say that his rhetoric and some of the things he wants to do give us reasons to be concerned. We’ll just have to watch and voters will have to be vigilant,” Pickerill said..
Pickerill also shared what he plans to do over the coming months in relation to President-elect Trump.
“I will be looking at who is naming cabinet positions and if he is prioritizing certain policies that we can expect him to actually try and implement right off the bat. It’s a matter of just watching developments,” Pickerill said.
