CCNY students react to Trump's sweeping victory
Photo: President-Elect Donald Trump meets with President Biden // The White House
By Naheema Olatidoye
On the morning of November 6th, a deafening silence pervaded New York City as people commuted to work and school. It was that same morning that the 2024 United States presidential election results were announced, solidifying Donald Trump's status as the 47th President of the United States, having won both the electoral vote and popular vote. The mood on campus seemed even more bleak as students and staff, many of whom preferred Harris, mourned the loss of their preferred candidate.
"I was disappointed… I was hopeful that Kamala was gonna win… I almost cried," said Sabia Carmona, a freshman majoring in history education. "Yeah, that was very disappointing."
Carmona's opinion was not unique. Many students expressed their unhappiness with the election results. One person had complaints about the process of voting itself. On the back of the New York City ballots were six legislative proposals (colloquially coined props). New Yorkers would have voted on the propositions which would have impacted their daily lives. The first proposition was statewide while the rest were exclusive to New York City. According to the New York Council, “Proposals 2 through 6 are the result of Mayor Adams’ rushed Charter Revision Commission and could significantly impact the responsiveness, transparency, and accountability of city government to New Yorkers.”
Taliany Mejia, a digital design major at the City College of New York had this to say, "It seemed like everything was worded very vaguely on the ballot." Her concerns, though, were not limited to the proposals.
"When I was voting, I was mainly voting and voting for human rights purposes. Since human rights are consistently being threatened and specifically women's rights. I also was worried about, you know, immigration laws and the laws about those who are being like detained detained versus you know, natural birthright," said Mejia. "I do come from a family that did come all the way here. And while I'm lucky enough to be a citizen, my other family members aren't as lucky."
Many students are worried that their rights and the rights of other marginalized groups are in danger of being revoked. The Trump administration is notorious for controversial statements and actions seen as bigoted against women, ethnic minorities, and queer people. Much of what has people worried didn’t come from the campaign itself, but from Project 2025, a “Presidential Transition Project” from the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank with a history of strong influence on Republican presidents, including Trump’s first term. Although Trump has repeatedly denied all association with Project 2025, he has already nominated several people for his cabinet that were closely associated with the Heritage Foundation, and oftentimes directly contributed to the project.
There was at least one student who was satisfied with the outcome of the election. The 19-year-old engineering major, who wishes to remain anonymous, identifies as a Republican.
"Well, I'm kind of happy because the president that I wanted won," he says. "I think so much people are gonna leave, but I think that's okay because I think, at least in my opinion, the country has a bad handling with the immigrants. We can't sustain that much people and they put it too much together. Like, New York is so overpopulated right now so I think that's going to be changed."
This response brings attention to a change from the previous two elections: Trump won the popular vote. Although the general trend on campus is disappointment, Trump was the overall favored candidate to win. This opens a conversation on the state of our country and how people across the nation feel.
"I'm not happy because I don't think that Donald Trump is a fit leader to lead anything, I don't think that he's an adequate person to call himself a businessman, let alone a respectful person. I don't think that he deserves the office of the presidency," said Maleek Williams Bey, a psychology major graduating next semester. "However, the people voted, obviously, and the vast majority of the United States voted red. Which I think it speaks to a bigger conversation about just critical thinking skills in America as well as information dissemination, people understanding what it is that they're looking at what it is that their candidates are saying."
