Former President Donald Trump defeated Vice President Kamala Harris in the 2024 Presidential Election in a historic, landslide victory. Last Wednesday, after a controversial and divisive campaign season, Trump became the first convicted felon to become president-elect.
The Tropolitan interviewed international students at Troy University to learn about their perspective of American politics.
“It was exciting to witness such an important moment for the American people,” said Abishek Poudel, a freshman computer and information sciences major from Nepal. “In comparison to Nepal, I saw less publicity about the election on a local level.
“However, on a larger scale, the election was heavily publicized and very polarizing. I saw mixed reactions from my friends on the results. A lot of my American friends were passionately engaged in this election, and the impact of the results were personal to them.
As Nepaleese, we do not vote directly for our president, and our president’s role is ceremonial. It was a unique experience to watch a democratic process taking place.”
Richard Dankwah, a sophomore computer science major from Ghana was underwhelmed by the election and surprised it went smoothly.
“I thought that the election was going to be a much bigger deal than it ended up being,” Dankwah said. “I thought all classes and activities would have been canceled, but they weren’t.
“The election itself was normal and peaceful; nothing got out of control.”
Dankwah also said he was personally satisfied with the results of the election.
“Most of my friends were not happy when they found out that Donald Trump will be returning to the White House,” Dankwah said. “I’m a legal immigrant, and I was honestly so happy when I found out that Trump won.
“I know Donald Trump is capable and can do a lot for this country. I hope to see the country be peaceful, harmonious and inclusive under a second Trump term.”
Paola Crespo, sophomore majoring in computer science from Venezuela feels American politics are not as black and white as they’re made out to be.
“I feel like Americans constantly attack each other based on their political parties,” Crespo said. “Most of the people don’t get the sense that you can be a mix in between and not fully support just one party.”
Trump will be inaugurated on January 20 alongside Vice President-elect JD Vance.
Comments