Princeton students pack Whig Hall for election watch party
The majority of students were supporting HIllary
Students streamed into Whig Hall for the free donuts and pizza, but stayed for the night when they realized how close the election was.
“I thought Hillary would win easily,” said freshman Jaskiran Kaur. “I thought the polls were inaccurate and that once the Trump media calmed down, it would be clear that Hillary has more support. But I can’t say that anymore.”
The building filled with cheers whenever Clinton won a swing state and with outrage when she didn’t. However, the quieter minority was also present to show their support for Trump.
“Trump’s success so far is surprising to a lot of people on campus, but I maybe that’s because most of them are of one opinion. I think they just aren’t aware of how a large proportion of the country feels,” explained Sarah Malik, a freshman in the Woody Woo department.
“It’s easy for them to write off Trump supporters as racist and bigoted, because they don’t hear the other side of things. I think they don’t understand that many Trump supporters really do consider issues and have made a conscious, informed decision.”
Zoya Shoaib acknowledged that many of Trump’s voters are not supporting him out of ignorance. However, she doesn’t agree with their reasons. “I am very scared of Trump,” she explained. “As a non-U.S. citizen and a Muslim woman, I’m afraid of what will happen if Trump wins.”
But one thing everyone could agree on was that this election has seemed more like entertainment than politics.
“It kind of annoys me that there are people who are not voting at all, because this election isn’t just about choosing a president. The people who will really affect you are your senators. But people are just focusing on the personal characters of the candidates, instead of the choices they’ll make in office,” said Favour Oribhabor, class of 2020. “It’s frustrating that people have made the election about characters, and no one is talking about issues.”
Finally, an election season largely defined by the bitter division which it has caused is coming to a close.