Lucy Thomas: Welcome to today’s episode of our Trending podcast, where we’re diving into what everyone’s talking about– the 2024 election results. Just this morning, the race was called at 4 a.m. when Wisconsin flipped red, securing Donald J. Trump a second, non-consecutive term in the White House. Alongside this, the Senate is now under republican control, and while the House hasn’t been officially called, it’s looking like Republicans are poised to take the majority.

To understand what this shift means for young people, I will be speaking to two students. They’ll share their immediate reactions, what they found surprising, and their thoughts on the implications of these results. Join us as we unpack the significance of this election and hear the student voice. I will be speaking to senior Bora Mandic and junior Dia Chaney.

Thomas: Hi Bora. Welcome to the trending podcast. Could you introduce yourself and maybe what you follow in politics and why?

Bora Mandic: Yeah, I’m Bora, a senior at SPA. I guess. I don’t follow politics too heavily, but these bigger elections are important to me, so I really chose to kind of do that research.

Thomas: And did you vote in yesterday’s election?

Mandic: Yes, I did

Thomas: How was the experience of voting for the first time for you?

Mandic: It was actually really easy. I pre-registered, and then I just kind of walked into the polling place, and I was out within five minutes.

Thomas: And did you end up watching the election [returns] last night?

Mandic: I did, yes.

Thomas: How late were you watching the election?

Mandic: I stopped watching at 11 because it started becoming clear, like, what the outcome would be. I wanted to get some sleep. But, yeah, I watched for almost all of it, I think.

Thomas: And where did you watch the election?

Mandic: Part of it, I watched with family, then the other, I don’t know, in the background while doing homework.

Thomas: Are there any particular news sources that you used?

Mandic: I watched on CNN, and also a little bit on the ABC.

Thomas: And were there any surprises for you in swing states? And if so, which one is the biggest?

Mandic: Um, I was just kind of surprised that they all almost — well, I guess Michigan is still kind of iffy — but they all went red. I was not expecting that.

Thomas: And how do you anticipate the next four months now that the presidency is for Donald Trump?

Mandic: Well, I hope they are still kind of civil about it. I know in 2020 it wasn’t very civil, especially the January 6 riots, but I hope they just try and do as much as they can before the presidency switches.

Thomas: And, the house is not yet called, the Senate has gone red. How do you feel about the amount that they can do with all this power that they have in the House and likely the Senate and likely the House?

Mandic: Yeah, not great. It’s… I hope it doesn’t end up being just completely dominant, but it’s not looking great.

Thomas: Are there any policies that you’re particularly worried about?

Mandic: I mean, the immigration is kind of scary. I don’t know; it’s not a great thing to deport a lot of people, so I’m hoping they’re not able to pass that.

Thomas: How do you see the disconnect between the way that SPA voted in their election versus the nation?

Mandic: We are a very liberal school, so I wasn’t really surprised to see that many people voted for Kamala or mock election, but it’s definitely not representative of the nation, I think.

Thomas: Thank you so much. Now I will transition to talking to junior Dia Chaney. Dia, welcome to the Trending podcast. How are you doing today?

Dia Chaney: I’m okay. How are you?

Thomas: Um, you know, it’s a hard day. With the election last night, did you end up watching the election?

Chaney: I watched it until like 10:30 and then I went to bed because we do have school, but then I woke up this morning and I looked at the news.

Thomas: And on election day, did you participate in any voting?

Chaney No, I did the mock election, but I’m not 18, so I can’t vote.

Thomas: Were there any surprises for you?

Chaney: I guess, not really. But like, some of the states that I thought would be blue were not blue, and some of them actually, Ohio is a lot closer than I thought it would be, but I knew it was gonna be red. I guess I wasn’t really surprised. I thought it’d be a little bit closer, at least with the popular vote, but it wasn’t so.

Thomas: did you watch the polling before the election?

Chaney: Yeah, it was really close then, but now it’s… I don’t know. I kind of thought he would win.

Thomas: What was the biggest surprise for your swing states?

Chaney: I guess that more of them didn’t go blue. I mean, I kind of knew Minnesota would go blue. I was kind of surprised with Illinois. I put it on blue, which is good. Wisconsin was close, though. I kind of thought they would go blue.

Thomas : And in terms of the House and the Senate, were there any surprises for you there?

Chaney: I thought the Democrats would win the house, at least because they had it last year. I kind of knew that they wouldn’t win the Senate, but it was kind of a surprise that they lost all of it.

Thomas: And where did you get your news about the election, or, like, the previous months? How have you stayed informed about what happened?

Chaney: New York Times, mostly. And then I kind of I watched [the election] with like with the Google little Google Map. That was just easier.

Thomas: And when you woke up this morning and you checked the news. How did that leave you feeling?

Chaney: Not very good. Because, I mean, I think when I woke up, Democrats hadn’t lost the House yet, but then by eight o’clock, they have, so I wasn’t feeling very hopeful.

Thomas: And do you have any anticipation for the next four years?

Chaney: I’m a little nervous because I feel like anything could really happen now. I think it’s really just like anything can happen. I don’t know. There’s a headline that [Trump] wants to leave NATO — which is kind of weird — but I don’t know if that’s really going to work. I think that a lot of the stuff is gonna take more than four years for him to get through all the parts, even though he has them all, I think it’s gonna take longer than four years. So maybe there’s a little hope.

Thomas: And are there any policies that you’re most worried about? You mentioned NATO, but anything else?

Chaney: Roe v Wade, I think, because right now it’s up to the states, but I think once he becomes, once he, like, becomes president, I think that’s gonna go away, and then I guess a little bit of immigration. But I don’t know how much power he actually has with immigration because I don’t know if people really like to deport people that quickly, but also probably will. So I guess those are the main two.

Thomas: And in terms of the SPA community and how the SPA community voted, versus how like the nation voted, how do you view this disconnect?

Chaney: Well, I guess, I mean, SPA, most of us all agree with the same political views, because it’s kind of like a small portion of the population, and most of us live in St. Paul / Minneapolis, that we’re like fully blue already. So I guess I don’t know. It kind of makes sense. I don’t know.

Thomas: And with the way the country voted, do you think there’s more education that needs to be done within the SPA community so that we can understand how Trump both won the popular and Electoral College votes?

Chaney: Yeah, I’d like to know how, but I don’t know if there’s really any way to think about how he won, because I guess how I’m thinking of it is that Kamala Harris is like, a brown woman, and he’s like… and so most of the southern states would rather have a white man, I think. I’d like to learn a little bit more about what was going through everybody’s head. I guess.

Thomas: Thank you so much for joining me today, and I really appreciate your answers. Thank you to Bora and Dia for sitting down with me today. To learn more about the election, click the stories in the sidebar, and if you have any suggestions for the trending podcast, reach out to me, Lucy Thomas, at [email protected]. Stay tuned for the next trending episode in the first week of every month. Thank you for listening.