UC Davis students, professors and residents express their opinions on the 2024 election
By EVELYN SANCHEZ — features@theaggie.org
With votes still being counted, this year’s Election Day was polarizing. Emotions are frayed and public discourse is as divisive as ever. By the morning of Nov. 6, the election was called by the Associated Press — Donald Trump was named the projected winner for the 2024 election season and the unofficial 47th president until Jan. 6, with JD Vance as the projected Vice President-elect. As polling offices continued counting mail-in ballots, the margin between candidates was large enough to be called, with each swing state eventually turning red.
People went to bed on the night of the election with a mix of different emotions. Saloni Gajula, a fourth-year environmental science and management major, expressed her feelings on the results.
“I was very anxious a lot of the time,” Gajula said. “I kept watching the polls, but I kinda knew that our society was lowkey fucked and Trump had a possibility [of winning].”
James F. Adams, a political science professor at UC Davis, shared a similar sentiment.
“I’m not surprised that Kamala Harris lost,” Adams said. “I am surprised it was as decisive as it was.”
Compared to the Biden Campaign of 2020, there was a shift of +3.2 percentage points in favor of Republicans. This is a dramatic change compared to the 2020 Democratic shift of +1.9 points that resulted in the blue victory.
“It was the first time the Republicans won the popular vote for 30 years,” Adams said. “In retrospect, Kamala Harris was in a difficult situation for three reasons. One: about 50% of Americans think America is on the right track. Two: Biden is already an unpopular president and both combined would’ve already made it hard for Harris to win the election […] Three: Harris got a historically late start, barely 100 days before Election Day.”
Previously in 2020, Trump won 49% of the men’s vote. For this election cycle, he secured the votes of 55% of men in the country. Trump also saw an increase of two percentage points to 45% for the women’s vote despite running on anti-reproductive rights policies. Even longtime Democratic states like New Jersey swung red in favor of Trump. California also saw an increase in counties voting Republican with areas like San Bernardino and Riverside, which had previously voted blue in 2020.
Harris ended up losing every key swing state that would’ve helped facilitate a blue shift. The swing state counties that Kamala did win were won through a slimmer margin compared to the 2020 election. Essentially, this election was called early.
Why was this?
“[Trump] won a lot of rural people that say, ‘Gosh nobody cares about me,’” Kevin R. Johnson, the former dean for the UC Davis School of Law and current distinguished professor of law, said. “Trump tapped into a sense of frustration that a majority of the voters held and found attractive.”
This election has also been a time of fear and anxiety for many marginalized groups, according to Johnson.
“One big distinction between President Trump and President-elect Trump is the way he talks about immigrants at very disparaging rates,” Johnson said. “Besides policy measures, the rhetoric that dehumanizes immigrants is damaging to citizens and people who share affinities with them, such as mixed-status families.”
Trump winning the popular vote sparked feelings of disbelief among many left-leaning voters.
Originally from Texas, Gajula is aware of the unwavering fanatical support for the conservative candidate first hand. Gajula shared that the online spaces she inhabited might have contributed to creating a media echo chamber where support for Trump seemed nonexistent.
“But I knew from the beginning that there are a lot of Trump supporters out there,” Gajula said. “They’re quiet.”
A large factor that contributed to the decisive Democratic loss was the lack of voter turnout, resulting in 1.9 million fewer votes within the largest Democratic counties in comparison to 2020. For many voters, Harris’ policies did not lean far enough to the left — her stance on the military, promising to build the American military as “the most lethal fighting force in the world,” and her stance on the Palestinian-Israeli conflict isolated important groups of voters.
Additionally, the Democratic loss has made many frustrated toward marginalized groups that voted red and third party, while others have focused more on the other demographics of Republican voters that secured his win.
“The Democratic party hasn’t always been effective at conveying the fact that they understand the struggles of the working class and less educated people,” Adams said. “Harris doesn’t make it clear that they’re working for them. The same people feel like Trump sees them and will work for them.”
The Davis campus, with help from Student Affairs, hosted an in-person voting center at the Activities and Recreation Center (ARC). With three other in-person voting options in the city of Davis alone, Yolo County saw high numbers of provisional voting or same-day registration voting. Over 5,000 people registered to vote on Nov. 5 within the county.
“For future elections, if people do vote I encourage them to pre-register and don’t wait until the last day to vote,” Jesse Salinas, the Yolo County Clerk’s Office assessor and registrar of voters since 2016, said. “That’s a real problem. People only show up for the presidential election.”
With 118,000 registered Yolo County voters — not counting conditional ballots — the county had a healthy turnout. The Yolo County Clerk’s Office will only certify election results on Dec. 3, but until then, the office will continue counting votes until the last day.
Olivia Arnold, a first-year animal science major, voted for the first time this presidential election.
“I’m worried about the future,” Arnold said. “We’re gonna lose our voices. [The election] is going to affect the relationships different communities have with each other.”
In a similar sentiment, Johnson urges students to be cautious moving forward.
“It is important for people to be vigilant and pay attention to their rights,” Johnson said. “Immigrant students have to be especially careful.”
Jelani Renner, a second-year economics major, shared what he has noticed about on-campus climate since the election results were made public.
“It’s definitely very depressing. You can feel that everyone is really sad,” Renner said. “I think [almost] everyone shares the same sentiment — it came as a huge shock for sure. It’s [been] hard to deal with the results while also having to deal with midterms and other interpersonal stuff. It really is just a lot.”
With Trump’s promises to follow through on anti-immigration policies, there is a wariness present amongst undocumented students. Likewise, individuals able to get pregnant are expressing fear over the loss of reproductive freedoms.
Gavin Newsom has declared to protect California’s liberal policies, and has begun to organize to ensure protection against the future administration’s conservative policies. With all three branches of government having a Republican majority, Newsom’s goals may be more difficult to accomplish going into the new presidential term.
California additionally voted not to pass propositions that would outlaw slavery and involuntary servitude as a punishment for crime and raise the minimum wage.
“We are more polarized now than at any other time in the last fifty years,” Adams said. “There has been a trend of increasing hate and distrust over party lines for well over a hundred years.”
The UC Office of the President released a statement promising their commitment to diversity and inclusion in higher education, stating they will “stand ready” to support all student and staff communities.
Johnson urges individuals to participate politically, now more than ever.
“We can’t just abandon our efforts to promote justice wherever we can,” Johnson said. “It
is not helpful to throw in the towel and say nothing can be done.”
Another way to take action before the next presidential election is to vote in local and county elections and not just every four years. If you find yourself struggling, feel free to reach out to Counseling Services or find a cultural center within your vicinity.
Written by: Evelyn Sanchez — features@theaggie.org
