The average passersby might not have been able to deduce Paige Rockaway was handling the emotional impacts of an election result that upset her as she sat idly aside an iced coffee and her friend.
After former President Donald Trump was declared the victor of the 2024 election by AP News in the early hours of Wednesday morning, Rockaway fears for her bodily autonomy, she said.
“I was sexually assaulted when I was 15,” said Rockaway, a sophomore biology major.” And if that were to happen to me today, or, God forbid, happen to me again, I would be scared for my life.”
Students across Temple’s campus were shocked by Trump’s defeat of Democratic nominee Vice President Kamala Harris in the 2024 presidential election, with some, especially women, saying they feel scared for their future.
Trump’s campaign received nearly 5 million more votes than Harris’, according to the Associated Press. He was re-elected for a second term after securing five out of seven swing states’ electoral votes, pending Arizona and Nevada’s ballot count, which he is projected to win as well.
Brady Morgan was horrified when he heard the election results. Past remarks Trump has made about women led Morgan to fear the women in his life will suffer during a Trump presidency. Morgan was disappointed by Trump’s triumph after having full faith Harris’ seemingly successful campaign would secure her position as the next president of the United States.
“I think it came down to her just being a woman,” said Morgan, a junior film and media arts major. “And no one really wanted to listen to her because of that. That was my main emotion. I just called my mom, my sisters, because I just feel terrible.”
The Harris campaign managed to garner countless supporters through both social media and traditional methods, along with setting fundraising records by tripling Trump’s committee fundraising income in September.
Fooled by her campaign’s support, students were shocked to wake up Wednesday morning and find Trump not only secured the presidency, but Republicans secured majority seats in the Senate and are also leading in the House.
“Everybody was kind of pushing blue,” said Jade Poyser, a freshman bioengineering major. “So at the end of the day, I thought, ‘Okay, it’s gonna be blue.’ I look at the election chart, why is the whole country red? I was so confused.”
Despite the national attention Harris received from young people, some students did not perceive her vice presidential leadership strong enough to back up.
Chikondi Rose was disappointed by Harris’ debate performance against Trump on Sept. 10 because she feels Harris did not fully answer questions throughout the night. Her primary concern is Harris’ current leadership and failure to enact the policies she promised to put in place if she were elected, Rose said.
“Why [doesn’t Harris] fix the problem tonight?” said Rose, an africology major, when paraphrasing Trump’s response to Harris during the debate. “You’re in office, you’re already there now, like, Why? All these things you’re passionate about, why don’t you just do it? Now, she had no answer.”
Many of Harris’ defenders on Temple’s campus criticized the election results, believing that if she were not a woman of color she could have defeated Trump. Alyssa Prado believes Harris’ previous education and political experience were enough to win the White House, but concluded racism and sexism cost her the presidency.
“I just feel like it goes to show that no matter how educated you are, no matter how qualified you are, at the end of the day, a white man is gonna win,” said Prado, a sophomore psychology major.
After Trump appointed the Supreme Court justices responsible for overturning Roe. V Wade in 2022 and picked JD Vance, a pro-life Ohio senator, as his vice president, his abortion policies remain leading causes for student’s alarm.
13 states fully banned abortion access post Roe overturn along with seven others that enforced strict limitations. On Election Day, however, voters in seven out of 10 abortion-restricted states voted to approve measures to protect or expand abortion rights, according to BBC.
Rockaway sympathizes with women in abortion-restricted states and fears if states are left to choose abortion legislation, she will too be impacted.
“[Women] are gonna have to deal with the fact that, if they get raped, if they [experience] incest, literally anything, they have to deal with that baby being there,” Rockaway said.
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