On October first, just two days before an historic election in the middle of the most devastating pandemic the country has ever seen, Apex Friendship High School students weighed in with their thoughts and predictions for the presidential race, and answered a poll asking who they thought would win the election, regardless of their own political affiliation. Though a majority—71 percent—predicted former Vice President Biden to be the future winner, the poll didn’t by any means end up being completely one-sided, as students from both sides of the aisle gave reasons, and some fervently believed President Trump would win.
Jacob Carruth (12), simply said, “I think there are more Trump supporters than Biden supporters.” Other responses, however, sounded more bleak. “I don’t think America has changed,” Ethan Wood (12) said, referring to the surprising (for many) results of the 2016 elections. Dean Bruce (12) echoed this thought, saying, “I just have no faith in America at this point; I know the polls say Biden, but they said that before [in 2016].”
Despite recent polls citing Biden as a likely winner, several students remained skeptical. Abbie T., an AFHS alum, said, “Hillary was supposed to win in 2016 and she didn’t. Maybe if enough people vote this year the results will be different but because of Covid, many people may not be able to go to the polls.” Gillian Foster (11), who also predicted Trump would win, gave an on-the-nose prediction: “I think Trump is gonna call voter fraud when the mail-in votes for Biden come in,” she said.
Other students remained unsure of the looming election results. Johana Mcghee (12) said, “I think Biden will win the majority vote because more people see the bad job Trump has done. But I don’t know about the electoral college.”
Of the 71 percent that named Biden as the future victor, many named recent polls as their reason for believing the former vice president would win. Max Escalona, a junior, said, “A lot of predictions are showing a high likelihood for a Biden win.” Madeline Laches, another junior, added to this, and also cited the possibility of Republicans voting against their party, saying, “[Biden] is leading in many swing states and even states that are usually red. America favors him in many polls I’ve seen, and there're many Republicans I’ve seen that are voting Democrat.” Alec Hughes (12) agreed: “Most Democrats vote Biden, and there’s a growing group of Trump-hating Republicans,” he said.
Several students expressed their hope that Biden would win. Francesca Kyanda (12) said, “At this point we’re all sick of Trump,” while Antonio Prezusio (12), after predicting that Biden would win “in a landslide vote,” said, “We are dumping Donald and making [the] USA great.” Anna Hadley (12) said, quite simply, “I am manifesting.”
It seems that Anna’s manifesting worked—on Saturday, November 7th, after days of anticipation as votes rolled in slowly to battleground states Pennsylvania, Arizona, Georgia, and others, The Associated Press finally declared Biden the victor in Pennsylvania and thus, the new president-elect for the United States of America. The Trump campaign immediately claimed that voter fraud had taken place and began a series of lawsuits, but most have fizzled out, according to the Los Angeles Times. More recently, President Trump seems to have acknowledged President-elect Biden’s win, but continues to call the election “rigged” and refuses to concede, according to the BBC.
Jacob Carruth, an AFHS student who initially predicted a Trump win, said, “Biden hasn’t won. The media doesn’t decide who wins in an election. Sure, he got 270+ electoral votes, but that doesn’t mean Trump can’t check to make sure that the votes are legal.”
In contrast, Madeline Laches, who correctly predicted the Biden win, said, “I do approve of the election results...I think it was a fair election and although some people are calling voter fraud, there has been no proof of it whatsoever so I think it was fair and square.” Looking to the future, Madeline shared her hopes for Biden’s presidency: “I really hope president Biden can help control COVID-19 and get us to where we need to be as a nation. I also hope the president can help combat injustice towards minorities.”
William Newman (10), another AFHS student, discussed the importance of a selfless president. “The job of the president is to work for the people instead of himself,” he said. Lucienne Chabaneix (12) added, “I am happy to have seen this historic election, but I hope the American people will keep on fighting for domestic and international justice and that our new leaders will prove that we made a good decision in electing them!”
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