In this segment of the DC election coverage, SMU Journalism students share their perspectives on the election and its significance to them based on the guiding question: Where do you want to see America go after this election?
Isabella Popo: Margo, after this election is over and we’ve declared a winner, where are you hoping to see the future of America go?
Margo Washburne: I think that these past few months have brought out the worst in a lot of Americans. So, I’m hoping that after election night, no matter who wins, the country becomes more united over many topics that should not be as dividing as they are.
Popo: I completely agree. But even I’m guilty of contributing to this division. I am tired and fed-up that this is the type of election we have to live through. I feel like I can’t settle on a middle-ground argument.
Washburne: I can understand you: The middle ground is a tough spot to be in. One thing I have found interesting in this election cycle is the amount of undecided voters. I hope that in the future, the American people can be undecided without feeling like an outcast from their party. People should be able to have some beliefs on both sides and pick who they want, which does not seem like the case this year.
Popo: That’s a really good point that you bring up, that we should be okay with being undecided. I never thought about it like that.
Washburne: We need a breath of fresh air. We have kind of been living with the same political figures all of our lives, so I think that we need some new faces on the scene. Where do you see the future of America, Isabella?
Popo: I hope to see us accept and appreciate our diverse landscape and promote the one thing we have in common: the welfare of the American people.
Libby Dorin: Once the 2024 presidential election comes to a close, the next president must heal the nation. By all accounts, this was the nastiest presidential election in American history.
Moving forward, the nation must find a way to heal. Elections, by definition, are confrontational. An immense amount of power is at stake. But even historians have had trouble identifying past elections that have exhibited the level of vitriol as the current one.
This election descended into chaos where each candidate stated that by electing the other, the county will not survive. So, in addition to implementing policy, the winner has an additional task to complete: bringing the nation back together.
That is not an easy thing to do. Voters have been called “garbage” and “vermin” and “whack jobs.” But while we have two presidential candidates, only one will govern. That person will be the president for all Americans.
Benjamin Franklin famously stated that the Founding Fathers put in place “a republic, if you can keep it.” He meant that our system of government doesn’t take care of itself. Like a garden, it must be nourished and watered. That’s what our next president must be: a gardener, a nourisher. In 2025, the president must begin the healing process. Or, sadly, the same type of strife could once again visit this nation.
Olivia Jones: Once the results are complete, the losing side must accept defeat. If our nation wants to unite and grow from the last decade of political turmoil, history cannot repeat itself. Regardless of who wins, both sides need to accept the results of the election, unless there is sufficient, concrete evidence of foul play.
In recent years, the American public and leaders on both sides of the political spectrum have lacked civility, respect, and humility towards opposition. The first step our country must take after this election is to restore these qualities and their value in American politics and discourse.
Will Kavy: Honestly, if Donald Trump wins this election, I might just go to yeshiva. I want a country of people who are nice to each other, and I hope we can find that under either candidate, but I’m not sure we will.
Karrie Kirschenmann: That’s the million-dollar question. Are we going to witness violence tomorrow, this week, or during the Inauguration like we did in 2020? Probably. That is the sad truth about our political climate today.
Will, while we may not always see eye-to-eye on every issue, I definitely agree with you here. I hope we can have a country where people can look beyond politics and love each other, just as people.
Kavy: True. I guess we might. But I mean more day-to-day. I worry Trump’s rhetoric is so hostile and incendiary that it trickles down to the rest of us. It makes everyone feel more comfortable being mean. I hope we don’t let that hostility reach us like it seemed to during his first term.
Kirschenmann: It will be interesting to see where tonight takes us and beyond. For me, a return to a Trump presidency would calm things down and ground us in our nation’s founding values. However, one value that our nation is built upon is that we are a democracy in which one of our liberties is getting to participate in that democracy, and vote. So, hopefully Americans did exactly that and got out to vote. That way, regardless of who wins the election, the people get a say in the future of this nation.
