Flyer for the election discussion event.
@MU_JASPERSVOTE/INSTAGRAM
By Mary Haley, Marketing Chair & Asst. Features Editor
Manhattan University’s Jasper Vote committee held an event to discuss various opinions of how both President-elect Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris’ presidential campaigns contributed to the results of the 2024 presidential election.
After Jaspers Vote, the Manhattan University’s voter engagement committee, prepared students for election day with “The More You Know” pamphlet highlighting the different policies from Harris and Trump to inform voters last-minute for election day, they hosted an election discussion event on Nov. 12 to present students with what political science major Lucia Villasamte Mata called, “an open conversation for everything that can come up, like questions, frustrations, excitements and disappointments.”
One student, who chose to stay anonymous, explained to The Quadrangle how the campus felt after Trump was elected as the next president, and why it was important to them to come to this discussion after the election.
“Campus did feel a little defeated, especially among the females and people of color populations,” the student said. “I did see one person with a MAGA hat on, but I did not hear anything in my classes. If anything, in my history class we just talked about the logistics of stuff, not really anything opinion-based…I went to [the event] because I wanted to see what the political spectrum on Manhattan University’s campus was like, and also to feel some solidarity with my peers.”
Many topics of the election were discussed, including the outcomes of the popular vote and the electoral college vote, the Senate and House of Representatives elections, retrospective voting, the marketing of both presidential campaigns, the future of the Republican and Democratic parties and the challenges of the voting process.
Margaret Groarke, Ph.D., the committee’s advisor as well as the chair of the Department of History, Political and International Studies, led the conversation with an update on election results.
Trump was two points ahead of Harris in the popular vote this time and won with 312 electoral votes this election. In 2020, Joe Biden won the election with 306 electoral college votes.
“It’s not a smashing victory, but it’s significant,” Groarke said. “People have been talking a lot about the fact that Biden got many more votes four years ago than Harris got, while Trump is about at the same number. Some people who chose to vote for Biden chose to vote for Trump instead of Harris. Some who voted for Trump didn’t vote for him this time, other people who never voted, voted for him. So we can’t assume that all the people are the same people, and there are four million more eligible voters in the universe of the United States right now.”
Because this year’s election was unpredictable and close to party lines, the discussion included how the marketing of both Harris and Trump’s campaigns led to the final outcome. While Trump had the advantage of being a former president, Harris had the shortest campaign ever recorded in history, 107 days, while also not participating in the primaries. This called for quick marketing strategies that would appeal to young voters.
Students at the event noted that Harris’s marketing strategy seemed to focus heavily on appealing to Gen-Z and using social media platforms like TikTok, which some participants felt was not as effective as Trump’s approach. Many students agreed that Trump was better at connecting and appealing to working class voters and using language and messaging that resonated with his followers and undecided voters.
Danica Mason, a political science and environmental studies major, explained her opinion on the marketing strategies of each candidate in the weeks leading up to election day.
“The marketing thing is really interesting, because I felt like it was so weird seeing the TikToks [Harris] would make, and I feel like she did not know her audience as well as Trump did,” Mason said. “With Trump, it is his third time running, so I feel like he knows exactly what issues and what buzz words to say that will make his supporters go crazy. I don’t think [Harris] knew how to market herself in the way that Trump could.”
Another topic that was discussed was the experience of voting in college, as many students at Manhattan University voted for their first time in a presidential election, whether by absentee ballot, early voting or going to the polls on Election Day. Although voting is imperative in any election, students discussed the systemic issues impacting voter engagement and participation, not just on college campuses, but in everyday life.
“I know someone who is [not from New York] who did not vote,” Mason said. “She did not get her ballot in time. It’s not anyone’s fault really, it is just a messed up system that is so difficult, especially for college students. I feel like there should be a way that people can just vote on campuses, because so many people that are in college are not in their state that they can vote in.”
Nate Aaron, an English major at MU, explained that the problem with voting exists not only on college campuses but in people’s daily lives, regardless of their accessibility to the polling booths.
“Election Day is not a holiday,” Aaron said. “People still have to work, people have to pick their kids up from school and prepare dinner and all of those things. There’s sometimes not enough time to sit around and stand in a line for a couple hours especially in states where they know if it will go blue or red anyway.”
Although the accessibility issue of voting has existed for years, politicians have used this tactic to boost their success in an election. Groarke explained at the discussion how this can happen, particularly with a law that was passed in Florida this year.
“[A student’s] absentee ballot disappeared for a while and then it showed up, so some of that is accidental, and some of it is deliberate,” Groarke said. “There are people in elected offices who think that they will benefit from fewer people voting, especially certain groups. Previously in Florida, you could request an absentee ballot from every election on… Florida changed the law this year so that each year you have to apply separately for each election to get your absentee ballot. The people who wrote that think that it will reduce the likelihood of some people voting, and I think that’s a sad strategy.”
Villasamte Mata is from Mexico. In an interview with The Quadrangle she explained why American politics is so personal to her, as her three-year residency in the U.S. taught her to advocate for herself and recognize the impact of individual actions. She expressed a desire to contribute to the political discourse as a woman and immigrant.
“I think America is a very polarized country, and I think it is very important we learn how to talk respectfully to each other because there is so much information out there that can get lost in the fear of expressing your opinions,” Villasamte Mata said. “We all have an impact, whether you’re American or not. So I am interested [in American politics] because I feel like as a woman and an immigrant, I think it is great that I have the skills to be sociable and open about this.”
Jaspers Vote’s next event will be “Who represents You?,” a way to create change in ways besides voting. The group will be writing to representatives to tell them how the community feels about an issue of choice, and discussing other ways to get involved with making change. It will be held in the Social Action Suite on the third floor of the Kelly Student Commons on Wednesday, Nov 20. at 4:00 p.m.
This post was originally published on here
