After Joe Biden won the presidential election, becoming the 46th president-elect of the United States, some Quinnipiac University students expressed their joy and relief, while others raised their concerns.
“To be honest I don’t really care about the results,” said Tomas Rodina, a freshman film, television and media arts major. “Someone was going to win and either side would’ve complained and called foul regardless. It was a lose-lose situation for America.”
While there is some concern about the progressive movement to combat the surge of nationalist ideals in the country, students have still displayed tentative optimism for the future.
“I feel pretty good about the election,” said Isabella Leto, a junior political science major. “I’m pretty excited that we don’t have the next four years with (President Donald) Trump. You know, besides that, we still have a lot of work to do. Just because Biden’s president doesn’t mean that everything’s all great and dandy yet. So, I think we still need to keep working. Keep working hard.”
For many Americans, the last two presidential elections brought major changes, instigated a general distrust of the government and created uncertainty surrounding access to accurate voting.
“There’s a lot of talk about fraud and illegal votes, whatever that means,” Leto said. “So, hopefully that gets settled soon.”
Although various research done by the Brennan Center for Justice and the Heritage Foundation database have shown that voter fraud is uncommon, it was a major concern for many voters. The surplus of mail-in votes caused the final result for this election to be delayed, and people are glad that the suspense has been lifted.
“I feel relieved about the election,” said Jennifer Charette, a junior occupational therapy major. “I think in terms of the election, it did take awhile for the results to come in. But I mean, it needs to be counted right and needs to be done correctly. So, waiting really isn’t that big of a deal when you get the end result.”
After waiting for the outcome, students such as freshman game design and theater double major Amari O’Connor celebrated as Biden’s victory was a win for the rights of minorities and the LGBTQ community.
“Literally every aspect of my identity and my rights as a person were on the line,” O’Connor said. “So, I honestly don’t know what I would’ve done if it went the other way. It certainly wasn’t the civil election, by any means. However, considering who’s in office right now and how polarized our country is, I definitely think it could have gone much worse.”
The end of Trump’s presidency has brought peace to some, but O’Connor explained that such a reaction is premature. She said that there is still work to be done and even more repairs to be made to the “soul” of the U.S., as Biden’s campaign fiercely said.
“Every part of this election was fighting for what to do with the next steps our country is going to take in terms of social equity,” O’Connor said. “So, the actions taken during the election itself, before and after, will all be an extremely important part of how our society will exist for the next few years and even after.”