The 2016 Presidential Election: exciting and surprising

By Arbogast, Brandon, November 16, 2016

By Ann Shelley// Opinion Editor

I sat watching this insane election on Nov. 8 on CNN live. This was the battle my dad had often said was between “bad and worse.” It began with Trump in the lead and Hillary following behind. Throughout this whole election I couldn’t help but look around and listen to everyone’s comments. Of course everyone in the room was split, some wanted Donald Trump, some wanted Hillary Clinton. However, I didn’t want one more than the other. I believe each of them has something good and bad within their elections – this doesn’t make one of them better than the other for President. This is why this election has been so exciting.

Throughout most of the night, the media had been focusing on the swing states of Florida and North Carolina. It seemed that Clinton was going to win those states since Barack Obama won them in the previous election. However, during the race for presidency, Trump seemed to take over the votes for both of those states. This was not how it had been in the past. Some states that were mostly blue states surprised everyone and voted for Trump instead. Gary Johnson received a decent amount of votes throughout the whole election. For example, in Wisconsin Johnson had 3.6 percent of the votes, which was around 63,310 votes. The number of voters Gary Johnson won from each state was average with previous elections.

Furthermore, CNN  was quoting Trump saying, “Don’t believe all of the polls.”  Trump was obviously correct with this statement as he was leading most of this election. CNN goes on to say how individuals thought Michigan was a mostly blue state and Trump shouldn’t have even spent time visiting Michigan. CNN quoted the polls and said Clinton’s campaign should’ve had it in the bag. Wisconsin was the same way as Michigan being mostly a blue state in the city areas of Madison, most of Milwaukee and Green Bay region. However, Wisconsin proved the polls wrong again, like most midwest states as well as Indiana and Ohio. CNN said that if western Wisconsin had stayed red throughout the rest of the election, the election would be completely different from the rest. However, New Hampshire was also focused on throughout this election as it being an important state as well.

After a while, California and Hawaii’s votes had come in and Clinton had won both. At that point in the election it had carried Clinton into the lead with 190 electoral votes over Trump’s 171 electoral votes. At 11:09 p.m., CNN called that Trump won the key state of North Carolina. Many were surprised at this, as most polls had Clinton in the lead. CNN quotes that, “Clinton had troubles with millennials and the African American votes in North Carolina.”

In order for Clinton to have this election, she needed to win Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania. However, at that point in the evening, many states had been too close to call. Florida, Wisconsin and Michigan were exceeding their own expectations and were becoming very red states throughout the election. Clinton’s democratic expectations didn’t follow through. CNN reported she was so confident with Wisconsin and Michigan. However, this didn’t seem to be the case in the end. Trump won the other key state, Florida which was a huge turn in the election winning 49.1 percent for Trump vs. 47.7 percent for Clinton. This was very interesting due to the fact that Florida was predicted to be a blue state this election cycle.

The electoral votes that really set Trump into the lead was when he won Georgia and Pennsylvania. This brought him to 266 votes, only needing four left to win the election. Clinton at this point was only at 218 votes, needing 270 to win. Overall, Clinton received the most support from the East Coast and California was a huge win for her with 55 electoral votes to add. Clinton stayed humble throughout the process, posting on Twitter, “This team has so much to be proud of. Whatever happens tonight, thank you for everything.” CNN showed both Trump Headquarters and Clinton Headquarters throughout the evening and it was very interesting to show all of their reactions to the election.

Pollsters were saying this race was unpredictable because there were so many people who were in between and some weren’t even voting. They weren’t wrong. Throughout this whole election I was on my feet about what was going to happen next. Many states one wouldn’t think would go to Trump voted for him. I am undoubtedly dumbfounded by what happened in the election. Many individuals have been overjoyed, and many have been horrified and shocked after this election. It was truly one of the most exciting and memorable elections.