harris – The Hilltop Monitor https://hilltopmonitor.jewell.edu The Official Student Publication of William Jewell College Thu, 27 Mar 2025 01:59:42 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://hilltopmonitor.jewell.edu/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/cropped-3-32x32.png harris – The Hilltop Monitor https://hilltopmonitor.jewell.edu 32 32 The 2024 Presidential Elections Through the Eyes of Jewell Students https://hilltopmonitor.jewell.edu/the-2024-presidential-elections-through-the-eyes-of-jewell-students/ https://hilltopmonitor.jewell.edu/the-2024-presidential-elections-through-the-eyes-of-jewell-students/#respond Wed, 27 Nov 2024 15:00:00 +0000 https://hilltopmonitor.jewell.edu/?p=20260
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There has been significant debate over the past few months over who would become the next leader of our country. Tension has continued to rise, as the country remembers 2020, the last time there was a transition of power. This editorial will focus on perceptions on our campus leading up to the 2024 Presidential Election, which, as of Nov. 6, has been conceded by Kamala Harris to Donald Trump. 

Before the election took place, assistant professor of political science at William Jewell Dr. Abigail Vegter, discussed her thoughts with us in an interview conducted by the Hilltop Monitor on Oct. 28, 2024: 

“This is the first presidential election we’ve had post-January 6, and I think that that’s an important consideration to the fact that we did not have a peaceful transition of power last time. There’s a lot at stake here and there’s a lot at stake in the response to this election. So not only the results, which are going to be, of course, impactful but how the results are handled and the responses to those results, I think, is going to be really important for how our democracy functions moving forward.” 

The topic of democracy is a crucial element to the 2024 election. Students worry about the implications of this election for American democracy, and many have stated their worries about what the future holds. An anonymous student stated, “It makes me very nervous but it also gives me a lot of hope… finding out that Kamala Harris was going to be the democratic candidate instead of Joe Biden reignited my passion for politics.”

The 2024 presidential election was one of the closest in U.S. history and the result could have gone either way. Since Biden dropped out on July 21 2024, the vast majority of national polls have had margins so slim that they’ve all posted results within the margin of error. Indeed, one of the latest polls in the runup to the election, conducted by FiveThirtyEight and the Times, showed Harris leading by just one point. Nate Cohn, chief political editor at The New York Times, noted that polls have never been so close on election day. The same poll gave Trump a slight advantage in 5 of the 7 swing states. That said, national polls gave us a more or less accurate estimate and were not representative of all local trends. 

The Hilltop Monitor sent out a survey targeting Jewell students exclusively, in order to gauge opinions on the candidates, as well as the importance of voting in general. The survey received 60 responses, which is a very respectable figure for a campus of around 1,000 students. The survey was conducted on Oct. 23 2024 and answers to all questions remain anonymous. 

The first question asked participants who they planned to vote for in the 2024 election.  The results gave a large advantage to Harris, who won more than half the vote with 53.3% against just 21.7% for Trump. Many national polls do not offer neutral/third choices, but in the  case of The Hilltop Monitor poll other options provided included “not sure/undecided,” “not eligible to vote,” “choose not to vote” and “vote third party/other.” In this sense, this first graph shows an interesting trend with over 20% of Jewell students opting for one of these alternative options, a total that actually exceeds the total of recorded Trump voters.

Forms response chart. Question title: A1.) Do you plan to vote in the 2024 Presidential Election?. Number of responses: 60 responses.

The second question resonates with an important part of the presidential debate: is true democracy at risk? For several months, many political scientists, academics and journalists have been warning the public about the potential threats Trump would pose to democracy if elected. In Oct. 2024, Robert Paxton, professor emeritus at Columbia University and one of the leading experts on facism in American academia, warned the public about Trump’s fascist tendencies, confirming and accentuating the views of many Americans who are frightened by Trump’s lack of commitment to democratic principles. On the other hand, Trump and his campaign have also used some of these terms to describe Harris. Interestingly, over 70% of Jewell students think the outcome of the 2024 election will pose a threat to American democracy, regardless of which candidate is chosen. These figures are roughly similar to the results of an Economics Times national poll, which found that 76% of American voters believe that American democracy is under threat. 

Forms response chart. Question title: A2.) Do you believe that the results of this election will directly impact you or someone you know on a personal level? . Number of responses: 60 responses.
Forms response chart. Question title: A3.) Do you believe the results of the 2024 election will have a large impact on the quality of this nation's democratic principles? (Is our democracy at stake in the 2024 election?). Number of responses: 60 responses.

Some 21.7% of students rate Trump favorably and intend to vote for him. By contrast, 38% of students intend to vote for Harris and approve of her candidacy. Interestingly, Harris has lost around 10 points compared to the first question in this survey, meaning that fewer students view her favorably, although she is still preferred to Trump. This 10% gap might imply Kamala’s Harris lack of popularity among democrat leaning voters.

Forms response chart. Question title: A4.) Do you have a favorable opinion of either of the two leading candidates running in the 2024 Presidential Election?. Number of responses: 60 responses.

Nov. 6 marked a turning point for the United States and while Jewell students seemed to lean towards voting for Harris, the national results show a different trend. This historic election opens a new chapter in the history of this country, one that was not anticipated by Jewell’s students, who gave Harris the edge. On the other hand, many students also shared their concerns with Harris’ campaign: “I want to be able to buy a house or be able to afford gas,” an anonymous student said. “I do believe that Trump would create a better economy.” 

With division invading the nation, citizens gathered around their televisions to watch the competition live on Nov. 5. As the results came in, many news outlets realized that they had predicted the outcome of the country wrong. At 5:35 a.m., Nov. 6. Trump had virtually won the majority of electoral college votes, and he will be the 47th president of the United States. Yet, many wonder what democracy will look like in a few months  as the future of the nation is handed over to the first ever presidential candidate convicted of a felony. Will Donald Trump leave our country thriving or in shambles? Only time will tell. 
]]> https://hilltopmonitor.jewell.edu/the-2024-presidential-elections-through-the-eyes-of-jewell-students/feed/ 0 Election Update: October 8 https://hilltopmonitor.jewell.edu/election-update-october-8/ https://hilltopmonitor.jewell.edu/election-update-october-8/#respond Fri, 09 Oct 2020 13:00:00 +0000 https://hilltopmonitor.jewell.edu/?p=14512 With more than two million ballots already cast, the tumultuous 2020 presidential election season is closing in on its final weeks. Though this entire race has been unconventional owing to a multitude factors including the pandemic, two recent events have further jolted the unprecedented race. 

On Sept. 29, President Donald Trump and former Vice President Joe Biden faced off in the first of three presidential debates. Moderated by journalist Chris Wallace and held at Ohio University, President Trump’s performance was widely panned for his continuous interruption of both Biden and Wallace.  

Trump also faced criticism for telling the far-right hate group the Proud Boys to stand by when asked to denounce the group. He then called for increased focus on left-wing groups. The White House later asserted that the president did denounce white supremacy, including the Proud Boys. 

Initial polling conducted between Sept. 30 and Oct. 1 by NBC News and the Wall Street Journal found Biden’s national polling lead had jumped to 14 points. Biden garnered support from 53 percent of registered voters whereas Trump retained the support of 39 percent of registered voters. 

State-specific polling held after the debate in the swing states of Florida and Pennsylvania also show Biden leading. Surveys done by the New York Times and Siena College found the former Vice President, leading by 47 percent in Florida, up five points from previous polling. His lead increased in Pennsylvania from 42 percent to 49 percent. 

On Oct. 1, President Trump informed the world in a tweet that he and first lady Melania Trump had tested positive for COVID-19 and would begin to isolate at the White House. The next day, he was moved to Walter Reed Hospital and began an experimental drug treatment created by Regeneron.

Since then numerous divergent statements have been released by White House officials regarding Trump’s health. An optimistic appraisal painted by the president’s physicians was undercut by White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows who expressed concern about the president’s vitals. 

Concerns about the information being shared with the public were reinforced on Oct. 4 when it emerged that Trump had experienced oxygen drops twice since the beginning of his infection and had taken the steroid dexamethasone in addition to remdesivir and the Regeneron antibody cocktail. Dexamethasone is typically reserved for patients with severe COVID-19 cases. 

Meanwhile, there has been a scramble to figure out which other top campaign officials and lawmakers may be infected. So far a large number of Trump’s close advisors and allies, including Chair of the RNC Ronna McDaniels, senators Thom Tillis (R-N.C.), Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) and Mike Lee (R-Utah), campaign manager Bill Stepien and informal Trump advisors Kellyanne Conway, Stephen Miller and former Governor Chris Christie (R-N.J.), have tested positive. 

There are significant concerns that the White House reception for Judge Amy Coney Barrett may have been a super spreader event. 

There are fears as well that Vice President Mike Pence or Biden may have been infected, though both men have tested negative. 

President Trump’s positive diagnosis has profound implications for the rest of the 2020 campaign. As the Trump campaign scrambles to adjust its plans for the rest of the election season, Biden has continued campaigning in-person, though with smaller events than Trump’s rallies and with more stringent enforcement of COVID-19 protocols, such as social distancing. 

The Biden campaign has announced that it will pull all of its negative ads targeting the president while the president and the First Lady battle COVID-19. 

With one month left until the election, Trump has returned to the White House after hospitalization at Walter Reed Hospital. It is likely he will forgo the mass rallies that have characterized his campaign. Some of the last events of the election season have also been thrown into doubt including the second and third presidential debates, with Trump saying he will not participate in a virtual second debate.

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