In the wake of Donald Trump winning the 2024 Presidential Election, The VOICE surveyed 50 Mercer County Community College Students to gain insight into how they felt about the results. Of the students surveyed, 46% voted for Kamala Harris, 14% voted for Donald Trump, and 2% voted for an alternative candidate. The rest either couldn’t vote due to age, immigration status, or other reason or opted not to.
Of the students surveyed who voted for Trump, almost all said that they voted for him because they genuinely liked him and his policies whereas the Harris supporters preferred her policies but were less enthusiastic about her as a leader.
According to the Associated Press, in 2024 voters as a whole–compared to the 2020 election–showed a 39% increase in economic concerns, a 20% increase in immigration concerns, and an 11% increase in concerns about abortion.
Similarly, the collective top concerns of Mercer students were immigration, women’s rights, and the economy, each at approximately 30%.
While many people, including the Mercer students who voted for him, said they preferred Trump based on his economic policy priorities, many of the survey respondents were worried they would have a negative impact on the economy.
For example, Anthony Pace, a second-year Education major, who believes what will impact him the most is Trump’s economic and labor policies, says, “The use of tariffs and the deportation of illegal immigrants, I think it’s going to make things more expensive.”
Pace continues, “I really hope that’s not true. Despite the fact that I don’t necessarily think Donald Trump should be President, I really hope that he does a good job for this country because I want things to be cheaper and I want my life to get better no matter who’s president.”
Tariffs are a particularly heated issue.
Dr. Edward Avery-Natale, Associate Professor of Sociology at MCCC, says that tariffs are often misunderstood. He explains that it is true that they can increase profit for American businesses but only when an alternative American-made product is comparable in price to the items being imported and taxed. Otherwise, they just don’t work.
Avery-Natale says, “Tariffs are effectively a tax paid on imported goods that is paid by the company that imports those goods. People who think [Trump] is going to drive down prices, I think just misunderstand what a tariff is, in part because Donald Trump has willfully misrepresented what tariffs are.”
In addition to financial concerns, social issues are a focus for Mercer students.
One VOICE survey respondent who is particularly enthusiastic about Donald Trump’s victory, wrote, “Excited about the deportation of illegals, trans care banned, no trans youths, more religious freedom, even for Christians, Israel will get help in succoding [sic] in defeating Palestine! I voted for a REAL president, God bless America!”
Other respondents were less up-beat. For example, in response to the same question, one 19-year-old first-generation student wrote, “I’m just worried about my parents.”
Reproductive health and women’s issues were another central area of concern for survey respondents.
For instance, Gianna Schember, a second-year Liberal Arts major, says that while she believes the overturn of Roe v. Wade is justified through the view that abortion is killing a life, she also believes, “[Republicans] want to make sure women are forced to have children and that’s a scary belief in and of itself because we’re boiled down to just our perceived reproductive capacity, and it opens up the door for this widening of rape culture.”
She continues, “Arguably the most powerful person in the country is a rapist and that’s the part that really, deeply concerns me.”
The day after the election, Rebecca Biebel, Assistant Professor of Political Science at MCCC, explained she wanted to prepare students for the possibilities going forward and showed them highlights of Project 2025. The document is a blueprint for a conservative reformation of the US government and policies, that was released by the conservative think tank, The Heritage Foundation in April of 2024. It contains a variety of right-wing agenda items including consolidating executive power. She asked her students to identify something they wanted to pay attention to.
Biebel says, “I feel like if we’re not paying attention if we’re not staying aware, that’s how things get through the cracks. That’s how bad things happen.”
Of the students surveyed 58% said they felt the outcome of the election was negative, 26% positive, and 16% were undecided.
If things do go badly in the next four years it seems most Mercer students will not be surprised. While 16% are optimistic and 10% believe nothing drastic will happen, 74% are fearful or concerned about America’s future.
