Former President Donald Trump secured a total of 312 electoral votes in the 2024 presidential election, a 35-point increase from the Associated Press’ (AP) initial projection of 277 votes, last Tuesday night. The AP — which has called election results for decades — made the final projection Sunday, Nov. 10, after calling Arizona’s results to be in favor of Trump two days prior.
Trump led Vice President Kamala Harris by 86 electoral votes — including all seven battleground states — and approximately 3.6 million ballots, winning the popular vote.
UB College Republicans chapter president Michael Xenos said that the election results showed that the majority of Americans are “ready to put their trust back in the former president.”
“I believe President Trump’s second term will be different from his first, as we will see a new approach to governing our nation,” Xenos, a senior philosophy, politics and economics major, said in an email to The Spectrum, expressing his support for Trump. “Corrupt career-politicians will be held accountable, innovation will skyrocket and consumer prices will fall.”
Compared to the 2020 presidential election, Trump gained support in nearly every demographic group, including Latino male voters, according to CNN exit polls. Trump’s criminal charges, including an indictment for his efforts to undermine the 2020 election results and a felony conviction for disguising hush money as business record, seemed to have no impact on his supporters’ turnout.
The Trump-Vance campaign catered to voters frustrated with the Biden-Harris administration amidst a polarized political climate, with Trump promising severe tax cuts and tariff increases. Trump also blamed difficulties within America’s economy on immigrants, using xenophobic rhetoric to paint them as “vicious, violent criminals” and “animals,” and promised to launch the largest deportation plan in American history.
Trump plans to also decrease federal involvement in education, promising to close the Department of Education, roll Title IX protections for LGBTQ+ students and withhold funding for schools that teach Critical Race Theory.
A Latino UB student and first-time voter Carlos Calderon said that the election is “unfortunately a representation of the way this country is quickly heading towards a theocratic-fascist oppressive state simply based around the hatred of people of color, women and poor people.”
“[The results] points to the connection between [the] colonial machismo mindset that was enforced by Spain within the casta system that prioritized skin color, which has led to a lot of these Latino men to co-sign with Trump’s misogynistic and racist ideation out of self hate from a colonial mindset they don’t even know they are being controlled by,” Calderon, a sophomore biomedical sciences major, said.
Senior mathematics and psychology major Garrett Price said that he was shocked by the results, fearing for what will happen when Trump enters his second presidency.
“The idea that a businessman who is unapologetically racist, transphobic, and treats women like property could win against a former DA, AG and Senator of California who champions an uplifting and unifying message is disappointing to say the least,” Price said. “I fear for women’s rights, healthcare, education, the climate, the economy, international relations, SCOTUS, and so much more.”
UB College Democrats chapter president Cassandra Schiller said that the club is “disappointed” with the results, but while pessimistic attitudes about America’s future are understandable, local and state issues have the “most impact on our everyday lives.”
“We will not cease our efforts toward building a better and more inclusive future for working-class Americans, regardless of who we are or where we're from,” Schiller said. “The future we envision is one driven by principles of inclusion. When it comes to bringing that reality forward, the UB College Democrats are ready to organize and get to work.”
Trump is expected to take office on Jan. 20, 2025.
Hannah Rashad contributed to the reporting of this article.
Mylien Lai is the senior news editor and can be reached at mylien.lai@ubspectrum.com
Mylien Lai is the senior news editor at The Spectrum. Outside of getting lost in Buffalo, she enjoys practicing the piano and being a bean plant mom. She can be found at @my_my_my_myliennnn on Instagram.
Photo: Ryan Hagen | UB Athletics
