2016 was arguably one of the most controversial election years in a long time. With two very controversial candidates for the two main political parties, many voters were torn between voting and not voting. Many Republicans and Democrats were hesitant to vote for their respective party. The months leading up to the election were filled with heated debates and arguments between Donald Trump, Hillary Clinton and their supporters. As Clinton and Trump kept giving new ideas and making new promises, people switched candidates left and right up until the very day of the election on Tuesday, November 8th 2016.

“I like Trump’s personality and the fact that he will get things done,” said Jonathan Inman, freshman. Inman, similar to many other Trump supporters, only did so because they disliked Clinton. Additionally, some support Trump because they share a disdain towards politicians. ”They are fed up with the electoral college and the voting system in our country. They think that the politicians are all part of the same well-oiled, corrupt machine that is making America bad. This is why they voted for Trump, because he is not a politician and their vote is essentially a protest against the corrupt system,” said Jarl Ahlkvist, an associate professor of sociology at Penn State University.

On the other side of the spectrum are Clinton supporters, who support her for a number of reasons. “Their reasoning could be genuine respect for her or trying to keep Trump from winning,” Ahlkvist said. Unfortunately for Clinton, she didn’t gain as many supporters as she wanted because a lot of democrats saw her as too conservative. These people are the one who supported Bernie Sanders. Emma Walker, freshman, is one of these people. “Well originally I supported Bernie, because of his views on education and his messages in general, how we should fix our country first. His liberal policies were appealing, because he was talking about the future of the U.S.” said Walker. “Then after he dropped out I became a Hillary seeing as her policies were similar in some ways, she wasn’t Donald, she had experience in government, and would have been our 1st female president. I don’t believe Donald is or ever will be qualified to be president.”

Leading up to the election, there were many projections as to what would happen and who would win the presidency in 2016. Many sources projected that Clinton would be elected as president. Below is one map that projected this.

Election Estimation Map From University of Virginia

America held its breath on Tuesday, November 8th as Republicans and Democrats alike watched in wonder as our new president was chosen. Donald J. Trump became president and Mike Pence became vice president. Although some aren’t satisfied with the results, America  needs to move forward and in the words of Stephen Colbert, “If Donald Trump is the next president of the United States, it’s all of our responsibility to find a positive aspect.”