In an increasingly polarized country, US presidential elections are routinely decided by a number of key battleground states. Results in swing states – which could be won by the Republican or Democratic presidential candidate – are typically determined by small margins, leading candidates to place a heavy emphasis on winning over voters in those states.

In the 2024 presidential race, former President Donald Trump won all seven key states – Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin – making led to his victory against Vice President Kamala Harris. With just over half of the votes cast, Trump received 312 electoral votes, surpassing the 270 needed to win.

The Daily spoke with students in each of the seven swing states before and after the election. They shared their optimism, fears and frustrations about their state as they prepared for the election and after the race was called.

Sofia Irlando ’27, a native of Atlanta, Georgia, said living in a swing state “makes it feel like there’s so much more weight on each individual vote.”

Before the elections

Maya Walker ’28, a Pennsylvania resident, said voting for Harris couldn’t have been a more obvious choice.

“Harris not only represents my identity, but she represents what I stand for,” said Walker, who identifies as black, white and Chinese. “Either we have a politician or we have someone who is trying to ruin democracy.”

Walker said it was very common for people to discuss elections intensely in his hometown of Ardmore, Pennsylvania, noting that such discussions were less common in California.

Although Walker’s hometown is predominantly liberal, members of his family voted for Trump. She did not discuss the election with them, she said.

“I think anyone voting for Trump right now is at a point of no return,” Walker said.

Gabrielle Rosado, 28, a native of Henderson, Nevada, said she also avoids discussing politics with her extended family, which is made up of Trump supporters.

“It’s just hard to talk to people who don’t want to educate themselves – who don’t do a little Google research,” Rosado said. “These are the kind of fans who have blind faith.”

Rosado considered unfollowing her pro-Trump cousins ​​on social media because she was tired of seeing their politicized content on her feed.

For students in swing states, getting mail-in ballots was especially important this year. Eliza Siebers ’26 ordered her absentee ballot at the start of the school year, motivated by strong civic engagement campaigns in her community of Madison, Wisconsin. Unlike his hometown, Siebers said, Stanford feels “much more like an apolitical bubble.”

Still, many voters in swing states have reported difficulties in the process of requesting and receiving ballots.

Before the election, students in swing states, supported by Harris, expressed cautious optimism about a Democratic victory. Before polls closed on Election Day, Irlando predicted that Georgia would turn blue due to rapid mobilization and a change in “mood” after Harris became the Democratic nominee. Rosado also strongly predicted that Nevada would vote blue. Siebers and Walker said they were hopeful of a Harris victory.

Hudson Hall ’28, a native of Charlotte, North Carolina, did not agree with any of the major parties in this election. Hall voted for Jill Stein of the Green Party, who has run continuously since 2002.

Stein often receives a few hundred thousand votes per election. Hall said he hoped Harris would win the election, but did not vote for her because of her lack of action on behalf of transgender and Palestinian rights in the war between Israel and Gaza.

“I hate (Trump) so much that I don’t want to see him elected. But I also cannot, in good faith, vote for someone who supports active genocide,” Hall said. “I’m not going to vote for her when there’s someone who represents me more accurately, especially when we’re speaking with our vote.”

Although Hall acknowledged there was a greater risk of voting for a third party in a swing state, he said Harris’ defeat would be Democrats’ fault for not appealing to more left-leaning populations.

“You can’t just say ‘we don’t like the other guy,'” Hall said. “You have to have real policies (because they) will be heard even more, especially in a swing state. »

Jason Hu 26, of Saline, Michigan, expressed a similar sentiment. Hu, who has not revealed his political affiliations, does not place as much importance on the 2024 elections as others.

“At some point, the message ‘this is the most important election’ will no longer work,” Hu said.

Hu said he believes his vote matters more in the local elections than in the presidential race because it represents a larger proportion of the vote total. He noted that he was more interested in seeing how the local races were going.

After the elections

“I’m an emotional wreck,” Walker said after most of the voting was completed, which pointed to a Trump victory.

Walker stayed up until 1 a.m. on election night, watching the results in Ujamaa — the black ethnic-themed dorm on campus — with dozens of other people. At 11:24 p.m., the Associated Press (AP) called Pennsylvania for Trump. A few hours later, AP announcement that Trump would be the next president of the United States.

“I knew when we saw Pennsylvania go (red), we were pretty much in the land of no return,” Walker said. At the time, she said, the news was slowly sinking in but didn’t seem real.

Walker said Pennsylvania failed him.

“I am honestly angry and frustrated that so many Americans are willing to vote for a man who represents homophonic, racist and sexist ideals and who is literally a criminal,” she said.

The atmosphere in Ujamaa became more tense as election night progressed. Walker said that while some people stayed quiet or did their homework, others started yelling at the television.

Rosado was also watching the election results in Ujamaa. When she returned to her dorm, she heard screams coming from the living room when the results were announced.

“It’s hard to imagine that there are so many people who wouldn’t want someone like me to have rights,” she said.

After Election Day, Rosado unfollowed his pro-Trump cousins ​​and anyone else supporting Trump on his Instagram.

“I can’t deal with it right now.” I really can’t,” Rosado said.

Yameen Sekandari, 28, from Glendale, Arizona, found out Trump had won when he heard a scream coming from a nearby room. Sekandari said he is very concerned about the future of his friends whose parents are undocumented immigrants.

Although he has gone red, Sekandari predicts that Arizona will swing back to the Democrats in the next election, once Arizonans become tired of Trump’s policies. Overall, Sekandari said the election has made him more informed about politics.

“I’m invested now,” Sekandari said. “Last time, when Trump was in office, I didn’t know much about his policies. But now that he’s our president, I just want to learn more about politics and the influence of a president and see how it plays out.

Walker now feels invigorated to take action, learn about politics, and continue to pursue her goal of doing social and racial justice work after college.

The election “makes me want to channel all my anger into my work,” Walker said.

Irlando went to bed on election night less optimistic about Georgia, but still hopeful of a Harris victory. She woke up the next morning to a text message from a friend saying Trump had won Pennsylvania.

Irlando quickly checked the electoral map and found that Wisconsin and Georgia had also been called for Trump. She knew then that Harris had lost the election.

The results were particularly painful for the Irish as only Georgia became a swing state in the last election.

“There’s also fear and all that, but I don’t think it’s increased yet because the shock is so strong,” Irlando said.

“For such a short time, we felt like a very strong swing state,” she said. “(There’s) this feeling of going back and getting back to where we were.”

Hall said he thought a Trump victory was predictable, but called the margin of victory “surprising.”

“I think his election was strictly reactionary,” he said. “So I think you’re going to see a bunch of changes promised but nothing actually happening, or at least nothing that can be easily controlled.”

North Carolina went red in the presidential race, although the state elected Democrat Josh Stein as governor. Hall predicted the governor would veto any attempt to ban abortion.

Siebers was disappointed in Wisconsin. Even her liberal district has leaned more to the right this year, she said. But she was pleased to see that Democrat Tammy Baldwin won a seat in the Senate.

“A lot of progressive and more left-leaning policies that I think are going to improve people’s lives are winning at more local levels,” she said.

Siebers noted, however, that there is “an interesting disconnect between people who appreciate and demand more social services that will benefit their lives, but who do not vote for those who will put them in place.”

Hu declined to comment on the situation after the election.

Walker said those who are disappointed by the outcome of the presidential race should not give up.

“Even though it seems like it’s over, it’s only just beginning,” she said. “There is still so much potential. We can’t give up yet… People before us didn’t have the privilege to give up and neither should we.