What Happened at the Polls?

Voters Deal With Shock as the 45th President of the United States is Declared.

Caila Rentz, Staff Writer

The forty-fifth president of the United States is Donald J. Trump.

For those that this to be a hard pill to swallow or for those who are over the moon about the circumstances regarding the election, most can agree that the outcome of this election is a bit shocking.

Straying away from the election itself and the candidates, one huge factor of this election remains a sort of mystery. What happened at the polls?

The Washington Post delivers a myriad of reasons to why Trump pulled as many votes as he did on Tuesday.

Number 1: “No surge of female voters.” This fact is definitely a surprise to many as Trump was repeatedly called out on being discriminating and derogatory toward women.

Number 2: The age or level of education had little to no effect on the outcome of the election.

Number 3: There was not a large percent of Latinos voting as well.

The second reason is shocking to many. With all the attention Trump’s treatment of women had been getting over countless news programs and internet sources, one would think that many women across the United States would be rushing to the polls to keep him out of office.

The Washington Post states that “Women made up 52 percent of the overall electorate in 2016 — down from 53 percent in 2012.” There was no significant jump in the percentage of female voters during this controversial election at all.

“50 percent for each — between college grads and non-college grads. Four years ago, 53 percent of the electorate was non-college grads as compared to 47 percent who had a college degree,” states the Washington Post.

Mark Mellman, writer for The Hill, brought up the concept of intention and choice. This is what occurs between the time where one states which candidate they will vote for and what they actually do when they get to the polls.

Mellman additionally states “It’s impossible to know how many voters stayed home because they lacked the requisite identification, but the Executive Director of the city’s Election Commission noted turnout fell furthest in those areas of the City earlier deemed most likely to have problems with the harsher requirements.”

Another idea, though not backed by many legitimate facts or statistics, is that many people who denied any intentions to vote for Trump gave it to him when they arrived at the polls.