Caitlin Herz | Features Editor | cherz@mail.smcvt.edu
Campaign signs in Elon, North Carolina
The experience of students in red and blue states was very different in the run-up to the 2024 election. While St. Michael’s College is in the blue-leaning state of Vermont, students in swing states and on southern college campuses shared what the political atmosphere was like.
Katelyn Neal, Elon University, North Carolina
Katelyn Neal ’26, a psychology and political science major at Elon University, said the stakes for this election felt very intense, especially because North Carolina was a significant swing state.
“Many of the people on campus outwardly express right-leaning beliefs on social media, those are mostly male-identifying students,’ Neal said. “Members of Elon Votes or Elon SGA (Student Government Association) express left-leaning beliefs.
“The general atmosphere feels like students are passionate and involved in politics, but student opinions are polarized.”
Neal said an anonymous messaging app called “YikYak” was a place where students faced a lot of hate, and political arguments sometimes happened between students on the app, all done anonymously.
“The terms ‘snowflake’ and ‘libtard’ are thrown on the app often,” Neal said.
However, Neal said many students expressed their opinions in class and there was often respectful debate and discourse. Still, she thought this was because these students studied politics and participation was required for the class.
Political affiliated clubs on campus included College Republicans, College Democrats, and Elon Votes, Neal said.
When asked about specific issues that students at Elon University were passionate about, Neal said, “Due to the large number of Israeli and Jewish students on campus, there are many students who are very passionate about the Israel/Palestine conflict.”
Neal said many students on campus stood with Palestine, so there was often discourse surrounding this conflict.
Andrew McCarthy, Saint Michael’s College, Vermont
Andrew McCarthy, ’28, is a first-year student at St. Michael’s College studying digital media and communications. He said his transition from the swing state of Pennsylvania to Vermont was an interesting experience.
“My neighbors are very conservative, there are different views on politics just door to door in Pennsylvania,” said McCarthy. “It varies so much. But when you come up here [Vermont] you kind of get a solid idea of what the values are and how people are going to vote.
“It’s nice to have a level of predictability to it. Being in a swing state makes it so much more intense.”
McCarthy said the issues students cared about in Vermont versus Pennsylvania were fairly similar, and included reproductive rights. He said students advocated to protect abortion rights in both Vermont and Pennsylvania.
When asked about his stance on voting in the 2024 election, McCarthy said, “It’s so important for people to not look over character in the election. People want to go strictly to ‘what’s the policy?’I think character is more important.
“If you have someone who is not presidential, in that position, it’s already not going to look good. Moral values are important.”
Ryan Kelch, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, Tennessee
Ryan Kelch ’28, a first-year student attending the University of Tennessee, said his college seemed to be entirely right-leaning.
He said there was an extreme lack of representation between both parties on campus. “Everyone here is a Republican, mostly the Republicans feel comfortable expressing their beliefs, I would say the Democrats not so much.”
Kelch said he had not met a single Democrat during his time at college..
However, he said he was unsure if that was because of the peers he surrounded himself with, or just because he attended college in the south.
Kelch said an issue many students were passionate about was guns.
He said there was a petition circulating daily to allow AR-15s on campus.
Marie Flynn, Saint Anselm’s College, New Hampshire
Marie Flynn ’26, a nursing student at Saint Anselm’s College in Manchester, said all voices and opinions were encouraged on her campus.
She said Saint Anselm had the New Hampshire Institute of Politics on campus, and clubs for both college Democrats and college Republicans.
“I think that most students feel uncomfortable stating their personal beliefs in class, but in their personal lives, they have no issue,” Flynn said. “I think this has a lot to do with our political atmosphere today, in which people are morally attached to the policies they support.”
“I’ve seen many Trump and Harris signs in the neighborhood around campus,” Flynn added.. “I think there are more Trump signs around town, which I think most find very shocking.”