The Wessex Wire

The Student News Site of West Essex Regional High School

The Wessex Wire

The Wessex Wire

Does It Bother You? America proves the polls wrong

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Photo by Micaela Weiss

Does it bother you that we were so wrong about this election? I couldn’t count on both hands how many times I heard the words “Donald Trump can’t win.” This statement was not one of protest or belief; it was one of fact. Donald Trump was not, mathematically speaking, supposed to win.

From the deepest of my liberal ideology, I say that he was not supposed to win, partly because I didn’t want him to. I spent a year scoffing at him every time he was on TV – which happened to be all the time. I spent a year demanding some policies, demanding to know more about the politics behind this businessman.

In the end, it’s true that he was unlikely to win. Looking past – as hard as it is – the uncovered “Access Hollywood” clip, it would take a miracle for him to win. Projections always have the potential to be false, but in this case, they seemed entirely too probable.

In my AP Government and Politics class, we did an activity on 270towin.com where we could manipulate the way each state voted. All swing states were left a neutral color so we could push them one way or another in order to measure both candidates’ odds. We found that if Trump won every swing state he would either lose by a thin margin or win by another.

Who knew that not only would he win the swing states, he would also snag some blue states.

How many times did the polls reflect Hillary coming out victorious? Trump liked to reference the polls but, really, they were doing more for Hillary than they did for him.

In the days following Trump’s win, I fumed. I had serious concern for the country I grew up being taught to love. In all honesty, his election came to be the first time I felt truly patriotic, a value my father has instilled me with for my entire life.

Hillary won the people, and Trump won the system. That’s the only way you can describe what happened on Nov. 8.

But I have to believe. As wrong as we were, as angry as some of us may be, we have to believe that things won’t be nearly as bad as we’re anticipating. We have to keep in mind the strength of this nation and the people that live here. I’m sincerely hoping Donald Trump surprises me.

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