This Tuesday is Election Day, known to some as the imminent end of the world.
The 2016 election has been, to put it gently, special. Never before, it seems, have both candidates been so fervently disliked. Donald Trump and Bernie Sanders, before he was forced to suspend his campaign, mobilized an unprecedented interest in politics. Through it all, the two major political parties have become even more polarized (wait, that was possible?).
As Trump and Hillary Clinton face off for the most contested office of the nation, supporters of both sides run rampant, trying to tear down their foes. This is not dissimilar to the way the two candidates have in the debates and their campaigns hurled incendiary remarks about each other. The more the two sides fight, it seems, the tighter they grasp onto their initial ideology. Trump supporters blast Hillary as a corrupt, calculating criminal; Hillary supporters blast Trump as a racist, pigheaded, temperamental fascist.
But more than ever, these people have subverted their condemnation of the other side onto the supporters themselves.
Posts throughout social media and its vastly liberal platforms automatically call all Trump supporters racist, misogynistic and demonic, so basically, if you support Trump, they automatically hate you, without even knowing you. Trump supporters certainly contribute their fair share of judging and engage in the same, instinctively steely hatred, painting the Hillary supporter stereotype as egotistic, fluff-brained, poor, lazy. This slander tends to be more word of mouth or via group chats rather than forums, as voicing an affinity for Donald Trump publicly is usually not the best thing for your internet presence or for your health. In fact, this hatred based merely on political ideology has become so intense that this election season there has been a conspicuous near-absence of signs, shirts, or other propaganda indicating the holder’s support for a particular candidate.
I do not support Trump—I really, really despise the man, myself—but I do know a number of Trump supporter who are good people. The reason they may support him may vary, and we definitely do not see eye to eye on those issues. These supporters are not racist, they’re not misogynistic, and a lot of them even are not anti-LGBTQ+. Some simply believe in Trump’s trickle-down policies in finance and taxing over Hillary’s strengthening the middle class. Some don’t want the hands of government thrust into Hillary’s “uncareful hands,” and prefer Trump’s clear-cut honesty, his what-you-see-is-what-you-get attitude. They may have a distaste for Trump too, but are trying to select the lesser of the two evils, in their eyes.
A large portion of political ideology is shaped by how somebody was raised, and the rest by their personal experiences, neither of which are very controllable. Families, religion and school all influence political ideology from a young age. Kids born in very conservative households will grow up harboring conservative ideas and often carry them through adulthood; kids born in liberal households do the same. Some religions and demographics are affiliated more with a particular political party. And our very education system, where children gather together and discuss the ideas around them, provide a forum for skewing political ideology in a certain direction, often reflective of the specific society or community. Many liberals with conservative family backgrounds have had to consciously shed all the beliefs they’d grown up with.
Also, keep in mind, you don’t know these people. Many Trump supporters certainly are the horrible things we call them, as many Clinton supporters certainly are the horrible things we call them. However, many are not. You don’t know where any individual is coming from, the experiences he or she may have undergone, the situation they may be in, all that may direct them to support a certain candidate. And these reasons are often perfectly forgivable.
Whatever happens on election night, we must remember that we as a nation and our daily relationships need to carry through with love. We cannot allow our support for a distant political figure obliterate any bonds we may hold. We should not judge people on their political ideologies in harsh, fiery, shouting voices—what we can do is try to level-headedly educate them on why our own side is correct. Whatever happens, the world will go on.
