The night of November 8th, 2016 was by far one of the most stressful nights America has faced since the 2008 election, when Barack Obama undoubtedly beat Senator John McCain and became the first black president in American history.
Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton were both unmistakably vile during their campaigns and created a rift like no other between the voters. At around 9:30 pm on Tuesday night, Olive hall, a freshman residence hall at the University of North Alabama, was tuned into the election on every floor. As I walked up the sidewalk towards the entrance I had a clear view of all 5 lobby televisions, each of which were on the exact same channel, Fox News. Fox News station had the fastest update of results and allowed Olive's residents not to stress as bad as it would have been watching CNN which had about a 20 minute lag.
In the second floor lobby, there was a good mixture between Trump supporters, Hillary supporters, and those who supported neither. The Trump supporters of the room shouted with glee when states like Florida and Pennsylvania flipped in an instant, and held back groans of sorrow when Hillary seemed to have a state under control. Hillary supporters stared observantly at the screen and stayed mostly quiet (unless a Trump supporter started to challenge them). Those who supported neither watched the room with interest and often had side conversations regarding why they couldn't or wouldn't pick between the two.
Many of us had the google results on our phones and laptops, as if watching the news wasn't enough. We kept on refreshing Google in hopes of a second by second update. At midnight, quite a few people (mostly Hillary supporters) turned in for the night, all stating that there was no point in waiting for Trump to win. The people who supported neither stuck it out until about 20 minutes before the election was called, and the Trump supporters were loyal to the end (save a few with tons of homework) and could be heard screaming and leaping with joy around 2:25 pm.
At one point a Trump supporter ran down the hall and banged on my door screaming that Trump made it to 270. I was half asleep and just stared at my door with the single thought that election night is different everywhere in the U.S. while thousands of us crowd around a television somewhere, everyone has different a fully different experience. I observed Hillary supporters were extremely calm while other people saw the complete opposite, and surely not everyone had a close encounter with a Trump supporter in its natural, door banging habitat.
