With 67 percent of votes going to Obama in the 2012 elections and 71 percent of votes going to Senator Bernie Sanders during the primaries, it’s simple to see that the state of Vermont is fairly liberal. That being said, it’s hard to imagine, but there are little red dots floating in the sea of blue voters in the state.
There are so many Republican voters, in fact, that around 2,000 people showed up to a Donald Trump rally at the Flynn Theatre in Burlington earlier this year. And some of these voters attend Champlain College.
"The thing is, not many people on this campus are actually that liberal. I’ve encountered many Trump supporters and many republicans who agree with my opinions here," said first-year Spencer Whiteway.
Whiteway is one of many examples of Trump supporters residing in Vermont. As a college student, Whiteway had a choice on where he wanted to live. So, why would an avid Trump supporter choose to live in such a liberal state? "[I chose Champlain] because I want to go into game design. Political opinions don’t really have much of an effect on me," he said.
"I chose [to come here] because I thought they had the most technology available and I attended a camp a year ago, prior to coming up here. And the counselors, this was their first choice for me because that’s where they graduated from," said another student who wanted to remain anonymous.
Both Whiteway and the anonymous student have stated that they have faced adversity from peers for openly supporting Trump at Champlain. "It’s been violent like many other Trump supporters have seen. People who are against Trump usually show hostility towards Trump supporters," said Whiteway.
"It’s mainly just a sensitive subject, I’ve kind of just learned the hard way talking about it that the people I talk to about it are apathetic to it. It’s become a thing that you just don’t talk about when you’re trying to have fun or a good time," said the anonymous student.
The two don’t let it bother them too much and don’t let it rattle their ideas. "I support Donald Trump because he has a very sound plan. I know his plan for the immigration policy change is going to have errors but I feel like Hillary Clinton is going in with not much of a real plan," said the anonymous student.
While both students don’t agree with everything Trump has to say, the anonymous student simply said, "he was the lesser of the evils in the GOPD, [so I support him]."
Whiteway, on the other hand, had a different path to supporting Trump. "Up until this election, I considered myself a hardcore Democrat. I learned a lot of truths about both parties and, up until this election, I was very much against Republicans because my aunt is a very hardcore Republican, but a horrible person, and I knew that since I was young. So it put me off of the idea of Republicans. But then, of course, I learned that the Democrats weren’t the saints that I thought they were."
The two are sticking to their ideals and the anonymous student said he’s happy to have discussions about it with people who disagree. "If someone says they are voting for Trump just because they don’t want Hillary as a president because she’s a woman, then that’s not a good opinion. That’s a very negative and unthought-out [opinion]. I only support opinions that have facts and no misinformation, [even if they are for Hillary]. If people have misinformation, I try my hardest to correct them and not just bash them."
Whiteway agrees with this notion stating it's childish to treat people with differing opinions poorly, "If you can’t accept that someone has a different opinion than yours, then, in my opinion, you can’t really call yourself a fully-functioning adult," he said.
The two students love living in Vermont, even with the amount of Bernie and Hillary merchandise scattered around the town, both stating that it doesn’t bother them. The anonymous student simply said, "I like it here. Vermont is a good home away from home. I really like the scenery."
