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International students reflect on November’s election results, political divide

Students observe election results at a UCLA watch party Nov. 5. (Jessica Allen/Daily Bruin)

By Alden Ho

Nov. 22, 2024 3:14 a.m.

This post was updated Nov. 24 at 10:28 p.m.

November’s election will impact many of Annabelle Shen’s friends, even though she cannot vote.

“Some of my friends, they want to immigrate here, so maybe they will follow the policies and the elections,” said Shen, a fourth-year geography student from China.

UCLA has a population of over 6,000 international students, according to UCLA’s website, and many federal policies, including those on education and immigration, have a significant impact on their lives in the United States. To vote in presidential elections in California, one needs to be a U.S. citizen, Californian resident, at least 18 years old on election day, deemed mentally fit to vote and not serving a prison term for a felony, according to the California Secretary of State’s website.

Alexandre Pineau, a third-year graphic design student from France, said the U.S. election has been prominently featured in French media – especially in the wake of this past summer’s French elections, where both the far-right and far-left made significant gains against Emmanuel Macron’s centrist coalition.

Ahan Agarwal, a fourth-year mechanical engineering student from India, said he believes that international outlets have been noticeably less biased when covering the election as compared to U.S. media.

“I should probably keep more up to date with the Indian newspapers,” he said. “They don’t have an opinion. They show things as it is.”

Sebastian Ziegler, a third-year political science student from Germany, said the recent election was portrayed in German media as remarkably divisive and emotional for Americans.

“It was covered like political theater,” he said. “It wasn’t taken as a serious election but more of like an ugly fight between the two candidates.”

Other international students also said that heightened sensitivities have stifled political discourse on campus. Prado Leon, a third-year biology student from Spain, said she noticed that people often avoided talking about politics with classmates to steer clear of confrontation.

Ziegler also said even though his peers have discussed the election with him, he decided to avoid discussing politics in the U.S. because of the country’s deep polarization.

However, when those conversations have happened, he added that he found a general consensus among Californian students supporting Harris over Trump had reduced the point of discourse.

Other students said it became even harder to have political discussions after the results of the election.

Augustine Gu, a first-year undeclared social sciences student from China, said he’s grown even more cautious of his words.

“I feel like it’s so emotional now,” Gu said. “You do have to watch what you express, in general.”

Some students said they do not feel the election impacts them.

Agarwal said the direct stakes of the election were lower as he plans to return to his home country after graduation.

Ethan Cipreo, a third-year international trade and commerce student from France, said that although a Trump presidency may disrupt relations with students’ home countries, these residents ultimately are not necessarily as directly affected, as they are not U.S. citizens.

Beyond the election, several international students said their general knowledge of American politics was low.

Pineau said he was simply uninterested in American politics. The rarity of political conversations in daily life adds to this nonchalance, Ziegler added.

Leon said although international students are aware of the far-reaching polarization in the U.S., some may not feel they are informed enough to form strong opinions on the recent political contest.

Michael Shin, a first-year business student at Santa Monica College from France, said he also saw the election as a learning opportunity for people more unfamiliar with American politics.

However, political knowledge among international students depends on how relevant policy issues are to the student, Shen added.

Many international students also said they were surprised by Trump’s victory on election day.

Ziegler said he believed international students had just as strong reactions to the election results as Americans.

“I don’t like Harris either, but if you compare Harris to Trump, it’s an easy choice for me,” he said.

Gu said he felt existing political divisions deepened after the election, with hate speech across the political spectrum amplified online.

Ziegler added that although disillusionment with both presidential candidates may have affected the election’s outcome, he believed that international students would have voted if they could.

“If I were able to vote, I would have been voting,” he said.

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