Early Wednesday morning, the 2016 presidential election cycle came to an end with an outcome that neither Mississippi State University students nor the country expected.
The election’s unexpected results has journalists, pollsters and political scientists puzzled as to where they went wrong. 
Going into Election Day, Hillary Clinton had the lead in most national polls. As polls began closing and the votes came in, it became clear the American people were in for a surprise.
For many students, the 2016 election was the first time they could vote for president elects.
Amelia Adkins, a sophomore in secondary education, said the election’s results did not really surprise her much.
Adkins said the important thing about voting is letting one’s voice be heard. Historically, Adkins noted, women have not had the right to vote. Many women faced challenges to get the opportunity for the right to vote she now has.
“We [women] just got the right to vote pretty recently if you think about it,” Adkins said.
Adkins said she watched the election coverage last night, and knew the numbers were not in Clinton’s favor. What really surprised Adkins were her classmates’ reactions and disbelief.
Michael Witt, a freshman in electrical engineering, said he did not predict Trump would actually get elected president comparing Trump’s unexpected victory to the Chicago Cubs winning the World Series.
Carl Knight, a freshman in kinesiology, said the election’s results made him feel scared and worried because of things that Trump has said in his campaign. Though at the same time, he admits it is hard to take Trump seriously. 
Katrina Lowery, a freshman in chemistry, said the results did not surprise her. Lowery said Trump’s victory can be attributed to his ability to speak directly to voters, something which Clinton did not do.
Many of the people Lowery encountered post-election complained about the things Trump can do now that he is in office. But Lowery said the presidential election does not really change things as much as people think it will. Many of the country’s problems as well as the blame should go to Congress, as well as the American people who keep electing the same people.
“[If] people want change, they need to change who’s in Congress,” Lowery said. “It’s our fault for not picking the right people in Congress.” 
Madalyn Ramey, a sophomore in management, said she attributes the unexpected outcome to Clinton and Trump’s supporters concern for their candidate rather than their respective parties.
 
Boyd Anderson, a senior in agronomy, said the election did not turn out at all the way he thought it would, but said he is okay with it. 
On Tuesday night, Boyd said he watched CNN, MSNBC and FOX. All three channels showed Trump leading. With all three networks showing the same exact results, it convinced Boyd he had to believe what they were saying.
Venisha White said the elections results are shocking but she knew there would be people who would vote for Trump. The sheer number of people who voted for Trump informed her of America’s true feelings.
“It made me realize how many people actually feel,” White said.
Collin Graff, a student in business information systems, said the election results shocked him because he had reassured others it would not happen. 
Graff said he went to bed Wednesday morning around 1 a.m. before the winner was announced. When he woke up later on Wednesday morning, Graff said he did not want to look at his phone knowing he would not like the results. 
Although, Graff admits, the election’s results are something he and others will have to live with whether or not Trump was your preferred candidate. While hoping for his failure equates to America failing.
“What’s happened has happened,” Graff said. “The most we can do is throw our support behind Trump succeeding.”
The election came down to people’s disdain being higher for Clinton than Trump.
“[The] whole reason Trump won,” Graff said, “is because the vote was so split between people who wanted Trump and people who just didn’t want Hillary.”
Kennedy Moehrs, president of the College Democrats, said she is still processing the election’s results. The results have also ignited a fire under her and other members of her organization.
Moehrs said the election results made her realize how much work she and other democrats still need to accomplish.
Among the things at the top of Moehrs’ list, is educating people on the issues. Moehrs said last month’s voter registration drives on campus alerted her to the need students have to become more informed voters.
Moehrs said a big part of Clinton’s defeat resides with the Democratic Party alienating voters, especially millennials, by favoring Clinton for the nomination over Bernie Sanders.
“We have to figure out as a Democratic Party how to bring ourselves back together,” Moehrs said, “and redetermine our trajectory for the future.”
Despite the loss, Moehrs said Trump’s victory speech did encourage her with his talk of bringing people together. In reality, Moehrs admits Trump’s talk of unity might pose more of a challenge than he thinks due to the fact he has alienated so many groups of people.
Moehrs said there were bright spots in the election for democrats winning Oktibbeha County and millennials voting overwhelmingly for Clinton. Clinton also won the popular vote by around 200,000 votes.