In the wake of the presidential election, expressions of shock and disillusionment from UNC liberals and leftists can be heard in every corner of this campus. How, we ask, can this possibly be? Political pundits everywhere have opinions about how to conduct the autopsy of the Harris-Walz campaign and the larger Democratic Party. Everybody has a theory about what went wrong, where the brunt of blame should fall. As we ponder and reevaluate, we often fail to consider that as college students, we swim in a wholly different information ecosystem than the vast majority of the electorate.
To be displeased by the outcome of the presidential election is understandable, but to be utterly shocked by Donald Trump’s success is a testament to the echo chambers that make up the political climate of our campus. The influx of pro-Harris messaging preceding the polls, spanning from immeasurable social media posts to full-fledged endorsements from celebrities, created a cushion of disillusionment for liberal-leaning voters. It was all under the precedent, the assumption, that voting for Harris was the automated choice for minorities and women across the country. But the morale campaign, the voting for the “lesser evil” theory, has once again failed the Democratic Party and stamped the 2024 election with the weakness of political insular communities, like that in which we exist here in college.
We are the infamous progressive elite, condescending to working class Americans from a moral high ground we have not earned. In many ways, this election allowed them to make their ire known. Many on the left have attributed this outcome to the inherent misogyny and racism of America. This explanation is enticing, and there is truth to it, but to accept it as the sole reason taps into the same narratives that alienated voters in the first place.
The problem, beyond its lack of foundation, is that this absolves those on the left of all responsibility. If you’re a left-leaning voter overcome with election-related shock, consider approaching this result with humility. Insulated on campus, we often forget the many true plights of our fellow Americans. Most voters are far more concerned with their finances and family’s health than they are with achieving the standards of sometimes performative political correctness, which many in college have the freedom to do.
We alienated people. We left them behind in a quest to feed our own self righteousness. We enshrined our political opinions as fact and then refused to defend them — uttering, instead, the hallowed words: “it isn’t my responsibility to educate you.”
At any point, did we stop to consider that our — young, highly educated students — highest priorities in this election might not have been reflective of the general electorate's highest priorities? Or did we refuse to look outside of our educated bubbles, insisting that the rest of the nation simply play catch-up to our views of educated elitism? Orange County is one of the most left-leaning districts in the country, let alone the state — final exit polls indicated 75 percent support for Kamala Harris in the general election. That, in and of itself, should have been enough to signal to voters that the rhetoric they were both receiving and voicing was not reliable.
Today, the moral argument is a losing argument. The Democratic Party has been insistent upon their moral superiority, thus feeling entitled to the vote of any marginalized American. Threats of oppression and bigotry are dangled over citizens of color, compelling them to vote for Diet Oppression. The same goes on campus; we adopt faulty ideas that our positions are so ideologically correct, others must be crazy to go against them.
We have wrapped ourselves into ideological cocoons. We read news that affirms our agendas and have conversations with friends that virtue signals our social righteousness. And it’s not palatable to anyone outside of our cocoons. It’s a disservice to ourselves, as educated young adults, to subscribe to the security blanket of self-affirming moral high ground.
Blame and avoidance tactics aren’t getting us anywhere. It’s easy to write off people that voted for Trump, but doing so will only perpetuate our echo chambers, on campus and otherwise. We must strive for dialogue that creates actual understanding about the candidates and their policies.
