The Aftermath of the 2024 Presidential Election has put the country in a state of division. Previous 45th Republican Donald J. Trump successfully won the election, marking his second term. The reactions of the opposite side have been emotions less of aggressive shock, and more defeated apathy. However, the reason behind Trump’s victory could be associated with certain religious beliefs of the United States of America.
According to the Pew Research Center, approximately 64% of the American population identifies as Christian. The political learning of most Christians is largely rooted in a more conservative outlook on how society should be run.
I spoke to five members of Chi Alpha, a Christian organization on the Langston campus, to understand how they voted and why. Chi Alpha Vice-President Olivia Jenkins discusses her stance.
“I think that we should vote based on the values that God has given us. But regardless, we are called to protect our leaders, pray for them,” Jenkins said. She added that even though people are called to follow the teachings of Christ, that does not mean followers should be lazy or dismissive with their voice.
“And although God is King, he still tells us that we need to listen to our leader, presidents, and so there is never any situation just harass someone or enemies even If person you don’t particularly like digging like this.”
Chi Alpha attendee Anaya Casby expressed a more conservative stance in her morals, particularly around Trump’s controversial promise to prevent children from being given puberty blockers. “I work at a daycare, and I just love children…if I saw a child from a daycare changing their sex, I would been very sad, and then sooner or later, they might regret changing their sex,” Casby said. “I was glad that Trump is the president, because I think he is capable of banning gender affirming care for minors.”
Lyvia Xiong, another Langston student and a Chi Alpha leader member explained how she personally disagrees with Harris’ stances with LGBTQ issues in schools and has agreements with Trump’s polices as a leader.
“I would say I voted for Donald Trump, and that’s because I just agree with a lot of his policies,” Xiong said. “Kamala Harris, I just, I don’t really agree with her policies. I don’t agree with, you know, implementing anything related to LGBTQ in schools … With Trump, I just find him to be a stronger leader, because he makes his own money, and he doesn’t need to be swayed by like companies and things like that. And I just feel like between the two.”
Casby and Xiong, despite having right-leaning values, agree to not putting up barriers between others who share contrasting beliefs. “At the end of the day, they want the best for the country, too,” Xiong said. “[And] as a Christian, we should separate…following God and politics. I feel like when you mix the two, it gets kind of I feel like it just gets kind of messy, especially because not everyone believes in God.”
Casby in her response carried a more mellowed and care-free approach.
“I feel like we should just go on our day and just pray about it, because…I’m not saying he’s a perfect candidate,” Casby said. “But if he does do wrong things, all I can say is just pray about it…we have to do is just pray for the country and just leave it in God’s hands.”
Of the five people I spoke to, three of the five were women, and two were men. The men ended up having more centrist or left-leaning ideology than the women.
Junior Joshua Heck, President of the Student Chi Alpha, talked about how as Christians it is important to stick to faith in Christ through all decisions including politics, while having a focus on respectful dialogue and open-mindedness to avoid starting discord.
“I think you should stick to your faith, and you [should] make decision based on your faith, and you don’t stray away from that,” Heck said. “Because at the end of the day, we all want the same thing, especially in politics..and instead of arguing and insulting and discording…just pray for each other.”
With his statement, Heck added how he personally found himself voting for a more independent branch.
“So, I was independent. [It] was RFK, technically was not running anymore. But I just put it anyways…I just wasn’t really rocking with either Trump or Harris.”
Though Robert F. Kennedy Jr. was withdrawn from the election, by his own choice, he was still on the ballot for 33 states, receiving roughly 594,000 votes. But it shows the growing fatigue that American citizens have around voting in a two-party system, where policies may not mirror some of the average American citizen.
During days of elections, when it can be common for people to enact division due to political beliefs, it is interesting to see how the Christian students of Generation Z can be shown to either stand forth with their political side or not pay much attention towards it, with both sides trying to bridge that gap between each other to form a middle ground of respect.
Josh Thompson
Josh Thompson is a sophomore English major , Broadcast Journalism minor
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The Gazette serves as the student voice of Langston University. It is produced within the Department of Communication as a teaching tool and local news source for the campus community. The views and opinions expressed within are those of the writers whose names appear with the articles and do not necessarily represent the views of Langston University.
