Tensions ran high as students sat on the edge of their seats, jumped up, whispered, shouted and prayed during Tuesday night’s election results in the University Student Center.
“We really need to win, so we can stay in college,” said M.J. Johnson, a Barack Obama supporter who prayed for a win with a group of his peers.
Danielle Mitchell, 19, said she believes in Obama because “he came through a lot of struggle.” Mitchell also said the president “needs more time to fix the country.” However, others, such as Emily Grant, 19, voted for Romney. Grant said she wanted the former Massachusetts governor to win because she had “seen Obama make a fool of himself too many times.”
Other students had no candidate to root for, expressing a hopelessness about politicians. “The government is corrupt.” said Anissa Fitz, 19. Danielle Freeman, a USF St. Petersburg resident assistant and student government senator, said that in America “there’s no freedom of expression when everything you know comes from that,” pointing her finger upwards towards a television screen.
When CNN announced Obama as the predicted winner around 9:30 p.m., relief and excitement washed over his supporters. Students jumped onto tables and knocked over chairs. Other shouted and hugged one another. To them, another four years of hope, change and moving forward was soon to come.
