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Published on
Nov 6, 2024 at 5:37 p.m.
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Léonie Assier, young woman of 20 years old from d’Ancinnes (Sarthe) and who completed his schooling at Alençon (Orne), flew to the United States at the beginning of September, as part of her third year of studies at Sciences Po Strasbourg.
And it is in the State of Michigan, at the University of Kalamazoo, that she has settled until June 2025.
“They vote for a lot of things”
On Tuesday, November 5, she would not have missed the evening's global event: the election of the American president. Especially in the state of Michigan, one of the seven swing states of this 47th American presidential election.
“The evening began with a informative time from a professor from the Department of Political Science at my university and which consisted of determining the important points of this election and what should be followed”, reports Léonie, this Wednesday, November 6, 2024 at 9 a.m. local time (3 p.m. French time).
Then the election was broadcast from campus. “They put on the ABC channel and we followed the results minute by minute, in each state,” relates Léonie, not without reminding that Americans “do not vote only for the President but also for the “House”, the Assembly, the Senate and even, in certain states for the regulations on abortion… In short, they voted for quite a few things.”
She checked the results all night
This election evening, on its campus, “brought together a lot of people: internationals like us, and for whom it was important to experience this live, and American students obviously. So it was a very well-attended and crowded evening. So much so that we went back to our residence to follow the results,” agrees Léonie.
“We watched TV until around midnight then we went to bed but I, from my room, continued to check until around one in the morning and even after that, I woke up several times in at night and each time, I checked the results. »
Courses canceled
The verdict at the polls was finally in: Donald Trump was elected with 277 electoral votes (when 270 were needed).
“It was a shock for me,” Léonie comments point-blank.
Especially since here, Americans are very much in favor of Kamala Harris. Kalamazoo is one of three districts in Michigan that voted for Kamala when the state of Michigan, one of the swing states, was won by Donald Trump!
News that also disrupts his daily life. “We receive lots of messages from teachers who tell us they are available, for us internationals and Americans, in case we have fears, doubts or if we just want to discuss or even if we have lost hope and we want to find him. »
“It’s astonishment, the atmosphere is gloomy”
Teachers have canceled their lessons “or rather the content of their lessons to devote it to the results and what is happening today in the United States but it is clear that this morning, the atmosphere is gloomy, there is a lot of astonishment.”
However, the Trump activists are not triumphant: “Here, the campus is militantly pro-Harris so the pro-Trump people do not represent the majority and therefore do not come forward. But the general atmosphere is quite sad and there are still quite few people there this morning at 9 a.m. (local time).”
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