On November 7, the Associated Press declared  Joseph R. Biden Jr. to be the next president of the United States in a historic victory and race. This news divided America, exacerbating tensions between Pro-Trump and Pro-Biden supporters. 

This division has extended to MTHS, with students picking one candidate over the other.

Senior Hope Boldizar supported Biden’s election bid. “I think Biden winning will be better for our country and will hopefully take more decisive action with the pandemic,” said Boldizar. “I feel like despite the fact that Biden hasn’t always been a perfect politician he will be able to see the value in every American no matter their race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, or political affiliation.”

Those who agree with Boldizar have said that they think Biden will help fix the wounds they say they believe Trump left in the American society Some of Biden’s supporters said they hoped he would create a less divided nation as well as take a breath of relief from the chaos of the recent months.

“I think a major change will be the overall sense of relief. I know that I won’t be as terrified about looking at the news every morning or talking about recent events. I feel like the mental and emotional issues of having an unstable leader is often overlooked” said senior Sarah Fieman.  

While many are thrilled about Biden’s win, others are concerned with how their daily life might be affected. Many are concerned with the COVID-19 regulations the Biden administration will be put in effect. Both Junior Matthew Kemper and Sophomore Ava Thomas reject the idea of tightening COVID-19 guidelines.

 “A universal mask mandate will not fly with me and I will not wear a mask outside,” Kemper said.  

Other Trump supporters expressed concerns about the legitimacy of the election. Many Americans are refusing to recognize Biden as the victor,  junior Lauren Morrisette among them. 

“Trump was in the lead before the mail-in ballots came in. Then all of a sudden these mail-in ballots were sent in and kept so secretive that others couldn’t watch the ballots being counted or opened. That’s a huge violation of the law by not having the election totally transparent” said Morrisette. 

Others, like junior Maria Newcomer, believe that the election was secure, “I don’t really think [the election was fraudulent], from when I last checked, Biden won the electoral college and the popular vote,” said Newcomer.

Still others could not fathom Joe Biden winning. “People mean to tell me that sleepy Joe, who couldn’t fill stadiums if he wanted to, lost to Trump, who packs stadiums,” said Senior Alex Wood. 

While many refuse to identify the legitimacy of the election due to President Trump’s claims of voter fraud and election tampering, the Department of Homeland Security has claimed this election to be the safest election in modern history. Attorney General William Barr has agreed that no tampering of ballots or fraud was committed during this election. 

Junior Jon Carr said that he does not believe that there was voter fraud.  “No. I think a lot more Democrats voted this year,” Carr said.