Former Hawaiian resident Jade De La Paz began yesterday hoping for a big Democratic win but was later much more uncertain because of the knife-edge closeness of the US presidential election.
"I’m really scared what’s going to happen," Mrs De La Paz, who is in Dunedin undertaking PhD studies at the University of Otago, said.
She had hoped at one point that Democratic contender Joe Biden might even have won the red state of Texas. However, President Donald Trump’s success in winning Florida and several other key states, including Texas, had somewhat dented her confidence.
She was encouraged that Mr Biden was leading in Arizona, a former Republican stronghold, though many ballots were still to be counted. She attended an election event hosted by political group Democrats Abroad New Zealand at the Woof! bar in Dunedin last night.
The Otago Daily Times did attempt to solicit views from American supporters of Mr Trump in Dunedin for this story.
University of Otago international relations specialist Robert Patman acknowledged that electoral officials in the key battleground midwest states of Wisconsin and Michigan, and in Pennsylvania, had announced that a final voting tally could not be issued yesterday.
President Trump had performed better than some polls had suggested, but it was too soon to predict the election’s implications for New Zealand because the final results were not yet clear, Prof Patman said.
Ten Otago students last night contributed a 90-minute segment to an international online video broadcast, commenting on the US elections.
Dr Aidan Gnoth, of the University of Otago’s National Centre for Peace and Conflict Studies, said the students’ input into the Academic Live Review 24-hour broadcast "went wonderfully".
Related Stories
Comments
“ President Trump had performed better than some polls had suggested, ”
Sorry but which polls suggested that the GOP would be regaining Congress seats?
Which polls suggested that the black and Latino vote would move to the GOP in such numbers ?
Which polls suggested that Trump would expand his base by taking more of what the Dems consider their moral prerogative, the working class.
The great switch happened in 1939, when the Dems dropped their pro slavery, small government stance. It was the Dems that were the slave owners before the civil war, NOT the GOP.
This election has been about the survival of the Dems, NOT democracy as they like to claim.
The Dems financial support comes from Wall St, big business, big farma, big tech, and the media but they depend on the weakest members of society and the moral responsibilities of their voters to stay in power. The Dems claim support of a vast array of identity groups while driving their economic opportunities into the ground for decades, even under Obama. That is why he is such a disappointment to the black community and the Left.
What we are watching is the great switch back.
Trump 2020.
Nothing to say to that except "2 thumbs up"
Polemic is all very well, but you don't live there. The fear is of civil unrest in a Constitutional Crisis.
Who are you afraid of ? The white supremacists or the leftist college educated, having adolescent temper tantrums or the homeless living in tents on the streets ????
It's interesting that after months of riots in Portland, that the mayor suddenly decides it's time for the National Guard when they think Biden will win. These 'protesters' are just useful idiots for the Dem establishment.
time for the sore loser to exit the White House... and bring your fan club with you.
Americans have been migrating to Canada and other countries for over 244 years. The country was founded on insurrection and treason against the Crown. The country is the leading weapons manufacture and seller globally and is involved in countless conflicts. The American people need to read a history book and understand that uncontrolled violence has plagued their country for centuries. I am not sure why these clueless people are sitting in NZ, pretending to be victims of a system manufactured by their own culture and capitalist greed. The American non-white population has been screaming for equality for centuries. I am not sure why I should feel sympathy for privileged white Americans living in NZ when coloured Americans cannot even afford education or travel abroad. Americans should have stayed loyal to the Crown and remained a colony; perhaps things would have turned out differently. I am sure people all over the world are living in fear BECAUSE of Americans. Dick Cheney?