When asked about the current United States presidential election, international faculty and students at the University of Mississippi expressed primarily negative views of the two candidates, Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton.
While they said that the process of the election is similar to their own countries, the direction that it is going is very different. Subjects that were most often brought up are how the candidates present themselves, how they interact with each other and how the media has handled the election.
“You cannot really compare it. I think you have more media coverage throughout the world. More people are talking about it. In Germany, you do not have the fighting, making fun of each other and presenting each other in the worst possible light,” said business major Marina Vorwerk from Germany.
The election has been very prominent in international media and has attracted worldwide attention due to its controversy. Foreign students and faculty are surprised by the hostile way in which the candidates have interacted with each other.
“In Germany we would talk a lot about the election, especially because of Trump, because he’s such a huge figure. Everything he does and says is not understandable for everyone who’s not in America,” said Catherine Halbach, a teaching assistant from Germany.
A German news site, Spiegel Online, labeled Donald Trump as the “World’s Most Dangerous Man.”
Many people expressed their feelings about the controversial public comments that both Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump have made.
“I see all these commercials and all the campaigns compared to what I know from what happens in Europe; it’s just so different. It’s way more outspoken and the campaigns are more aggressive,” said psychology major, Ariana Hortana, an international student from the Netherlands.
Throughout her campaign, Clinton has discussed Trump’s remarks about women and minorities as well as failure to release his tax forms. Trump on the other hand has brought up Clinton’s “deleted emails,” her husband’s past affair and her more liberal policies.
“In the Netherlands, it’s definitely not as aggressive. When I look at the commercials, what I see on TV is so much trash talk. It’s not even classy. They use very dirty words. It’s not how politicians should talk about each other,” said Hortana.
Donald Trump’s comments about Latinos during his campaign have concerned Liz Lopez, a Spanish instructor from Venezuela. She has fears about what the outcome of the election will be and how it will affect her personally, as a foreigner living in America.
“I would add from a foreigner’s point of view that I am sad and concerned of the way that Trump has addressed the presence of immigrants in the country. It has kind of awakened this racism in people. Now that an important figure in the country uses this vocabulary, it gives them a green light to be more open about it,” said Lopez.
Remarks from both Clinton and Trump have stuck in her mind, primarily the comments from Trump about women.
“People see Hillary Clinton as corrupt non-trustworthy lady and then Trump on the other side is very radical. His xenophobic comments about women and stuff like that also set him apart,” said Lopez.
The main problem that Lopez sees is the candidate’s lack of popularity amongst American voters. In a poll conducted by CNN immediately after the first debate, 11 percent of the 521 total people surveyed were still undecided about the two candidates.
“None of them are really trustworthy, but I would also say that people put a lot more pressure on Hillary because she is a woman. We know that Trump hasn’t showed his tax returns, but people do not really pay attention to that. People want to talk about Hillary emails,” said Lopez. “I think it would be a big deal if she won, because she would be the first woman that won the presidency.”
Mrudvi Bakshi, a foreign exchange journalism student from India, said that the democratic process in how the United States elects its president is similar to that in India. She said that the tactics, however, are different.
According to Bakshi, in India the candidates will go to rural areas and speak to small groups of people as opposed to in the U.S. where candidates tend to address larger groups of people in rallies and debates.
“I feel like India is one of the largest democracies. They go out in the public and try to interact with them even if it is small rural areas. It depends on who you want to be to your public. They don’t have the feeling that they cannot go out and talk to them,” said Bakshi.
Lopez also believes that the American election process is not unalike from her native county, Venezuela. However, she says that in the United States it is more transparent and less corrupt.
According to Lopez, its publicly felt in Venezuela that the way the current president, Hugo Chavez, was elected was neither fair nor true.
“I would say that the bipartisanship here (in the US) is way more important and historically implemented. Venezuela is a country that has been going through political problems for 17 years. The new president that we have now was basically imposed or named by the former president. In America, it’s more like a contest between two people,” said Lopez.
In an international poll conducted by Pew Research Center amongst 10 nations from the European Union, 85 percent of Europeans doubted, “Trump’s ability to do the right thing regarding world affairs.” Among them, 92 percent of Swedes and 89 percent of Germans said they had, “no confidence in Trump’s ability to handle the international aspect of the presidency.”
The survey’s results showed that the Democratic candidate, Hillary Clinton, had more popularity and was viewed in a more positive light. 59 percent of those surveyed said that they, “have faith that she will do the right thing in world affairs.”
“I’ve never met anybody who supported Trump; I guess we can’t understand why he’s that successful,” said Halbach from Germany.
Libby Keatin, a British international student, also had negative words to say about Trump. She disagrees with his policies and campaign slogan.
“I don’t agree with a lot that Trump says. I do think that some people want to ‘Make America Great Again’ but I don’t think that his opinions are very modern at all. I think they’re very outdated and that he has a bad opinion on the world,” said Keatin.
Keatin said the presidential election is more of a worldwide debate in the U.S. than it is in England and that less people in the world know about British politics than American.
“I feel like the things Americans do are mimicked. In England, we do have an election and different sides. It is a small country and less influential,” said Keatin.
Among these Ole Miss foreign exchange students and faculty, they all said one thing in common; this current presidential election is unlike any of the past.
“It’s kind of the same in the process, but the feel is so much different,” said Bakshi.
Ashley Thusius
Kiara Manning