Augie Haas ‘25 woke up on the morning of November 6, 2024, with a mix of unease and dissatisfaction after seeing the results of the 2024 election being posted by his peers. He was and still is deeply frustrated for his female friends and others who are significantly impacted by the outcome. From issues such as abortion laws to birth control on the ballot, Haas cannot stop feeling angry for his female friends. He was unsure how to recover from his resentment of the election. However, since the election, Haas has navigated political disputes with his friends but has ultimately realized that his friendships are more important than any political differences.
Haas wasn’t invested in politics until this recent election. He has been figuring out how to navigate friendships and support the people in his life whom he loves and cares for the most. This year, before the election, Haas experienced a heated conversation over differing political views with a close friend. He believes he handled the situation well, remembering that he didn’t want to lose a friendship over something that could be resolved Haas hopes to understand both people’s perspectives and still express his own political opinion.
“Something that I find important is just to be there for other people, to be there for the people that can’t hold themselves up as well as say, I can or as well as I want to,” Haas said. “I think [that]finding people that you can support and talk to about this [election] and find productive ways to kind of get this frustration out is really important.”
Similarly to Haas, Gaia Gatto ‘28 notices that conversations with friends have created a considerable amount of emotional stress due to the recent election. Abortion laws have been the main topic of these heated conversations. However, Gatto feels it’s important to put her political differences aside and support other women who fear this ban.
“I think the tensions are very high [specifically with this recent election] because of the possibility of an abortion ban [under the Trump administration,]” Gatto said. “Not only women but everyone’s emotions are very heightened because of the possible abortion ban. On the day of the election, I saw a lot of people [especially girls] feeling upset. I didn’t care if I agreed or disagreed with them on their political viewpoints, I just wanted to be there for all the women around me and let them know they could talk to me.”
In a 2020 episode of All Things Considered, Jocelyn Kiley, associate director of research at the Pew Research Center, noted that politics have become more extreme than ever and that Americans have been ending friendships due to the hostility of this recent election. Many of these extreme political views have inspired kids to share the same extreme beliefs as their parents which leads to a major lack of knowledge.
Gatto notices uneducated remarks when regarding political conversations with her friends and peers. These disputes often arise from a lack of knowledge. Gatto believes many younger students tend to believe what they hear from their parents when it comes to politics. She feels that younger generations should start having more knowledge when it comes to politics so that students can avoid having heated arguments in and out of school.
“These arguments usually stem from a lack of intelligence or inaccurate research,” Gatto said. “I think a lot of my friends think that they know a lot and, I also think I know a lot, but in the end, we all don’t know that much and it’s usually just a repetition of whatever you’ve heard from your parents.”
Haas’ perspective allows him to forgive the differing opinions that he and his friends might have. He appreciates the primary purpose of his friendship despite the differing beliefs but he also questions how discussions about politics can quickly switch from political topics to moral concerns when the discussion moves beyond the election
“I am still definitely learning and juggling with [ dealing with different political views], ” Haas said. “But I think the whole idea of destroying a friendship because of different political beliefs is something that rubs me in a wrong way. It can become a question of not politics but morals instead, and that can have a bigger impact. But setting that aside and realizing why you’re friends with this person, what you hold on to? What importance you hold with that friendship, I think is an important distinction to make.”
