Former president Donald Trump has espoused anti-immigrant rhetoric in his latest presidential campaign. Despite this, some international students support him.
Massachusetts is a blue state, and the University of Massachusetts Amherst campus seems to lean in favor of a Harris presidency. But opinions of international students can sometimes be overlooked. Although international students may not be able to vote in the U.S. elections, that doesn’t mean they are left unaffected by them.
Collegian correspondents talked to international first year graduate students in the Masters of Science in Business Analytics (MSBA) program. Some think Donald Trump is most likely to win this election, and will hold the best presidency for international students.
Grad student Shreyas Basavaraju at first said he and his friends, also international students, weren’t involved in following the race. “We are not following the news like continuously, meticulously,” he said.
“If Trump [wins], it will be better for international students,” Basavaraju said.
Another grad student, Shreyas Sai Alla believes a Trump presidency will be better for the economy. “In my personal opinion I feel like I need Trump to win, because he will lower the taxes,” Sai Alla said.
Basavaraju thinks that since Trump has a past in business, “he knows what needs to be done.”
Another MSBA student, Rohith Reddy Kolanu thinks a Trump presidency would be better for the war in Ukraine and the safer choice for U.S. foreign policy. He also thinks Trump will encourage new startups and businesses due to his business background.
“The idea of Republicans is capitalism, so they always want to make money, they always want to generate wealth for the people, which results in economic growth and also provides jobs,” Kolanu said.
“If there is job generation, then even the international students can find jobs, so that’s what I’m thinking,” Kolanu added.
“People want Donald Trump to win this election, even I want Trump to win this election, because it will give more job opportunities coming in for everyone,” Kolanu said.
Basavaraju shared that his social media algorithms have been pushing out pro-Trump content, which he said keeps him from having an unbiased opinion.
“All our algorithms are pushing Trump,” Basavaraju said. “I think it’s based off the people I follow.” Basavaraju follows podcaster Theo Von, who has previously interviewed Trump.
“In India definitely, they are supporting Trump rather than Harris,” added Kolanu.
Kolanu explained that in his view, people in India are more in favor of Trump. His parents and fellow MSBA students’ parents, he said, are in favor of a Trump presidency because of what it could do for the job market and their futures in America.
But the students admit their opinions might be biased due to factors including their parents’ opinions, content they’re seeing on social media and the fact they haven’t spent that much time living in the U.S. yet.
“We moved to the U.S. just two months back, so our opinions currently are something … it might differ over a few months, maybe a year,” Basavaraju explained.
Disclaimer: Alexandra Rowe phone banked for Kamala Harris.
Daniella Pikman can be reached at [email protected] and Alexandra Rowe can be reached at [email protected].
