The weeks leading up to the 2016 presidential election were a flurry of activity, as my fellow Americans and I scrambled to fill out our absentee ballots from Jordan in time.

We made multiple trips to the U.S. Embassy, spent hours scanning ballots and anxiously phoned county registrars that took place, as forty members in my program attempted to send in their votes. It was encouraging to witness people of my age group taking the extra time to vote, especially while abroad.

However, due to the fact that a majority of the students in my program are either international relations or political science majors, I think seeing almost all 42 students in the program vote is perhaps a misrepresentation of the voter turnout for my age group.

According to the Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement, approximately 50 percent of people aged 18-29, or the “millennial” demographic, voted in the 2016 presidential election. I believe, in the case of the turnout in my program, the education we have received by studying in a program that pushes global citizenship affected the turnout rate.

The outcome of this election will undoubtedly effect Jordanians and the region for at least the next four years; therefore, prior to the election results, I asked local residents for their take on the election season and what they hoped for in the next president.

The Jordanians I have spoken with generally were looking for security and stability in their country and the region. Both Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump pledged their support to Israel during their campaigns, one of the few issues both candidates agreed on.

Jordanians, who mostly identify as Arab, are used to the U.S. supporting Israel. What I have observed from Trump’s rhetoric is that his Middle East policies will also include ending the Islamic State, having stricter regulations on Syrian refugees coming to the U.S. and possibly changing the Iran Nuclear Deal.

The average Jordanian was only aware of one or two of Trump’s plans for the Middle East, and were generally confused about his policies and how it will affect Jordan. Most Jordanians also don’t seem to be aware of his anti-Muslim statements.

Most of the Jordanians I spoke with supported Clinton, but their reaction to the new president-elect was less intense than that of many American Clinton supporters. As outsiders observing the outcome of the presidential race, I found that Jordanians are slightly more optimistic about a future with Trump, at least when it comes to how it will affect Jordan and the region.

According to a Nov. 8 article by Foreign Policy, 682, 341 Americans oversees voted in 2008 and as high as 1 million were predicted to vote this election. While Americans living abroad represent only a small minority of voters, I think that our voices are important, as we will directly feel the effect of the international reaction to the election. What’s more, expatriates living abroad longer than the average study abroad student or intern will experience it in all of its stages for at some part the next four years.

In general, when talking with Jordanians and non-American tourists or expatriates, I have felt a sense of pity mixed with judgment now that Donald Trump has become president-elect. I believe I have only experienced a small portion of the changing international perception of the U.S. with Trump as the new president.

While I may not always agree with some of the emotions from fellow citizens and non-Americans alike in response to the election results, I do understand them. Americans currently abroad, myself included, aren’t the ones who directly the impact of the presidential election, or any elected official for that matter.

I will proudly continue to represent the U.S. as a citizen diplomat while I’m studying in Jordan because I represent a group that’s much larger than just me, in a country that many Americans will never visit. I hope other Americans living abroad recognize the impact they can have on international perception of Americans, however small it may be.

Katelyn Faubel is a junior newspaper and online journalism and international relations dual major. Her column appears weekly in Pulp. You can email her at kmfaubel@syr.edu.

Published on November 14, 2016 at 8:37 pm