By asthaa
I woke up early on November 7th, Wednesday morning, and immediately refreshed the web page of The New York Times that I had up on my laptop screen to find who would be the next president of my country. And then, because I am in Spain, I checked elpais.com, one of the country’s major newspapers. The headlines were basically the same at 7 am. In one of the hallways of La Autónoma, we GW Madrid students talked excitedly about the outcome before class. Who stayed up until 4 am? How was the U.S. embassy election-watch party? Who made it to the Democrats Abroad party? How did the students hoping to see Romney win feel?
While talk of President Obama’s winning dominated the media in Spain on Wednesday (it was the first thing I heard on the radio and above the fold on every paper), I found that most Spanish people I spoke to cared about the elections but understandably moved on to the local news of the day. What amazed me most was how many people had a general idea of the Electoral College in America. In terms of what sentiments have been toward another four years of an Obama administration, without knowing empirically, many people I discuss American politics with agree more ideologically with him than they did with Romney. On the day after election, I even received a couple of wishes of congratulations from Spanish friends.
On Tuesday into Wednesday, it seemed as lots of Americans, both abroad and at home, collectively held their breaths awaiting results. The Spanish looked on with interest and when Obama won, shrugged their shoulders. Life would continue on as it had been for the last four years. No need for dramatic changes of perception this election cycle.
As the day went on as results came in from every single state, namely Florida, I saw more articles and coverage in Spanish media about how the Latino vote swayed the election. Though it was not surprising, the rhetoric was a bit different from the United States where I could see more outlets discussing how people got their votes out despite hurricane Sandy, voter suppression efforts in various parts of the country, and the general impact of minorities.
Though I spent time on Facebook to see the reactions of friends in D.C. and at moments wished I could be in two places at once, I somehow felt relieved to have some distance but still be able to cast my vote for the first time. I had followed the elections of 2012 from the beginning but gaining some perspective from Madrid allowed me to see what people thought of our democracy from a European point of view. The night of November 7th, I went to bed content, but also very aware of the fact that if U.S. elections had just passed by my time in Madrid was flying by too.