Too little, too late? Canadian student compiles voter regret of Trump supporters on Twitter

08 Feb 2017

Ever since Donald Trump won the U.S. presidential election in November last year, 23-year-old Erica Baguma has been scouring Twitter for expressions of voter remorse.

Baguma, a student at the University of King’s College in Halifax, Canada, has been compiling the tweets on the Twitter account @Trump_Regrets.

And boy, have there been plenty.

At the time of publishing, the account has more than 211,000 followers and over 1,420 tweets featured on its timeline. However, in its profile, the account states that users can privately message Baguma if they wish to have their tweets removed from its timeline.

'You scare the heck out of me': Twitter feed collects Trump voters' regrets https://t.co/SdeWp4EOqd

— The Guardian (@guardian) February 5, 2017

She told The Guardian that she decided to create the account after President Trump said he wouldn’t pursue criminal investigations into rival Hillary Clinton’s emails, which is contrary to what he promised during his campaign.

“I was curious as to what his supporters thought of that, and so I was searching and I was really surprised to find that there were so many people who were already regretting voting for him, for lots of different reasons,” she said.

For most, they are worried about his “unpresidential” behaviour, especially his tendency to tweet sans filter.

@realDonaldTrump Be the president we need. Stop your stupid and thoughtless tweets. I supported you, but now wondering if that was wrong!

— Thomas R Hoffmann (@thoffmannswe) February 5, 2017

Some do not agree with the decisions he is making, such as building a wall at the U.S.-Mexico border or the ban of nationals and refugees from seven Muslim-majority countries.

You know it is messed up that I voted for you and now my family has to take verbal abuse, WE ARE GOOD AMERICAN MUSLIMS.

— Ali (@malief46) February 7, 2017

Others feel that he is not doing enough to fulfil his campaign pledges.

@realDonaldTrump I am confused. I voted for an idea that you would drain the swamp. To say I am disappointed is an understatement #NODEVOS

— Dan Ryan (@therealryno23) February 8, 2017

While the reasons behind their disappointment in Trump differ, one clear pattern has emerged: with each passing day, there are more and more of them.

Baguma also noted that most of those who had voted for Trump were not really aware of his stance on a lot of issues, hence their dismay.

“I’ve definitely found that a lot of his voters really weren’t informed on his positions on a lot of things. A lot of them seemed to be really single-issue voters, so they were surprised by his major campaign pledges,” she said, as quoted by Huffington Post Canada.

This Twitter account is cataloguing Trump voters' regrets https://t.co/DpnEfVSLeE pic.twitter.com/wYRXMPY6NQ

— HuffPost Canada (@HuffPostCanada) February 5, 2017

As a social anthropology student, Baguma said that running the account has been an eye-opener for her: reading their tweets has helped change her views of the ‘typical’ Trump supporter.

“I definitely learned that they’re a diverse crowd. It’s sort of endeared me to them because a lot of them were totally well-intentioned, they were just frustrated and wanted to see a change,” she explained.

Baguma also said that through this social media experiment, she could draw parallels between what she is learning in class and what is currently happening in the world.

“You can’t really generalize a culture, ever. A culture isn’t homogenous, and that’s something I’ve definitely been learning is that there are so many nuances in a population,” she said.