You left us thousands of voicemails after the election. Listen here.
By Masuma Ahuja and Amanda Wills, CNN
Updated 1317 GMT (2117 HKT) November 22, 2016
We opened our phone lines after the election to hear from Americans about how they were feeling. So far, we've received nearly 10,000 voicemails — from Trump voters and Clinton supporters alike. Here's what they said about the results, the divide and the future of the United States.
We're still listening: 646-535-9720
Hopeful, optimistic, looking forward
- "I believe that a Trump presidency will be one of the most prosperous times that United States has seen."
- "I think we'll have a president that will be very pragmatic and bring solutions to the United States."
- "These protestors are going to wind up ruining the holiday season for a lot of people."
- "I'm a single mom, college graduate, and I am so optimistic."
- "Now I am just feeling really energized to do something ... I'm getting involved in my local Democratic committee."
- "I don't think half the things that he wants to do will pass. I don't think he'll try to pass them."
- "He is not a career politician who owes favors to multiple lobbyists."
- "We need to feel hopeful, we need to feel that everything's going to change for the best ... that's the only way."
- "It's time for a change ... The world is changing."
- "I feel bad for those who fear a Trump presidency ... I think that they will see that their fear is false evidence appearing real."
- "I feel hopeful that Trump will not be as devastating for our country as some Americans, including myself initially, feel he would be."
- "I am looking forward to being able to find a better job."
- "Maybe once again the middle class has a voice."
- "I hestitated in supporting Mr. Trump ... However I didn't perceive anything that I interpreted as racism or as sexism or any of those other -isms."
- "The last two years I've been unemployed ... I voted for Obama for both of his terms. I feel like he let our country down."
- "I really wanted to vote female, but I could not."
- "I am a military wife ... I am hopeful for Donald Trump because I believe he's going to do right with the VA."
Scared, concerned, worried
- "I'm a Southern liberal gay Muslim ... I'm pretty much real worried about the turn this country's taking."
- "I have never felt unsafe in America, but with the election of Donald Trump, I feel my life as black immigrant isn't safe."
- "I have systemic lupus and chronic kidney disease and I heard Mr. Trump talking about appealing Affordable Care Act, so I would not have the opportunities to have the doctors I have any longer."
- "I am afraid for my family, my kids. We're Mexican-Americans."
- "I'm 18 years old and this was my first time voting ... The election absolutely broke my heart."
- "A lot of us in the mental health field knew this was coming."
- "As immigrants we are scared. We are really scared."
- "I fear for my life now just going outside and doing daily things ... Now some whites seem empowered to just openly lash out at blacks, minorities."
- "If it's legal or not, I've started carrying a knife with me because I'm scared."
- "I'm a first-time voter and I really, desperately wanted my vote to mean something. I wanted it to mean progress. I wanted it to mean a better future for a lot of people."
- "As a mom, I'm extremely scared for my children and for myself. We are a Hispanic family ... Walking outside scares us. We're surrounded by a lot of people who supported Trump."
- "Our rights, our civil liberties are going to be compromised and taken away. We feel like it's open season on racism."
- "I'm a trans person living in Missouri ... Personally, I am scared both for my legal rights and for how the culture will change."
- "I feel like this is almost the number you call for a suicide prevention hotline."
- "I am scared because they elected a sexual predator. I'm a victim of sexual assault."
- "As a Democrat also, I'm very deeply concerned with the direction of the party."
- "I feel scared for the people who are going to be affected the most by this ... I feel like our country has gone 100 steps backward."
- "My husband is an illegal immigrant ... My children's father will likely be subjected to many terrible things in the next couple of months."
Ecstatic, happy, content
- "Some of the things that he says are uncouth, but that's exactly what the people voted for, and that's exactly what we want."
- "Trump did something that nobody has done. He listened to the people."
- "Donald Trump was very much needed. We need somebody with new and fresh ideas."
- "Obamacare wasn't working ... I have to tell patients who have lukemia lymphoma that don't have insurance how to get insurance."
- "I'm a Hispanic woman in Texas. I'm a teacher. And I voted for Trump ... We don't believe he's racist."
- "I voted for Trump, even though he wasn't my first choice ... I definitely did not want another four years of an Obama administration in the White House."
- "I finally feel that I'm not gonna be overlooked anymore, that my voice counts, and I'm tired of the elite running everything."
- "I'm very happy of the outcome. Eight years with not a lot of work. I'm in construction, and I'm very optimistic."
- "I'm originally from Pakistan ... I think media is inciting violence. Especially with Van Jones saying this is a whitelash. I do not agree with it."
- "I'm tired of America being PC and bowing down to everyone else ... We can finally say Merry Christmas again."
- "It had to happen this way ... I am very hopeful that Mr. Trump will get our country back on the right track."
- "I'm feeling really excited that we're going to be able to make America great again ... I'm excited to be so bored with winning that I won't know what to do with myself."
- "I'm a Hindu, a minority, and I'm from deep south Texas. I voted for Trump."
- "As American-loving men, we are infinitely ready to do the work to make America great again."
- "I feel in the last eight years that I have been denegrated and talked down to and made to feel irrelevent and not part of what America is ... I now feel that I am part of America."
Read More
Devastated, unhappy, shocked
- "I'm actually a refugee from former Yugoslavia."
- "This had nothing for me, personally, to do with politics."
- "I just don't know what the future looks like for my kids. I have three."
- "The one word I would identify to describe how I've been feeling really is grief ... I really feel like someone died."
- "I have some regrets because I did cast my vote like a protest vote."
- "I was told when I was child that I could be anything I wanted ... I'm starting to think that maybe that's not possible -- being a woman, being a person of color, being a child of an immigrant, being a sexual assault survivor."
- "Trump has succeeded in breaking down the basic unit of society, which is the family."
- "I feel like we made a huge mistake. I feel deceived by the media and the pollsters who made me believe that Hillary was going to win."
- "There's some things I like about Trump because I think he can be a changemaker, but I don't like that he's tied to the Republicans. They're nasty."
- "I'm a moderate conservative, and this outcome was my worst nigthmare."
- "I'm a board-certified pyschiatrist ... As I saw my patients who suffered from it directly, who are very anxious, very scared. I saw an increased trend in bullying since Trump's candidacy."
- "I'm just really devastated."
- "After the election, I felt kind of hopeless, I felt like I'm entering an era of the Jim Crow again."
- "I just feel a lot of distance from folks in my community ... you just never know who was on the other side."
- "As far as I'm concerned, I don't have a president ... I have no one to lean on but my God."
- "As an immigrant and a woman of color ... It's really making me question who my allies are, who's invested in my success."
Disappointed, angry
- "I'm a 22-year retired Navy veteran. I'm deeply saddened and confused about what happened."
- "I was really excited to vote for Hillary because we share the same ideologies and beliefs, and I really believed that she would unite this country."
- "Deep down inside, I always knew racism still existed."
- "You should be able to express your feelings, of course, but not in a way that hurts others or disrupts things."
- "A Palestinian woman whose son is killed in war does not feel any less pain than a white mother who loses her child here in America to gun violence. This is real. This is life. And we've got to come together."
- "As a gay man ... I'm hurt that the American public actually voted to jeopardize so many of the social progressions that we've made."
- "I would like for [Trump] to apologize to the American people for his unpresidential behavior."
- "For the first time in my life, I really feel ashamed to be an American."
- "My dad voted for Trump, so did my mom ... and I kind of feel a little betrayed by that."
- "It's really hard to say what he does really identify with at this point."
- "I feel like we've dumbed-down the White House."
- "In the military we're taught to respect others, and everyone has an equal opportunity, and we need to treat people with respect. Those lessons are not going to be exhibited by the commander-in-chief."
- "I'm really tired of us having to treat this situation as normal."
- "People seem to be tearing each other down."
- "As a black, well-educated man in America I thought we were over this. I thought it was 2016, not 1915."
How are you feeling about this election? We're leaving our phone line open through Inauguration Day. Give us a call and leave us a message: 646-535-9720.
