Campaign promises are easy to make. Living with the results is another matter.

In 2024, millions of Americans cast their ballots believing they were choosing a better presidential candidate. Some wanted lower costs, others prioritized immigration or social issues, and many voted based on those issues. But nearly two years after the election, those decisions have had plenty of time to make the realities of the governing party, which in some people’s opinion, are not so good.

For some voters, that reality has brought disappointment to many, such as myself, who voted red in 2024. For others, it has raised a very uncomfortable question: would they make the same choice again?

With President Donald Trump back in the White House for a second term, conversations about political expectations and voter regret have taken on a new dimension. Now, that dissatisfaction does not automatically mean that someone regrets their vote, but there’s a difference between supporting a candidate and wholeheartedly supporting what they stand for.

Elea Corson, a senior agriculture major studying crop and soil management from Collierville, Tennessee, voted against trump in 2024. Although she anticipated a difficult political climate, she said the situation has become worse than she expected.

“It got a lot worse than I thought it would,” Corson said.

Corson says she understands why some voters supported Trump, particularly those who expected economic improvements or stronger national security. However, she believes disappointment can eventually cause people to reconsider their decisions and political parties.

“You can only take so much of a bad thing before you’re like, ‘yeah, this probably was not a good idea,'” Corson said.

Corson also said political conversations have become increasingly difficult, even among people who care about one another. She avoids discussing politics with some people who are close to her to prevent the conflict or the fallout that happens when they find out what she believes.

Still, she believes avoiding conversations makes it harder to understand different perspectives.

“In order to get around that, in order to get past that, you have to actually talk about it” Corson said.

Avery Culotta, a senior health and human performance major from Henning, Tennessee, did not vote in the 2024 presidential election. She described herself as moderate and said neither candidate represented her values or interests.

“I just don’t like politics in general because I think people get so hateful over it,” Culotta said.

Culotta said political disagreements can quickly become personal, leaving little room for genuine discussion. She also expressed frustration with feeling that ordinary people’s concerns go unheard.

Culotta’s perspective highlights another kind of political dissatisfaction: feeling disconnected from the choices presented to voters in the first place.

For Kelsey Freeman, a communications major from Memphis, Tennessee, the election was also about representations in the policies given by each candidate. Freeman says issues involving minority representation, reproductive rights and immigration enforcement are a big issue for her.

Freeman believes some voters focus heavily on one appealing candidate promise without considering the candidate’s broader platform.

“They see something they like, and they’re like, ‘oh well, I want that better than whatever this person…I’ll just take this without looking deeply,’” Freeman said.

Her observation raises a question that follows voters even after election day: how much of a candidate’s platform did voters consider before they even chose a candidate in the first place?

Freeman said voters might prioritize one issue while overlooking other positions that could affect them. She also recognizes that becoming dissatisfied with a candidate does not erase the fact that someone voted for them anyway. Voting a certain way doesn’t necessarily mean someone regrets their vote. A person can agree with a certain policy while disagreeing with others.

This distinction matters. Disappointment with a president, frustration with a political party and regret over a vote are not necessarily the same thing or mutually exclusive. Some voters question their decisions without changing their political beliefs; others may be reconsidering the candidate they supported altogether because of how harmful the candidate’s actions have been.

Political fallout can make those feelings harder to discuss. Freeman said that politics is not a frequent conversation for her family.

The result can be a very tense political environment where people have strong opinions but are reluctant to explain them or support them. People will throw things at you, yell at you or disown you completely just because of how you feel.

An election may only take one day or one night to ruin a party’s life, but living with its consequences is a much longer commitment. Campaign signs come down, speeches are delivered and promises meet reality.  Let’s just all sit back and relax and see if the person we pick actually does what we voted for them to do.

The true question that probably couldn’t be answered by one simple, catchy campaign slogan is this: would we still make the same choices we did if we knew how bad the consequences would be?