International tourists on Election Day

We've already mentioned that tourists from other parts of the US in New York on Election Day had an opinion about today's vote. But believe it or not, mixed into the crowds on Election Day in Democracy Plaza were many international tourists here in New York City to experience the 2012 election. Just like how these foreign tourists mixed into the crowd, the foreigners’ opinions on the candidates were mixed as well.

I was able to speak with Remco van Ophovan, who trekked all the way from Holland to witness history today. van Ophovan said that while he and many other people from Holland don’t fully understand America or the candidates, “we’re from Europe and I think everybody in Europe is favoring Obama, that’s no secret.”

Since the 2008 election, van Ophovan claims that, “Especially from Europe’s point of view, people look more positively toward the United States, whereas before 2008 they actually hated it.”

Well, if President Obama could convince Europeans to not hate the United States, what else could President Obama do? President Obama also made a Lebanese man, Salim Haddad, dislike him and America very much.

Hassad was the only international tourist that we spoke to that was pro-Romney. “There has been drastic change and they don’t like it,” Hassad said. He added that he didn’t like the changes that came with Barak Obama. In fact, Haddad refused to answer any more questions after he told us that he didn’t like the changes because he felt so passionately about the election and claimed that if he spoke any more about the election, he would get “nasty.”

Maximo Ben from Argentina, on the other hand, calmly explained that he proudly supports Barak Obama. Maximo Ben supports Barak Obama for “politics with Latin Americans,” something that was obviously important to him. “For supporting the Latin American people,” Maximo Ben said he supports Barak Obama.

These weren’t the only international people at Democracy Plaza today. Many support Barak Obama. Many support Mitt Romney. But ultimately it's up to American voters to decide who will be the next President.

—Kid Reporter Dani Bergman Chudnow