US Presidential Election: Americans in Northern Ireland either 'happy or heartbroken' at Donald Trump victory

Ed Bisset, 73 and from Alaska, is pastor at Clady Water Baptist Church in Templepatrick.

"I was happy,” he said of the news. “I just could not see Kamala Harris as president. She would just continue with what Biden had been doing which was ruining the states really."

The pastor said job adverts were very visible in the US when Trump was in office - but not during Biden's time.

He believes Republicans will now control Congress which will make it much easier for Trump to fulfill his promises than during his first term.

Trump's victory speech was "very conciliatory" he added.

Risa Basselin, 22, is from Chicago and is an anti-racism researcher and campaigner living in Belfast.

"I think I'm still a little bit numb to it,” she said. “It's heartbreaking, but I didn't really expect anything different."

She affirms that she was not supportive of Harris either. She would have preferred a candidate who took a different stance on Palestine and access to health and education for lower income families.

"I do think it would have been heartbreaking no matter who won. But I think this is a bit worse, because it just feels like repeated mistakes as opposed to new mistakes."

Sigga Sharp, 20 and from California, is an archeology student at QUB who identifies as LGBT.

"I'd say I'm not having the Greatest Day," she laughed. "There was a bit of shock and disappointment, obviously.

"I would say for me, the biggest shock was the percentage of new voters that voted for Trump.

"A lot of young men evidently resonated with his message and voted for him, which surprised me."

A major factor, she says, was that Harris had only been campaigning for 100 days whereas Trump had been campaigning for "close to nine years".

"I also feel that there is an element that just a lot of Americans weren't ready to back a female president.”