Django Javascript: Why Won't My Function Change The Styling

I have a like button that is part of a form that uses a javascript function. The function seems to work as intended (adding or subtracting a like from the like count) so it must be changing the class of the button but it won't update the styling unless i refresh the page. I want the styling to turn the button background white when it is liked and transparent when not liked.

Script:

$(document).ready(function() {

    $('.like_form').submit(function(e){
        e.preventDefault()

        const post_id = $(this).attr('id')
        console.log(post_id)

        const url = $(this).attr('action')

        let res;
        const likes = $(`.like_count${post_id}`).text()
        const trimCount = parseInt(likes)
        console.log(trimCount + 1)
        var element = document.getElementById("like_button");

        $.ajax({
            type: 'POST',
            url: url,
            data: {
                'csrfmiddlewaretoken': $('input[name=csrfmiddlewaretoken]').val(),
                'post_id': post_id,

            },
            success: function(response){
                if (element.classList.contains("liked_post")){
                    res = trimCount - 1
                    element.classList.remove("liked_post")

                } else if (!$(this).hasClass("liked_post")) {
                    res = trimCount + 1
                    element.classList.add("liked_post")
                    
                }

                $(`.like_count${post_id}`).text(res +' Likes')

            },
            error: function(response){
                console.log('error', response)
            }
        })
    })

});

form:

<form action="{% url 'like_post' item.id %}"  class="like_form" id="{{ item.id }}">
    {% csrf_token %}

    {% if user in item.likes.all %}
        <button type="submit" class="like_btn liked_post" name="post_id" value="{{ item.id }}"><div class="liked_btn" id="like_button">Like</div></button>
    {% else %}
        <button type="submit" class="like_btn" name="post_id"  value="{{ item.id }}"><div class="liked_btn" id="like_button">Like</div></button>
    {% endif %}
</form>