BENSALEM, Pa. — The presidential candidates and their surrogates are making closing arguments and they have one major topic in common: Donald Trump. Voters in this crucial swing state said they have heard enough and have taken sides.
Digital billboards with Vice President Kamala Harris’ name printed over the Liberty Bell and others for Trump promising “jobs for Pennsylvania” dot Interstate 95 from Philadelphia to this working-class town about 20 miles north. In the more conservative southern tip of Bucks County along the Delaware River, Trump yard signs easily outnumbered ones for Harris — although a local union hall’s grounds were lined with signs touting the Democratic nominee, with one proclaiming: “Union families for Harris!”
A man who wanted to be called only Jonathan laughed while tending bar around midday Monday at a national chain restaurant when a Roll Call reporter explained his assignment and asked for recommendations on where to chat with voters. “I mean, I’m not so sure they’re going to be fine with that. Maybe they will, but I don’t know, man,” said Jonathan, who didn’t disclose his preference in the presidential race but said he would be glad when the political TV ads end.
The reception Monday from some residents was indeed chilly here in a county won by Hillary Clinton by 1,988 votes in 2016 and President Joe Biden by 17,345 votes in 2020. Residents are used to visits by national politicians.
Several people declined to be or were unsure about being interviewed, including one middle-aged male voter outside a Wawa convenience store and gas station. The man proclaimed himself an independent voter who doesn’t agree with either major political party, saying he probably wouldn’t make for the best story. When asked whether independent voters could well be the most important voting bloc in the must-win commonwealth, the man smiled and headed for his SUV.
An older woman was unlocking a shopping cart outside a supermarket and muttered, “Don’t talk to the media.” A few moments later, an employee of the chain store emerged and asked the reporter to vacate the premises. She did, however, allow an ongoing interview to conclude.
Others were more than willing to talk — and they all said they’ve made up their minds. Not surprisingly in these hyperpartisan times, some had already or said they soon would cast ballots as much against one candidate as in favor of the other.
“I’m very much for President Trump,” an older man in a dark blazer and glasses said as he returned his shopping cart on a sunny autumn afternoon. “I like him better as president. I think his positions are better for president.”
When asked about the GOP nominee’s habit of saying harsh, insulting and even racist things, the man waved a hand in the air and pointed to his wife waiting by their white SUV. When asked again whether Trump’s behavior ever bothers him, the man said he needed to drive his spouse to a medical appointment.
A young woman outside a coffee shop, who identified herself only as Juliana, described her choice this way: “Harris all day.” Asked why she had voted for the VP, Juliana replied: “Trump’s a crook. And he lies.” When asked whether she had voted more for Harris’ policy ideas or against Trump’s, she replied before heading inside: “Just not Trump.”
For some, Trump fatigue is real. One reason: He dominates all things political. Tune in to Trump at a dark-themed rally in New York City’s Madison Square Garden or any of his battleground-state rallies and chances are Trump is talking about Trump. Tune in to Harris sitting for a radio interview, taking reporters’ questions or speaking at her own swing-state rallies and she is likely talking about Trump. Attend a star-studded Harris campaign rally in Georgia, a new battleground she might need to nab as insurance, or must-win Pennsylvania and the music stars, entertainers and former presidents are probably delivering warnings about a second Trump administration.
While the vice president and her campaign teammates have attempted selling her vision of an “opportunity economy” that “lifts up” middle-class Americans and small businesses, while aiming to pare health care costs and improve housing, all messages and campaign-trail pitches seem to lead back to Trump.
Former President Barack Obama has stepped up his campaigning for Harris in recent weeks, with his remarks almost exclusively about his successor at every stop as he hops from swing state to swing state.
“Just because he acts goofy does not mean his presidency wouldn’t be dangerous,” Obama said Friday. “I want to explain that in politics a good rule of thumb is, don’t say you want to do anything like Hitler. … But it is useful because it gives us a window into how Donald Trump thinks.” Curiously, as Obama delivers his Trump lines, he does so with a repeated chuckle or laugh that can slightly water down his message, like too much ice in a glass of bourbon.
‘I have to pick up my son’
Harris also cannot escape the cloud that is Trump.
The vice president, during a Sunday rally in Philadelphia, told attendees no one person under the American system should possess outsize power — a veiled swipe at Trump’s talk of having “extreme power” if he wins. Instead, she said to cheers, “the power is with the people.”
After she opened a gaggle with reporters Friday talking about reproductive rights, she soon turned to the 45th president, who makes it hard for foes’ messages to break through.
“He really belittles our country. This is someone who is a former president of the United States who has a bully pulpit, and this is how he uses it to tell the rest of the world that somehow the United States of America is … trash,” she said. “And I think, again, the president of the United States should be someone who elevates discourse and talks about the best of who we are and invests in the best of who we are — not someone like Donald Trump, who is constantly demeaning and belittling who the American people are.”
Former first lady Michelle Obama, deployed as Democrats’ closer, delivered a passionate speech Sunday in Kalamazoo, Mich., with much of it focused on Trump.
But with polls deadlocked, Democrats have been reminded that tens of millions of voters appear to at least somewhat agree with Trump’s bleak assessment of the United States.
In Houston on Friday, a reporter asked Harris whether “you’ve pivoted too far away from talking about the economy and really prioritizing that in these final days of the election?”
She responded, in part: “When I am elected president of the United States, my priority includes fighting for our democracy, including fighting for the freedom of people to make decisions about their own body, including what we must do to speak out against threats to our democracy, what we must do to speak up in defense of our allies around the world.”
Even with that answer, the last few points were thinly veiled retorts to the Republican standard-bearer and his views.
Back here on Monday, a young woman in a Philadelphia Flyers pullover who declined to give her name said she wasn’t all that excited to vote this year, adding that she plans to cast a ballot on Election Day. She said she had made up her mind but did not want her choice in print.
When asked about her views of Harris’ and Trump’s policy proposals, the woman glanced at her Apple Watch and replied, “I have to pick up my son from the bus.”
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