“You can draw a line below the middle,” said Ed Pexton, a cigar shop owner who supports Trump but not many people know. “There are haters and there are lovers.”
Two months before election day, tensions between those two camps came alive in conversations with more than two dozen voters on the outskirts of Columbus, where people are weighing Trump’s message of law and order with Biden’s pitch for calm, competent leadership.
The President has also contributed to a very volatile environment for the final chapter of the campaign in major swing states across the country, along with ethnic unrest across the country by handling the coronavirus crisis and its economic collapse.
Four years ago, Trump won Ohio by a percentage point. Since then, Democrats have gained significant advantage in some local races here, especially in suburbs across the state, as Republicans have increased their position on rural areas.
The November election is emerging as a crucial test of whether Ohio can still win the Democratic presidential nomination or whether Barack Obama’s victories in 2008 and 2012 are a memorable memory for the party.
The degree to which Ohio develops as a high-level battlefield will be answered next week. But Trump’s investment of સુરક્ષિત 18 million in TV advertising spending this month, and Biden’s inclusion of Ohio in the 45 45 million blitz this week, suggests how the fall landscape gives the president’s team little room for error.
While the Trump campaign is allocating time and resources to New Hampshire and Minnesota – the president said he lost easily in 2016 – the focus will be more on Trump-winning defense states, including North Carolina, Florida, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, Michigan and Arizona. Significantly falling behind in any one of these states, his advisers believe, could also have a cascading effect that would be difficult to overcome.
War in the suburbs
While Ohio was on the ticket with Obama, Biden will be a leading case study on whether Democrats can expand the voter map for those who enjoy it.
Trump’s racial allegation suggests that electing Biden will “completely destroy the beautiful suburbs”, a claim given without evidence, has become an inspiring factor for some Democratic voters here and in some of America’s suburbs.
Intense sections over the last few days have been on vivid display, with some “Black Lives Matter” signs below the “All Lives Matter” sign. Trump flags were flown on the same streets, with front yards lined with biden signs.
Angie Jenkins, who was elected last year as president of Reynoldsburg’s first Black City Council from a community outside of Columbus, said: “But people know what we’ve had for the last four years and what it’s like as president.”
Jenkins believes that as a divisive counselor in the Trump era, she and two other black women participated in their city council race. He said many suburbs are so diverse communities that if Biden is elected he will not heed the President’s warnings about the dire dangers.
“I don’t know what he’s talking about.” “The suburbs are not what they were in the 60s.”
The loss of Hillary Clinton in Ohio rekindled a wave of activism among women here.
Aware of Trump’s victory and outraged by his presidency, more women have been politically equipped by groups like Positive Blue, which began after the 2001 election in a suburban neighborhood by a small group of Stephanie Pizer and friends, traditionally swaying Republicans. Is.
She said Trump’s rhetoric about aliens is akin to a “scare tactic.”
“She’s desperate and is trying anything to get suburban women to vote for her,” Payser said. “We’ve increased our group from three to 100 – these are suburban women who are against Trump. These women weren’t involved in politics before Trump was elected, so they’ve set fire to get involved.”
Yet he also knows plenty of people supporting the president – signs of Trump Yard are on his block – so he can watch fiercely competitive races every day, unlike some Democrats who may or may not know Trump voters.
“I have a number of women who have told me, ‘I hate Trump, I hate what I say, I hate his tweets, but I don’t want to live in a socialist country,'” Payser, recalling a general critic. He listens to the Democratic Party. “We’re not going to convert any of Trump’s supporters, but we can find people who are on the fence, independents and Republicans, who are fed up with the country being run.”
G.O.P. After the convention, where Republicans want to identify Biden and the Democratic Party as radicals, one Trump supporter after another expressed great concern during the conversation. Some Republican voters said they saw Biden as a party placeholder with an agenda they considered extreme.
“The Democratic Party is not what it used to be,” said Gina Hefner, who stopped talking to the party this afternoon. “I think it’s very generous and I think it’s scary. I think this is a very socialist idea. I think our country will be put in great danger.”
She also believes Trump deserves to win re-election based on his record from his first term, saying: “I don’t think you can question what you’ve done for the country. I think it’s been extraordinary.”
She and other Trump supporters were also absent and echoed the president’s attack on the mail-in ballot. He said he feared the election could be rigged, a suggestion local election officials said was not easy.
Testing history
Anthony Sadeye, deputy director of the Delaware County Board of Elections, said absentee ballot requests have already increased dramatically. All registered voters in Ohio will receive absent ballot request forms, which they can send and ask if the ballot will be sent to them. People can vote in person during the 30 days of early voting or even on election day.
“People should vote even if they feel comfortable,” he said. “Your vote is safe. It’s always safe in Delaware County.”
In modern times no Republican has reached the White House without winning Ohio. And the last Democrat to win the presidency without carrying Ohio is John F. Kennedy.
Both of those historical issues will be tested in November.
The biggest change of 2016 – in Ohio and across the country – has served as an inspiring factor in how Trump’s last four years as president. That spirit was rekindled by conversations with almost every voter here regardless of how they view the president here.
John Murphy, an ironworker, admits that in the field of Democratic candidates, Biden is not the first choice among them. But he said that because of Trump – they would vote for him enthusiastically.
“We’re not voting for Biden, we’re voting against Trump,” Murphy said, pausing to speak for a moment after buying a cigar at a pro-Trump shop owned by a pro-Trump. “I can’t see Trump there anymore. And I think J will do a better job.”
.
