For the last six weeks, I’ve been talking to voters in battleground America about the issues driving this election. My Swing State Debates series has covered the youth vote in Michigan, Jewish voters’ concerns in Pennsylvania, immigration sentiment in Arizona, views on race and racism in Wisconsin, and the education wars in Florida.
But I saved the really juicy stuff for last: Who’s ready to head to Ohio and talk tax policy?
I admit I worried that a debate about economics would lack the dramatic tension of my previous episodes. But in fact, this talk in Ohio—which went for Barack Obama in 2008 and 2012 and Donald Trump in 2016 and 2020—turned into a fascinating discussion about what it takes, and what it means, to live the American dream.
The economy tops Ohio voters’ list of concerns this election—as it has for the nation as a whole since 2004. This is true even though, by some measures, the U.S. economy is thriving. Consumer spending is strong, inflation is slowing, and earlier this year, our gross domestic product appeared to have made a full recovery from the pandemic. And yet, Americans still feel less well off.
Although Ohio is not technically a swing state when it comes to the presidential election—with Trump comfortably in the lead—odds currently favor Democrat Sherrod Brown’s reelection for Senate, and people here hold relatively liberal views on issues like guns, abortion, and climate change.
My panel in Columbus, Ohio, had three Kamala Harris supporters, including married couple Jerica and Jeff, the parents of four children who said they were burdened with $70,000 in student-loan debt. On the other side were two white-collar conservative voters, including Trump voter Julia, who works in consulting.
We also had an actual swing voter: Robin, a divorcée who makes $14 an hour on the receiving dock at a major retail chain. She wasn’t too excited about either candidate. “I don’t think anybody cares about us,” she said.
My other debaters, however, had strong views on the two people vying for the presidency. When asked what she thinks of our vice president, Trump voter Julia replied bluntly: “Communist.”
Jerica, meanwhile, defended Harris, calling her “a capitalist like any other capitalist.” As for Donald Trump? “I see domestic terrorism.”
She also offered a poignant reflection about what success looks like in the richest country on Earth. Even if you do everything “by the book,” she said, the American dream is really an “American nightmare.” Her husband, with whom she operates a small business, agreed, saying it’s “mind-boggling” that “we make the amount of money that we do and we still struggle. . . like being a few paychecks away from bankruptcy.”
Jerica and Jeff didn’t sound so different from Harris voter Alex, a gym teacher who blamed inflation on corporate greed. “Some of our kids. . . haven’t had a meal for two or three days other than at school,” he said, marveling that a CEO “could look at that and then still be like, ‘You know what? I want a third home. Let’s go ahead and raise my prices just a little bit.’ ”
“I don’t know what the solution to greed is,” Julia mused. “Church?”
Jerica responded: “Better policy.”
At the end of our conversation, I asked Robin if either side had won her vote.
She was still undecided.
This series is presented with support from the David Merage Foundation and Evoke Media. For more information, please visit weareevokemedia.com.
As well as hosting Swing State Debates, Ben Kawaller is the host of The Free Press series Ben Meets America! To learn more about that series, click here.
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