“This election is fundamental to the future of our democracy,” said Sam Ruark, a 50-year-old conservationist in the hurricane-struck mountains of North Carolina.
“We don’t need four more years of high inflation, high gas prices, lies,” Darlene Taylor, 56, told AFP in Erie, a bellwether county in Pennsylvania.
“I know he has a tough approach, but I think that tough approach helps the world know that he means what he says, and I think that’s very important,” said Candyce Sandusky, a 66-year-old teacher in Pennsylvania.
“The main issue for me is the sustainability of our democracy,” Ken Thompson, a 66-year-old stonemason in Erie, Pennsylvania, told AFP. “I don’t want an autocrat.”
“I just hope things change with inflation and the job market…but I’m also concerned about bigger questions about the future of the country and where we’re going,” said Whytne Stevens, a 28-year-old urban planner in Atlanta, Georgia.
“There’s obviously a lot at stake for people, and having the first female president would be really cool,” said Marcy Davis, 18, a first-time voter in Bristol, Wisconsin.
