Foto: Chloe Kelly
När jag lyssnar på poddar eller läser om valet i USA får jag ofta bilden av att det är de välutbildade, “smarta” amerikanerna som röstar på demokraterna, medan jag upplever att de republikanska väljarna ofta målas som galna Trump-supporters som inte har någon koll. Men vilka är egentligen de andra, för inte kan väl hälften av USA:s väljare vara som de som visas i klippen med Jordan Klepper på Youtube? Jag hörde av mig till min kompis Chloe Kelly, som jag lärde känna när jag var utbytesstudent i Texas under gymnasiet. Chloe är 21 år gammal och gör sitt fjärde och sista år på Baylor University i Waco i Texas. Förutom sina studier i Professional Selling and Human Resources Management är hon ansvarig för rekryteringen i Tri Delta Sorority. Precis som jag är Chloe en ung kvinna med stort intresse för politik och aktuella händelser, men med två olika kulturella bakgrunder har vi helt olika åsikter. Därför ville jag höra vad hon, som amerikansk förstagångsväljare, hade att säga om valet i november.
Who are you voting for in the election of 2024?
- I’m voting for Trump.
Which questions/topics are most important to you in this election?
- There’s a lot! A big thing is the economy, both nationwide and global. Looking at the numbers from when Trump was president to how it is right now. Whether it’s about the gas prizes or wanting to own a home in ten years. Another thing that I really care about, that other young people might not, is health and diet in America. The food on our shelves has so many chemicals, preservatives, food dye and more. Most of the food in our grocery stores today is banned in Europe and basically everywhere else. I try to eat healthy but not every american has that option. What I care about is having people in office that care about what food we put on our shelves and that it’s not killing us, which it kind of is right now. Voting for Trump, is not about Trump but about his political party as a whole and there are people in his party that care about these things, which there aren’t really [in the democratic party]. Another thing is political rest and war. Looking at it it’s been worse with the Biden administration than Trump.
Looking at the economy, there has obviously been a world wide inflation wave, what economic policies were better from the Trump administration?
- One thing that Trump really has going for him, is that he’s been in the business world, so he knows the business world. You can really tell the difference between when Trump was president and now. Yes, obviously the inflation and other factors but there are things that are controllable, like the gas industry. Another big thing for me is that I’d like to buy a house right now and looking at the house prices, only 10% of our generation will be able to own a home. There are policies that the Trump administration want to put in, in order to lower the elevating house prices. These are the two things I look most at because they affect me.
Looking at policies, how does Biden in office differ from Trump?
- Generally, I think Biden has more of a “hands off-approach”. And things like, the hurricane (Helene) in North Carolina last week. Hundreds of thousands of people lost their homes and are left without food and necessities. Biden has done nothing and Kamala posted pictures from the beach in Florida, whereas Trump immediately went there to go help. Same on a global perspective; in his time in office, Trump made a huge effort to meet other world leaders, versus, we haven’t really seen that of Biden. He doesn’t even know the name of people.
What is your opinion on the overall political situation in the US? The polarization? The media and their roll?
- I think being in Waco, Texas, is kind of a bubble. I’d say about 60% are Trump voters, so I’m in the majority. Being in New York would be different, probably a flipped 90-10 situation. Overall, in America, it’s very divided and I think we all can see that. I have so many friends that have different standpoints and I think it’s important to come in with an open mind, but as humans, we are all like “I believe what’s right, and you cannot disagree with me and also be right” and that’s the thought process. People get political quickly and draw the conclusion that if your opinions differ from mine you’re obviously a terrible person, and that comes from both sides. I don’t that be the way to approach a conversation, but looking at the debates, our candidates are not even listening to each other, so if they can’t, how could the people do it?
Talking about media, what are your main sources of information? What news channels do you follow? Are there ones that you don’t trust? Why?
- I don’t fully trust any media. I look att CNN, New York Times, Wall Street Journal, more for the business perspective, and Fox. My professor suggested Morning Brew, that’s supposed to be more of an unbiased source, which I will look into. As a christian, I feel like I need to do a good research in order to make an impact. I look at the same news from different perspectives and try to get an overall understanding. My goal is to look at all sources of output, not to let your “truth” come from only one side
Would you say that the media have become so politized that it’s hard to get an overall picture, when they’re showing two completely different perspectives?
- When I read stories, I think I agree with Fox more overall, but if Fox would be my only source of information then there would be gaps. Although there might be some different political angles, the same stories from different media houses will usually be pretty similar. There are things that Fox say that I disagree with as well, where I agree with other sides instead. And you sometimes see different types of articles, like the left side cares more about things like food stamps, people that are struggling, whereas the right cares more about the business world, so in order to get both sides you have to look into different media.
What are your thoughts of Trump? Do you feel like he’s an eligible representative of the republican party? Do you feel like he represents you? Why? Otherwise, do you have another eligible candidate you would rather have to represent you and your standings?
- I’m not the biggest fan of Trump, at all, he’s misogynistic, rude, and just not a nice person. It’s more about other people he’ll put in office that I care about. And he’s not a good representation of me at all. I think he’s a great business person, I don’t think he has a strong character and there are definitely some shady things that he’s done. I think, if you’re in leadership at all, where it’s on a football team or the president of the United States, you are called to a higher standard, to lead the people you are in charge of. Has Trump taken his lead to a higher standard? I would say no. But there are policies and people he will put into place that I stand behind. It all comes back to the people. If I could put the people I like in place, I’d like Robert F Kennedy Jr to be president. I really like his policies, he has a big heart. Like me, he cares a lot about the health of Americans and the takes a very analytical point of why 70% of Americans is obese. This is a problem that no one has said anything about and then RFK comes and brings it up to the tables. When he said that he was endorsing Trump, that’s when I decided to vote for him. If he can be put in office by Trump, then Trump has my vote.
If RFK was still running for presidency himself, then would you have voted for him instead?
- That’s tricky. Sadly, what that does, and that is probably why he switched, is that when you have an independent candidate then that polls votes. Since RFK had more of the right’s policies, he’s gonna poll more voters from the right, which would have given Harris a benefit. I would probably still have voted for Trump for that reason. For him to win as an independent is pretty much impossible because he would have to draw so many voters from both sides.
What is the biggest (political) issue in your country right now? What, do you believe, is the best solution?
- I don’t believe many people would say “health and diet”, but to me it is. It affects everyone and everything. It’s a much bigger issue that just saying “we need to eat healthier”. It’s crazy how our life expectancy has gone down, autism rates have gone up, even so much compared to other countries. The chemicals we put in our bodies affect all aspects, not just weight. It’s so much more than food too. Take birth control for a fact. If I, as a woman, has any problem ever, they’ll put me on birth control as a bandaid. They sign you up for the pill instead of searching the roots of the problem and coming up with a solution. It’s easier for a doctor to have more patients one day instead of have a few where they try to actually find the problem. And there isn’t a fast solution, like there isn’t something we can do that will, you know, take six months and then we’ll be good. We need to work top-down, having the government put restrictions on the chemicals that are put in our food and have alternatives for them and also ban many of them. There are people that are smart and care about these, and we need to put them in office, like RFK Jr, who has concrete policies to put in in order to change this industry. Going back to the farms and put regulations on what preservatives they can use. That’s a like a starting process but it will take years.
What role does America play in the global politics? Do you feel as the picture of USA as the leader of the West world is (still) applicable?
- I mean, yes, because USA has so many alliances with so many countries. I think the United States will always be, because all of the fundings and help we give to other countries, like Israel, that we help in the conflict right now. I can’t imagine that that will ever change. I’ll go back to business, it’s all like a big business play and we’re such a big player. We outsource a lot too, but there’s no way we could operate as the United States alone, like we have to have alliances. We can’t just back out of all of it. Although, my opinion is that we should have a bit more of a “hands off” approach, because of all the agreements we already have in place. Take Russia for example, if they were to go after any country that we care about, we’d have to get involved. Regardless of my personal opinion, we’ve put ourselves in a position as a west world leader and I can’t imagine us not having that.
What role SHOULD America have in global politics? Consider the World Trade Organization, the World Trace Organization, UN; Paris Agreement etc. That Trump partly or fully withdrew from during his presidency?
- I think we should have more of a “hand off” approach, because I think the US can overstep our place really. It wouldn’t really affect us, as the US power would maintain through global alliances. When it comes to global warming, I honestly don’t know, and maybe I haven’t done enough research, but I just don’t know enough about it. Maybe it’s because I live in Texas, and the weather is always hot, so it doesn’t really affect me.
Intervjurarens egna inflik: I would say it affects you too. There has been a visual increase of extreme weather in Texas. For example, it never used to snow in Austin but now there is some every year, and the hurricane you talked about, that’s a way of being affected too. Don’t you talk about that?
- No, we don’t. I feel like no side talks about it that much. When you get to the left or the right, they talk about the economy, or war or body choices. I rarely hear anything about global warming, to be honest. Even reading the New York Times, I mean, you’ll see a headlight once in a while but it’s usually vague, like “global warming’s an issue” but that’s it. Maybe that’s something that we need to grow in, because I don’t really know much…
If Kamala Harris was declared the new president of the United States after the elections this November, what would your standing be? Are you going to trust the election outcome?
- I would be really sad and scared for the next four years. Obviously, every four years, whatever side that looses, they’re gonna be upset. But it won’t be that dramatic. I’ll be really concerned for our economy and our nation as a whole, like, a global perspective too. If Harris was put in office, what would she even do? Everytime you watch an interview with her, rarely does she have a well-thought answer. She’s asked a questions but she just moves on without ever answering. What even is her policies, like, where does she stand? What has she done in the past four years? I have friends that are on the left side that are not a fan of Kamala because they don’t know what she’s doing. But our country will be fine, it won’t be as amazing as I would want it to be but. Our country is not doing amazing right now but I’m still alive. I’d be upset but at the end om the day, I trust the lord and that he has protection over my life, regardless of what happens in this election.
We hear kind of a different side, you know with the storming of the Capital last election and you know, conspiratorists… Do you see these people too?
- These aren’t really people that I’m rubbing shoulders with… I definitely hear about it, you know “this election was rigged” or “the election was stolen” and whatever, and who knows, but there isn’t any data, statistics or facts backing it, and so like, I haven’t had a reason to trust that.
I’m just asking because I feel like this is the only type of republicans that we ever see…
- Which is funny because I’d say that’s definitely not the majority. What you see in the media, about people storming the capital and stuff, that’s like, what? Like, maybe around 5000 people but it would it’s such a small amount compared to the United States population, and the Republican Party, as a whole. There are probably people on Harris’ side that are capable of the same thing.
Panorama är en politiskt och religiöst obunden studenttidning och de eventuella åsikter som uttrycks är skribentens egna
Elsa Holmén, Skribent
