Washington Wednesday: Voters voice concerns

LINDSAY MAST: It’s Wednesday, the 6th of November. Glad to have you along for today’s edition of The World and Everything in It. Good morning, I’m Lindsay Mast.

NICK EICHER: And I’m Nick Eicher. Time now for Washington Wednesday … and here is Carolina Lumetta.

CAROLINA LUMETTA: Yesterday at the polls, voters brought their opinions on the state of the nation … and WORLD’s reporters were there to listen.

LEAH SAVAS: How did you vote in the presidential election this year?

ROB ARTECKI: As quickly as I could.

Voters in battleground states sounded off on the concerns that drove them to the polls.

MIKE LOWRY: border security, the economy, and national defense…

RACHEL POLING: Mostly women's rights, immigrant rights.

BRIAN CAPPIELLO: Oh economy for sure I mean my wife asks me the same question every time she goes grocery shopping she says guess how much groceries were today.

JERRY RAMIREZ: I like her economic plan, that $6,000 child tax credit.

ROBIN WATKINS: The border, getting control over the spending.

MARY BAUGH: The economy and the wars that's going on and the freedom to choose.

Exit polls from national media found that the majority of those who voted echoed campaign messaging. Those for Vice President Kamala Harris cited the “state of democracy” as their top issue. Most of former President Donald Trump’s voters said the economy was their foremost concern…including Stephanie Burkhart in Fulton County, Georgia.

STEPHANIE BURKHART: I have six kids, some of them are now adults, and the next four years are a big part of their lives. So I felt like this was very important.

Georgia voters were divided deeply on partisan lines in rural and urban areas. For many Harris voters, specific policies did not matter so much as a general sense that Trump was a threat and Harris would preserve democracy. Here’s Adam Becker, a voter from Fulton County, Georgia.

ADAM BECKER: I really voted for her because I felt like I had no other choice. I don't dislike her. I can't point to too many things specifically that I think are strong on her side. But I dislike and very much disapprove of so many of Donald Trump's philosophies and what he communicates.

Elsewhere in Fulton County, Mahan Bozinginia said Trump is bad for national politics.

MAHAN BOZINGINIA: I am tired of the anger and division that Trump and the MAGA group are bringing on the country and I don't always agree with Kamala Harris and her policies, but I'm ready to move on from the crazy. I'm just done. I'm tired. 

But Georgia voters in rural areas of the same county said they don’t trust Harris to run the country’s checkbook.

CAMERON DENMAN: Economically I don't feel like we're doing as good as we could have so I definitely want to see some changes on that front. I mean, me being at 27, trying to buy a house, start a family, all that kind of stuff, feels almost near impossible right now.

Republicans also said they want Trump back in the Oval Office to manage U.S. involvement in foreign wars.

In Michigan…

LEAH SAVAS: Who did you vote for, for president this year?

RANDY TATE: Donald J. Trump. Why? Because I'm fresh out of 30,000 SPF sunscreen for the nuclear war that would come if we don't elect him.

Randy Tate is an unaffiliated voter in Kent County…near Grand Rapids.

TATE: I've been watching the current administration, which is difficult to explain who's actually in charge. I would imagine it's the managerial class that's running things and they have done a very poor job and therefore the world does seem like it's on fire.

Voters also said abortion weighed heavily on their minds this year, but that sent support to both Harris and Trump. The former president has said he would not sign a national pro-life law … and Michigan voter Leidy Fournier found that worth supporting.

LEIDY FOURNIER: I feel like his position has shifted and has become a little bit more protective of women's right to an abortion, especially if her life is at stake. So I feel like he was a good compromise of a good in -between place for this election.

Meanwhile, over in Pennsylvania, Harris voter Katlyn Johnson saw the issue differently.

KATLYN JOHNSON: I like having my healthcare not being tampered with. I'm a firm believer in abortion rights and women's rights.

Across the country, voters were mixed on how much trust they put in the final results being accurate results.

Here’s what voters from both parties in Georgia and Pennsylvania told us.

ROBIN WATKINS: I've seen a couple things prior to the election that, you know, I kind of questioned it.

AARON ANDERSON: I do trust the results. - I did not trust the results previously.

LADINA: Hopefully everything goes smoothly. I hope we don't have to wait days before we find out.

MELISSA HUGHES: I'm trying to be confident. Last election made me a little nervous... I'm hoping we can get back to what we used to. Cut and dry. Cut and dry.

And for much of the country, the election was cut and dry…particularly in Georgia, where almost 95 percent of the vote was counted before the race was called early Wednesday morning. In the northwest corner of Pennsylvania, Erie County was of top interest to both campaigns because of how narrowly voters there split between Republicans and Democrats. The county also mirrored presidential wins in 2016 and 2020. Erie County GOP chairman Tom Eddy says even his divided community already favored the former president:

TOM EDDY: I think if he gets elected, I think it's going to be because they're fed up with the last four years and the policies that have been generated over the last four years. That's my gut feeling.

That’s it for Washington Wednesday. Reporting for WORLD, I’m Carolina Lumetta.

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