American voters are fractured politically and culturally ahead of Election Day, and they are anxious about where their country is heading â on , abortion, immigration, crime, and much more.
They also sense something more fundamental at stake at a time of rising mistrust of institutions and each other: the
Some Americans remain hopeful, but a with more than two dozen Democratic, Republican and unaffiliated voters before Tuesday's midterm elections â the first since followers of former President Donald Trump
These midterm elections are also the first since the Supreme Court took away a womanâs constitutional right to leaving the matter to states.
âThis election is hugely consequential,â said Edward Foley, a professor at Ohio State University who directs its election-law program. âItâs a question of where our democracy is and how we are doing with our collective self-governance.â
Midterms are always important because a of the House or Senate can stunt the plans of a sitting president. Control of Congress could also affect various investigations into Trump, including
Dozens of statewide ; some running for positions that validate elections have refused to say if they will certify the 2024 results. And there are against this yearâs election.
The United States has stood at the precipice before. Not long after Abraham Lincoln's election in 1860, 11 states withdrew from the nation and the Civil War began.
Ultimately, Foley said, the election turns on a question: âCan we actually build the system and produce accurate, honest outcomes, and will enough people believe them?â
Here is a sampling of what voters had to say about democracy and other issues:
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COLLEGE STUDENT âMOTIVATED TO CHANGE THINGSâ
Brian Montesâ Mexican-born parents told him that America is âa shining city on a hillâ and urged him to take his responsibility as a U.S. citizen seriously.
Montes, 21, is majoring in political science at Portland State University, and will vote this election for the second time in his life.
Montes was appalled to see election deniers attempt to overturn President Biden's victory. For him, democracy is on the ballot this November.
âProtecting our democracy truly is ... paramount. We canât really fix climate change, we canât, you know, help the health care system, we canât bring relief to students across this country until we have faith in our democracy,â he said.
Montes, who is gay, also worries that political beliefs are now such a part of personal identity that itâs almost impossible to separate politics from hate.
In the past, someone on the other side of an issue simply had âa different perspective as to why or how we can better our country,â he said. âNow itâs whether or not somebody believes you have a right to be here, whether or not somebody believes you have a right to exist. And that is deeply personal.â
But as the first person in his family to vote, Montes is also optimistic in the long-term.
âOur generation is uniquely motivated to change things, to change the systems of now â because the systems of today are the biggest reason we find ourselves in this position,â he said.
â By AP Writer Gillian Flaccus
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ELECTION IS ABOUT âECONOMY, FIRST AND FOREMOST'
Tony Bergida, a 27-year-old father from the Kansas City, Kansas suburb of Olathe, said pocketbook issues carry more weight for him in this election than abortion, transgender rights or the validity of the 2020 presidential election.
Bergida, the chair of the Kansas Young Republicans, cast his ballot in advance and picked Republican Amanda Adkins over the incumbent, Democratic Rep. Sharice Davids.
Democratic ads have focused on abortion protections but the election is âreally going to be the economy, first and foremost,â said Bergida, who said his grocery bill has soared over the past two years.
âThe cost of living has got to be on everyoneâs minds right now.â
Bergida is also opposed to transgender athletes participating in girlsâ sports, an issue thatâs at play in the Kansas gubernatorial race.
Republicans seeking to keep Democratic incumbent Laura Kelly from a second term have attacked Kelly for vetoing two proposals to ban transgender athletes from girlsâ and womenâs school and college sports.
âItâs not fair, and itâs not safe for that to happen,â said Bergida, the father of a 2-year-old daughter and 4-year-old son and a former quarterback at Grinnell College in Iowa.
âI played sports and know what a locker room is like. Um, yeah, Iâve got a big problem with that.â
â By AP Writer Heather Hollingsworth
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WORRIED ABOUT SOCIAL SECURITY, WEALTH DISPARITY
Cynthia Jones was severely injured at work more than a decade ago and has relied on Social Security disability benefits to help pay bills and hold on to the ranch-style house left by her father.
The Atlanta native sees a country split between haves and have nots. She doesnât have health insurance that could pay for back surgery, but noted that members of Congress get access to health care and a pension. She worries that if Republicans take over Congress they will cut Social Security. (Republican Sen. Rick Scott of Florida has proposed a plan that would require Congress to adequately fund Social Security and Medicare or consider phasing them out.)
âIf youâre poor, you donât matter,â said the 64-year-old Democratic voter, who is pursuing a masterâs degree to be a mental health counselor.
She was also motivated to vote this year by the false claim by Trump and other Republicans that the last presidential election was stolen. She views that lie as an attack on Black and other marginalized voters who cast ballots in large numbers in 2020.
âI feel like theyâre trying to put us back on the plantation,â she said of the Republican Party.
That feeling is particularly hard for her. Her parents faced discrimination and financial hardship but were also able to save money and buy their own homes. She doesnât want the country to backtrack on that progress.
âI donât want to be not counted,â she said. âI donât want to be seen as a third-class citizen. I donât want anybody to feel that way.â
â By AP Writer Sudhin Thanawala
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PUSHING FOR LATINO TURNOUT, GOOD GOVERNANCE
Ron Flores is a Republican retiree in his 70s who lives in a surf-friendly California beach community not far from the mostly Latino city of Santa Ana, where he lived as a child.
The son of a Mexican immigrant, Flores said he always had an interest in history and politics but didnât act on it until more recently and last year formed the group âBASTA!,â which is aimed at encouraging Latinos to vote and promoting mostly â but not solely â politically conservative candidates.
âAre you honest? Are you going to do what we want you to do?â he asked. âI support good governance candidates and sometimes itâs on the left, but most of the time, itâs on my right.â
In California, there are measures on the ballot right now about online gambling and abortion. But Flores said there are bigger issues, like how much it costs to fill his car with gas and the rising price of nearly everything.
âThat impacts me, number one,â said Flores, who said he raised six children and worked in product design and consulting.
For Congress, Flores said heâs fed up with progressivesâ views on social issues so heâs voting for a Republican. But he isnât thrilled about his choice.
âIâm going to go for the best of the worst,â he said, pinching his nose.
â By AP Writer Amy Taxin
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AFTER TRAGEDY, COMBATTING CRIME IS TOP OF MIND
Mary Elledge, 80, raised four children with her high school sweetheart in suburbs of Portland, Oregon. In 1986, her life was upended when her only son, Rob, was brutally murdered in their home.
The registered Democrat has been laser-focused since then on the rights of murder victims and their loved ones.
Now, as homicides spike in Portland, Elledge is choosing the independent candidate in Oregonâs gubernatorial election. She feels Democrats have strayed too far to the left on public safety and it bothers her deeply.
âIt isnât safe to let your children outside without being able to know exactly where they are," said Elledge, who has grandchildren and great-grandchildren. "What kind of a world are we bringing these children into?â
âI believe that being soft on is whatâs caused a lot of this,â she said. âAnyone who wants to defund the police, I wouldn't vote for them if they talk like that.â
Other than public safety, Elledge more neatly toes the Democratic Party line.
She believes in a womanâs right to an abortion and sheâs âappalledâ by former President Donald Trump.
Elledge, who has family members who are Trump supporters, said she struggled after her sonâs murder to avoid descending into hatred and now sees a lesson in her own story for todayâs polarized times.
âYou have to agree not to agree,â Elledge said. âI think in all of this, we have to be careful that we donât become angry with everything.â
â By AP Writer Gillian Flaccus
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TRANSGENDER DRAG PERFORMER FOCUSED ON âRIGHT TO EXISTâ
It took Emma Scott Lavin most of her life to realize who she was, and sheâs no longer willing to hide.
Lavin, a 49-year-old transgender drag performer, waded into a crowd of protesters last month outside a Drag Queen Storytime in Eugene, Oregon.
She failed in her bid to engage with protesters and the incident increased her alarm as the far-right rallies around anti-LGBTQ rhetoric and advances legislative proposals in some states that would ban transgender girls and women from playing on female sports teams, from using female locker rooms or from accessing medical care for their transition.
âMy right to exist is the biggest political issue for me right now," said Lavin, a Democrat. "Itâs on the ballot.â
âThere may be a lot of people who see this and say, âThis person, this person is everything thatâs wrong with America right now,ââ she said, gesturing to her red lipstick, red-and-black dress, stiletto red suede boots and wig.
âBut my response to that is, âIf you already know who and what I am or you think you know, then how can you possibly learn anything from me? ... If you believe that your religion tells you that you know everything and you know what other people are, then your religion is preventing you from learning and growing as a person.â
Lavin believes that Americaâs political system canât survive because there is no longer any middle ground.
âItâs winner take all,â she said. âThere are people in the LGBT community who probably have a more Republican-leaning sense of how the economy could work, but they canât vote Republican because itâs a question of their own existence.â
â By AP Writer Gillian Flaccus
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OPTIMIST IS AGAINST âDEHUMANIZING THE OTHER SIDEâ
The countryâs deep political divisions leave Mark Riegel, a draftsman from Boyertown, Pennsylvania, feeling disappointed.
But the 38-year-old registered Republican considers himself an optimist and believes Americans can rebuild a greater sense of shared purpose.
The key, he says, is to interact more intentionally with others who are different, even as politicians fan polarization.
âWe have to realize that the other side is not the enemy,â said Riegel. âWe seem to be, like, becoming like children, infantilizing the other side, or dehumanizing the other side, or kind of saying that theyâre evil. Certainly, theyâre not evil. We just donât agree with them.â
As Election Day approached, Riegel said he was leaning toward Democrats on the Pennsylvania ballot.
He doesnât believe GOP Senate candidate Dr. Mehmet Oz really cares about his adopted state of Pennsylvania, and he described GOP gubernatorial candidate Doug Mastriano as âpro-life to the extreme,â too far right for his tastes.
Disavowing a politician because of their policy stance is OK. But when it comes to neighbors, a different approach is required.
âYou can just go up and talk to people, face to face, shake their hand,â he said. âDo you care whether or not your cashier at Giant is a Democrat or Republican?â
â By AP Writer Michael Rubinkam
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SOCIAL WORKER LAMENTS âJUST TWO PARTIESâ
Abi Suddarth has always opposed abortion. When she got pregnant in college, she knew she would keep the baby.
That decision dramatically altered her life, but the social worker from Kansas City, Kansas, said that watching her son, now 7, grow up to be âas beautiful as he is, and smart, is the best thing I could have done.â
Opposition to abortion is one of the key values that drive her political views; support for creating a more inclusive society is another.
A naturalized citizen, Suddarth was born in Mexico and is outraged by Trumpâs comments about immigrants. She believes he and his Republican supporters have stoked political divisions in the U.S.
âWhen you become a president, youâre not for one color skin,â she said, tearing up as she described how some of her social work clients complain about her accent. âYou are governing everybody. Even the ones who did not vote for you, you still have a responsibility to them because they are still paying taxes.â
Suddarth â an unaffiliated voter -- hasnât decided yet how she will vote in a congressional race that pits Republican Amanda Adkins against the Democratic incumbent, Sharice Davids.
Suddarth often feels divided like this, she said.
âWe need more than just two parties,â she said. âThere is some elections (where) ⊠you are like, âOK, so I have to make a choice and I have to vote. So which one is going to harm me the least?ââ she added.
âBecause itâs not even who is going to benefit me anymore.â
â By AP Writer Heather Hollingsworth
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CONCERNED ABOUT FREE SPEECH, FAIR ELECTIONS
Jennifer Quade believes it is possible that âshenanigansâ during the 2020 election helped President Biden defeat Trump, and she resents being labeled an âelection denierâ just for saying so.
âWhen you have a free society where people are free to have an exchange of ideas, that is a free society, that is a Republic, that is what our country is supposed to be,â said Quade, a 52-year-old Republican voter in Queen Anneâs County, Maryland.
Federal and state election officials and Trumpâs own attorney general have said there is no credible evidence the election was tainted. The former presidentâs allegations of fraud were also roundly rejected by courts, including by judges Trump appointed.
To Quade, a former nurse who now works in sales, it feels like big tech and media companies are working to silence, or at least marginalize, conservative voices.
Her idea for restoring everybodyâs faith in Americaâs elections is to require a Republican and Democrat at every polling station âso they balance each other out.â
Aside from election integrity, Quade said some of the issues that matter most to her are reducing illegal immigration and the illegal drug trade.
The country, she said is âbeing destroyed from within.â
â By AP Writer Gary Fields
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RETIRED ENGINEER CONTRASTS U.S. AND CHINA
As a naturalized U.S. citizen, Jerry Cheng doesnât mind the rough-and-tumble of American politics. The retired mechanical engineer cherishes his ability to participate in democracy -â and especially his freedom to criticize politicians.
Those are things Cheng didnât have in China, where he was born and spent most of his life before settling in Philadelphia for good three years ago.
âBecause of the whole one-party dictatorship in China, one-party rule, you have nothing, you have no right to say âno.â Always âyes, yes, yes,'â said Cheng, 66. âHere .. you have more choice.â
Cheng, a registered Democrat, acknowledged that deep political divisions are roiling his adopted country. But he said that is âpart of the cost of democracy.â
âTo criticize the government is necessary. Because the government always has the privileges,â he said.
Cheng doesnât just talk about democracy, he lives it. He became involved in Asian American civic engagement for the first time this election. He educates people â- many of them older and native Chinese speakers -â about voting, how government works, and issues impacting the community.
âNothingâs perfect, including the American system,â he said. âBut compared to one-party dictatorship, itâs much better. At least it gives people some chance to do business, to campaign for a political position.â
â By AP Writer Michael Rubinkam
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Fields reported from Kent County, Maryland; Flaccus from Portland, Oregon; Rubinkam from Boyertown, Pennsylvania; Hollingsworth from Olathe, Kansas; Thanawala from Atlanta; Taxin from Santa Ana, California.
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Associated Press coverage of democracy receives support from the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for all content.
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Follow APâs coverage of the elections at: https://apnews.com/hub/2022-midterm-elections
Check out https://apnews.com/hub/explaining-the-elections to learn more about the issues and factors at play in the 2022 midterm elections.
Gary Fields, Gillian Flaccus And Michael Rubinkam, The Associated Press
