In line for Kamala Harris’s closing rally of this US election marketing campaign in Philadelphia on Monday, enthusiasm for the Democratic candidate and acute concern on the attainable return of Donald Trump to the White Home had been palpable.
“I’m cautiously optimistic, however I’m nervous,” mentioned Robin Matthews, a group organizer. “If she doesn’t win, we’re screwed.”
A protracted queue snaked alongside the principle avenue resulting in the Philadelphia Museum of Artwork, outdoors which the vice chairman was on account of tackle a crowd late within the night, simply hours earlier than polls open on Tuesday (5).
Matthews, who lives within the Pennsylvania suburbs that might be so essential in deciding this key swing state in a knife-edge election, mentioned she feared a second Trump presidency. “He’ll break all the things,” she mentioned. “There’s no checks and balances anymore (if he’s reelected).”
Her 16-year-old son Asher intervened to supply what he felt was at stake on this election: “The preservation of our democratic system.”
Beneath the autumn foliage, percussionists set the temper earlier than a rally the place stars reminiscent of Woman Gaga and Oprah Winfrey had been anticipated to attend, and on the foot of the well-known museum steps climbed by Sylvester Stallone in an iconic scene from the movie “Rocky.”
As a protracted marketing campaign involves an finish, marked by extraordinary twists and turns in a rustic that seems extra divided than ever, Yvonne Tinsley, a 35-year-old accounting supervisor, simply “need(s) it to be over.”
She is fed up with political adverts on TV and uninterested in having to elucidate to her associates that Fb and Instagram movies don’t depend as actual information. She doesn’t anticipate any political miracles from Harris, although.
“I perceive that Kamala just isn’t going to vary all the things, however I do know that she’ll no less than be capable to begin this again heading in the right direction,” she mentioned. For her, an excessive amount of is at stake if former president Trump returns to energy.
“I’m a Black girl in America, so sadly, all insurance policies hit me completely different,” she mentioned.
“Each Supreme Court docket resolution or unhealthy Republican coverage, or unhealthy Democratic coverage, I get the quick finish of the stick.”
Robert Rudolf, 58, mentioned Trump had “normalized” racism and misogyny. Sporting a “Harris-Walz” cap and a flannel shirt, he mentioned he comes from a rural Republican-leaning nook of the state, and that it had gotten more durable to speak to neighbors about politics.
“We have now gotten very divided,” he mentioned. “It’s very tough to speak to folks on the opposite aspect.” These tensions are raised even larger by Trump’s false allegations of voter fraud, mentioned 42-year-old Roxana Rahe.
“Trump is already form of foreshadowing like that everyone stole the election from him earlier than the election even occurred,” she sighed.
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