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Voter Interviews: Plebes Primed to Pick President
by INDEPENDENT STAFF
October 2004
If you follow the polls, public opinion sometimes seems to follow a rollercoaster of opinion that soars and dips with every news cycle. But really, when a hundred million people join together to make a decision they'll have to live with for the next four years, the process is a slow and incremental one. Carefully following its course through a few individuals can reveal as much if not more than repeating the same scripted telephone conversation with thousands of randomly selected strangers.
Over the course of the last month, we interviewed voters from all walks of life about their feelings on the presidential race, everyone from lawyers and politicians to students and laborers. We wanted to know how people felt about the last four years of the Bush administration, whether they planned to vote differently than they did in 2000, and what issues and events did the most to change their minds or shore up their convictions. While we didn't walk away with any hard predictions on how America is likely to vote, we learned a great deal about how the candidates are faring in the terrain of individual judgment. Here's what we heard, in the voters' own words:
DARNELL CHILES, 41, will vote for the first time in November. Formerly homeless, he currently works two jobs, one as a janitor and one at Suburban Station.
After forty-one years of not voting, I registered to vote this year. I'm going to vote for Kerry. Anybody but Bush. I finally registered because I'd like to see an immediate change. Four more years of Bush would mean chaos. It would cause a lot more damage. Enough is enough. There's a lot of poverty and homeless people here in Philadelphia. And it didn't happen overnight. There's a lot of addiction. I'm an addict in recovery. The crises in my life never went away and I just kept reaching for it to self-medicate. And now they [the Bush administration] are cutting funding for rehabilitation. Those are the issues I'm voting on: rehabilitation and homelessness. You work a forty hour week, but after taxes, transit pass, something to eat—God forbid you have to pay rent—your pay's all gone. I really believe that more people will vote this time. President after president has come to the NAACP Convention. But this year, Bush didn't show. It was a slap in the face to the black community. He can go all over the country for the high rollers. His base is the rich—he gave a speech and said that. “This is my foundation,” he said. It was a joke, but it's true. I think the election is gonna be pretty close, but it's gonna be clear. This time, either you win or you lose.
WALTERS, 48, is a lifelong Republican and president of the Germantown Republican Club. He was to be the Pennsylvania Republican Committee's first openly gay delegate at the Republican National Convention, until he resigned his seat.
In 2000, Bush led me to believe he was going to much less conservative than he's been. But almost from day one, I haven't seen him do anything to live up to what he said he stood for. His whole administration has been a train wreck. Other than the tax cuts and cleaning up Afghanistan, I don't think he's done anything right.
I don't know if he would govern a second term as more of a moderate because he's no longer beholden to the religious right, or if he would be even more conservative than he's been because he wouldn't have to stand for reelection. If he decided to govern even more conservatively, I think it would mean more blurring of the line separating church and state. And cities like Philadelphia who didn't support him, that have large numbers of African Americans and other minorities, may find that he treats them punitively.
I think Kerry would probably make government bigger and he'll raise taxes. I'm against both of those things, but I guess I'm willing to stomach them in return for straightening out the other problems. I honestly cannot come up with any reasons to vote for Bush. And all the people who are still supporting him can't give you a good reason, either; they just talk to you about terrorism and security.
ERIC SANTORO, 31, has practiced intellectual and copyright law at Ballard, Spahr, Andrew & Ingersoll, LLP, since 1999.
When I was 18 years old, I registered Republican. That was in the 1980s, when elections were much more about economic, not social issues. But I vote for the candidate, not the party. In the 2000 Presidential election, I voted for Bush, but I voted less for Bush than against Gore. This November, I'm planning to vote for the Libertarian candidate, Michael Badnarik. I've never voted for a third party candidate for president before.
I won't vote for Bush again for two reasons: one, whether you agree with the war or not, he's messed up every stage of it—allies, P.R., intelligence, peacekeeping. Objectively, he did a bad job of it. And the other thing is that I'm very offended by his proposal to introduce a Constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage. I wouldn't vote for someone who banned gay marriage. I won't vote for Kerry because he's put forth no agenda. I have no reason to vote for him. Besides, Kerry plays race and class cards. Take a family of two people who each make $100,000 a year. They went to grad school; they had seventeen years of education. They work seventy hours a week and give forty percent of their salary to the government. To vilify those people, to scapegoat them by saying that the economy is their fault, is totally inappropriate. It's sheer demagoguery. It's offensive.
Both guys are saying the same thing. Bush is smug and arrogant. He led us to war under false pretenses. But Kerry doesn't say where he stands on the war. He doesn't give you anything. I don't think I'd be appreciably happier if either candidate won. I know the Libertarian has no chance of winning. But I'd like to see them get the five percent and grow.
STEVEN GRASSE, 40, founded the advertising agency Gyro Worldwide.
I'm a registered Republican, but I voted for Nader in the last election. This time, I'm voting for Bush. I don't know why I didn't vote for him last time. I think the differences between the two candidates are clearer to me this time. And as a businessman, I've evolved. It's a simple economic choice for me. It's about taxes. It's about me working my ass off and being able to keep more of what I make and turning around and investing it back into my business. I have a very hard time with my political life, because I am aggressively a capitalist. But I'm also an environmentalist. I really hate suburban development and I hate people who live in a house that's younger than two years old. If you drive an SUV or live in a house less than two years old, you're a rapist. And the Democrats obviously care more about the environment; that's the best reason to vote for Kerry.
But I've got kids now, so I worry about the security of our country. And the second thing is, I've got kids now, so I worry about their future financially. And the third thing is, I've got kids now. And I worry about the trial lawyers taking away their business because of ridiculous class action lawsuits. I think we need somebody tough. Kerry's a flip-flopper. Swift Boat Veterans for Truth—well, their ads are true in the same way that MoveOn.org is true. I am a very strong supporter of Ayn Rand, and I am not my brother's keeper. Everyone has to pull their own weight. I don't believe in a country of entitlement.
FRANK RIZZO JR., 62, is a Republican city councilman-at-large who campaigned for George W. Bush in the Italian Market in front of a mural of his father, former mayor Frank Rizzo.
My father was friends with President Bush's father, and the president and I have become very friendly. I met the second President Bush for the first time here in Philadelphia at the Kimmel Center, shortly after he was elected. As soon as he spotted me, he came right off the stage and shook my hand. After our first introduction, there was no having to introduce myself ever again. It's nice to be sitting in the audience when the president throws you a wave or makes eye contact and then afterwards says hello to you personally. It may sound corny, but that makes you feel good. It's exciting.
To win Pennsylvania, President Bush will have to keep Philadelphia's Kerry majority down. I think the president has better qualifications than Senator Kerry, and I think he will hold his own. There is a base of Philadelphians who are supportive of the president, who believe he's the right man for our times. Do I think he made a mistake going into Iraq? I don't like us to go in anywhere, but I'm not one to second-guess the president. I think it's unfortunate, but I think he made a decision that had to happen. I don't believe the story that he was trying to get even because of his dad. If I believed this president had intentionally misled Americans about the rationale for going into Iraq, I'd be the first to disavow him. But I don't think he intentionally deceived us. The intelligence was flawed, and it's sad to think the CIA was providing the president and the U.N. with flawed information. I believe that he believed there were weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. Now, it turns out there weren't, but I do believe Saddam Hussein had the ability to obtain weapons of mass destruction. It upsets me terribly when I think of the loss of life, the loss of our troops and allies especially, and the loss of young Iraqis. I'm sad he had to go in, but I don't think he did it without a reason. The fact is, Iraq will be a better place, maybe not this year, maybe not next year, but down the road the country will be stable and on its way to democracy. Once Iraq has a stable government, the rest of the Middle East will see the benefits of democracy, and they'll be easier to convert in years to come.
I believe the president has made Philadelphia a better place. Our airports are safer, not perfect, but safer. We get federal funding to help with law enforcement. The Constitution Center was on his watch, and some of the refinements to Independence Hall. It's important that we have those facilities. I don't think the Patriot Act has gone too far. In my opinion, that makes everybody safer, including immigrants and visitors from around the world. You never want to see anyone abused. But unfortunately when nineteen hijackers were of Arab appearance, if you're going to scrutinize, if you're going to be on your toes, you have to heighten your awareness when it comes to that particular culture. If we do it appropriately and properly, abuse can be kept to a minimum. If the election were tomorrow I'd vote for the president, but things could develop and change over the next few weeks. If I thought this president did anything intentional to mislead the U.S.A., I wouldn't vote for him. If something emerged between now and November that proved he did know, I could certainly change my mind.
DAVID COHEN, 89, is a Democratic city councilman-at-large and Democratic ward leader of the 17th Ward.
I will be supporting Kerry because I believe he's a better man than George Bush and I believe the Democratic Party best represents the interests of the American people. I've been very active in the Democratic Party for many, many years, and I generally think of myself as a Franklin D. Roosevelt Democrat. Roosevelt was the president who introduced the concept that government has to be responsible and to make life better for people. And I think that Bush is trying to do just the reverse. The only people he seems to be concerned about are people of wealth. He gave over a trillion dollars back to rich people in tax breaks, and he did it in order to make it impossible for the government to have the money to serve the needs of the people. He believes in a small government. He wants to have big businesses free—and they can't possibly be—to do whatever they want. And that's the reason it's so important for us to change the administration.
I know most people think that this election is a matter of life and death, and I know many independents fear the day that Bush gets reelected. I don't quite fear it that much, simply because I've lived through so many elections. But this election is more vital than others in one major sense, and that is our involvement with the world. Until Bush came into power, I think America was seen as a beacon of freedom and a place where the government had the kind of aims that the rest of the world felt helped protect them. But I think there's a lot of concern that America is turning into a country that wants to dominate for oil interests, for other business interests. When we talk about global economy, we're talking about an economy that the United States controls. And when we talk about foreign policy, we begin turning to the theory that we have the right to prevent things from happening. And sometimes we imagine things happening that aren't happening, like the weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. So I think the world is reconsidering the United States. People are wondering if we're on the good side or the selfish side. The main problem with the Democratic Party is that it seems to be too much like the Republican Party. But Kerry seems to be a fresh change. In Kerry's language I see the kind of government that F.D.R. fought for.
JASON LEE, 28, is finishing medical school. He specializes in pain management and lives in Center City.
In 2000, I voted for George W. Bush because I'm a Republican. I have a conservative nature and I fit more of the typical Republican profile. But I will not be voting in the 2004 election. I'm unhappy with how the country has been run the past four years and I think there needs to be change, but I don't feel that Kerry and his running mate are the answer. I decided that as soon as I found out that Mr. Edwards was a malpractice lawyer. I'm a doctor, and I can't vote for him. It's a grudge, in a lot of ways.
I don't feel strongly enough that one should win over the other. By not voting, that's what I'm saying: that one isn't better than the other. To the people who say this is the most important election of a lifetime, I just say that you can put a spin on anything.
DEBORAH WILLIAMS, 35, is the Republican leader of the 17th Ward. She is running for the U.S. House of Representatives in the First Congressional District.
I switched from being a Democrat to being a Republican right before November 2000. I wanted to see some changes made and I thought that George Bush might be a better candidate than Al Gore. But my changing parties was mostly motivated by things at the local level, especially at the way that money is managed in this area. It's not necessarily that we need more money; we need to learn how to spend the money we have. Having $250,000 parties at the airport when the streets are dirty doesn't make any sense to me. But hey, who am I?
The national issues that matter to me most are national defense and national security. Health care, too, but health care's always been a problem. I don't see why people are acting like this just happened in the last four years. And Social Security and Medicare, because our deficit is so high. Pork is killing us. And no one party is better than the other. We need to learn how to vote for individuals. I vote for the person, not the party. I've always split my ticket when voting. But Kerry doesn't have a message, and it's almost October. Even I have a message!
I'm willing to give him a chance, but every time I listen to Kerry speak—and this has nothing to do with anything anyone else has said about him flip-flopping—I sit there and say, what are you talking about? You said something different yesterday. He frustrates me. It's kind of scary that so many people are supporting him, and why? Just because you don't like George Bush? Ralph Nader sounds better than John Kerry, so give him your vote if you feel that way. But John Kerry? I just don't get it.
MICHAEL ROSS, 38, owns a small snack food distribution business in Central Jersey and lives off Rittenhouse Square.
I was a registered Democrat, and I switched to the Republican Party after Clinton. I think the glue of the Democratic Party came apart. In 2000, I voted for Bush. But in the last four weeks, I've decided to vote for John Kerry. There wasn't one tipping point. It was a culmination of information—the Richard Clarke testimony, Bob Woodward's book. If you're informed, you understand that the guy didn't do the best job. He didn't do a bad job, but he didn't do the best job. He wasn't a good leader, in my opinion. The Iraq issue is number one, two and three for me. I think that we should have just gone after the people that bombed us. I think he was settling an old score. And I think containment was working. You can't say that Saddam Hussein was worse than the North Korean leader, and certainly not worse than the Iranian leader.
RAYMOND MERCHEN is a member of the cement masons' union, Local 592.
I'm a Democrat, but I vote for the candidate, not down the party line. I voted for Rendell for governor and Michael Stack for congress, and I voted for George W. Bush in 2000 and for Dole and George Bush Sr. I'll be voting for Bush again in 2004. I started getting involved with the Republican Party after 9/11. Now I'm volunteering, working the phones at night, that kind of thing. All the Democrats supported President Bush then, but I didn't like how they started playing politics when we had boys in Afghanistan and Iraq. I couldn't vote for John Kerry because he flip-flopped: he's for the war, he's against it. He voted for it and then didn't want to fund the troops. There are a lot of hypocrites in the Democratic party. Take Kennedy—he killed that girl back in the 1970s. D.U.I.
The war on terror started with the hostages in Iran. Carter couldn't get them back; Reagan did. You know, these Muslims really intend to get rid of us. I really believe in President Bush. We know where we stand with him. We were attacked. We didn't ask for it. Al-Qaeda sees our weakness in how we handled Somalia. They could sneak a nuclear bomb or any biological weapons over here. I'm all for taking the war to them. I was totally turned off during the war when we had soldiers dying and people were against it. Did you see Zell Miller on the Republican convention the other week? You'd have to be blind not to see that he was talking from his heart. People complain about the Patriot Act, but the only ones against it have something to hide. I don't steal, I don't sell drugs. You want to listen to my phone calls? Go ahead. And I don't care about Kerry and Bush's military records. It's over and done with. Vietnam was thirty years ago. And I don't care about the National Guard thing. Let's talk about the issues facing this country today. I can't think of any reason to vote for Kerry. If I could, I'd have Kerry signs in the yard. Now I have six Bush signs out there. This election is going to be the biggest in history. We haven't been attacked since 9/11. George Bush believes—he almost broke down at the convention. The man does not want war. But these attacks have been going on since the 1970s. John Kerry is not the answer.
GREG N., 53, lives in New Jersey. His stepson was a first lieutenant who was killed in Iraq while trying to disarm a bomb.
I've always been a Republican. That's how I was brought up. I've never voted Democrat for anything, but I'm going to vote for Kerry in November. It's because of the war in Iraq. I feel it's an unjust war. We went there to find out about these weapons of mass destruction, but there was no such thing. I think we went there as a bully to overtake Iraq, which is a country that was poor and didn't have anything. I think we also went there for the oil. Right now, we shouldn't be there. We have a lot of troops there, and those troops are being killed for no reason at all.
BOB SMITH, 54, is a registered independent who regularly votes for third-party candidates. He works at the Brandywine Peace Community.
In 2000, I voted for Ralph Nader—not even for Nader, per se, but for the purpose of building a third party and a multi-party system in this country. And I still believe in that, but the priority now is getting rid of the Bush administration and ending the war. I decided to vote Democrat when I realized that Bush would be seeking another term—I'd say reelection, but he wasn't elected to begin with. Bush doesn't have a foreign policy. I think he has virtually no domestic policy. What he has is a notion of empire. And if he is elected to a second term, we'll just see more of the same. My biggest concern during this period is that historically, movements for peace and justice easily get sucked into the electoral process and never leave it. You just can't put all your hopes in the electoral process.
Democracy is not choosing a candidate. It's acting and living freely. I generally think there was more democracy expressed in New York during the RNC protests than there is during an election. And I think it's a lethal notion to believe that democracy only exists every four years or every two years and only exists through voting.
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