Bucky Badger | Photo by James Gould
With early voting underway and only six days until Election Day, on the streets around the State Capitol and on the University of Wisconsin-Madison campus, we asked people who they want to become the next president of the United States and what are the issues that matter to them.
Wisconsin is one of the key swing states that could determine whether former President Donald Trump returns to the White House or Kamala Harris makes history to become the first woman to hold that office.
At one end of the iconic State Street is the Capitol and at the other lies the UW-Madison campus, home to nearly 50,000 students.
On your way down State Street, you can see shop windows with posters of Kamala Harris while around the Capitol on Monday a “Japan supports Trump” demonstration carried Trump flags.
At the Farmers Market on Saturday there were campaign tables set up with leaflets and flags. The election is hard to escape.
In a series of vox populi interviews, voters who gave only their first names spoke with reporter James Gould.
Jim, a middle-aged man who stopped to talk, said he was voting for “Trump, definitely.”
Asked why, he said former President Donald Trump “has proven he can do the job” and is “hands down” a more capable candidate than Kamala Harris.
The main issues in this election for Jim are the “economy and immigration.”
UW student Zoe said her top concerns as she casts her vote will be “abortion rights, women’s rights and housing.”
She said women anywhere in the United States should have the “ability to get our help.”
Zoe said it is “truly difficult” for anyone in the “middle class to get affordable housing and live comfortably,” adding that Madison “has recently got so expensive.”
With all that in mind, she is voting for Kamala Harris.
Backing up that claim about the rising cost of living was another UW student, Austin. He added that anyone “working in the middle-class” is having a really hard time. Austin said he believes that “Kamala Harris has a plan to fix it” and doesn’t think Donald Trump has.
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