United Mates: Will a town in Biden’s backyard support Harris or turn to Trump?
The people of Perth, Delaware, know Joe Biden better than just about anyone — yet they are glad he is no longer pursuing a second term. Watch the video to see who they’ll vote for now.
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The people of Perth know Joe Biden better than just about anyone. And yet even in this tree-lined neighbourhood on the outskirts of Wilmington, the President’s hometown in Delaware, they are glad the 81-year-old is no longer pursuing a second term.
They are going to miss him running the country, at least except for his presidential motorcade that wreaks havoc on his regular trips home from the White House.
But these loyal Democrats – who outnumber supporters of Donald Trump in their community two to one – know Kamala Harris is their best chance of winning November’s US election and avoiding an alternative they cannot bear to consider: the return of the former president.
Retired mechanic Ron Searcy says a Trump victory “would change my faith in my country, that over half the people in the United States see this jerk, this conman as a good president”.
Cafe owner Colin Dyckman would be “crestfallen for democracy”. Aniyah Anderson, a young Black woman working two jobs to make ends meet, would “feel like I don’t have a president”.
As for planning expert and self-proclaimed “screaming bloody liberal” Bill Cohen, he says of the prospect of the Republican returning to power: “Can I emigrate to Australia?”
Unlike voters in and around Western Australia’s Perth, who played a decisive role in electing a Labor government at the last federal election, those in Delaware will have little say in the outcome of the US election. The closest they will come to the action is the Vice President’s visits to her campaign headquarters in Wilmington, which she inherited from Mr Biden.
Nevertheless, their enthusiasm for her candidacy – despite their attachment to the President – is a telling demonstration of how the race has been up-ended.
Tina Demnicki has been a “big fan” of Mr Biden since she was in high school, when the senator backed her push to regulate what a chemical company was dumping in a local river.
“I wish he was energetic and young,” she says while at a dog park with her pooch Emma.
“But I think some young blood is a good idea … I’m happy that at least we have a good person to run for the Democratic Party, because literally I would be pleased if anyone other than Trump wins.”
At a nearby shopping centre, Ms Anderson is similarly enthused.
“I want to vote for Kamala because she’s going to be the first black woman to be the president,” she says, “and I feel like that’s just really big and really important.”
Mr Dyckman, chatting at the cafe he opened last year, says he was initially “very disappointed” to see Mr Biden drop out. But he is now “all on board” for Ms Harris too.
“There may have been a collective exhale, at least in the circles of people I know,” he says.
Mr Cohen, who was classmates with Mr Biden at the University of Delaware, says he was worried when he refused to walk away after his disastrous debate against Mr Trump.
“Things were neck-and-neck and it looked like Trump was pulling ahead,” he says.
But he is now confident Harris and her vice presidential pick Tim Walz – a choice Mr Cohen calls “a masterstroke” – are now going to “run away with this thing”, helped by their momentum pushing Mr Trump to “be more irrational and do nutty and crazy things”.
This has already become a problem for the Republican campaign, with Mr Trump reportedly “struggling to get past his anger” and adapt his message for his new opponent.
Navy veteran Ed Abelon plans to vote for Mr Trump, saying he wants to replay his previous four-year term when “the economy was pretty good, we weren’t at war with anybody”.
But he adds: “I don’t care about all the rhetoric and name-calling … that’s got to stop.”
Mr Trump’s behaviour has also sparked doubt for Tracey Greenleaf, who is shopping with her daughter Mackenzie. While she voted for him in 2020, she is now tossing up whether to back independent candidate Robert F. Kennedy instead.
“I like Donald Trump, but I mean, him saying it’s going to be basically the last election kind of worries me,” she says.
His promise to give police officers immunity from prosecution is also “scary” for Ms Greenleaf, who is black. But she will not consider voting for Ms Harris – who would be the first female black president, born to Jamaican and Indian parents – because she agrees with Mr Trump’s claim that she puts on a “facade … as if she’s African-American”.
“She’s trying to sway black Americans in this country, which I don’t appreciate,” she says.
For most voters in and around Perth, Ms Harris’s choice of the Minnesota Governor as her running mate has had little impact. Ms Demnicki, a lifelong Democrat, says she “knows very little” about Mr Walz. Ms Anderson admits: “I don’t even know his name.”
Mr Dyckman is impressed with Mr Walz – but not by his viral attack on Mr Trump as “weird” that propelled him on to the Democratic ticket and transformed the party’s tactics.
“Let’s be adults. ‘Weird’ is done, it’s had its day … We’re better than that,” he says.
Mr Searcy, who also served in the navy, is far more happy to be blunt. He calls Mr Trump “an ignorant son of a bitch” and “a pimple on the arse of democracy.”
Mr Searcy cannot understand “what Republicans see in him,” adding that politics has cost him friendships. He explains how a man he had known since high school “went berserk” when he bought a Tesla, apparently because of Mr Trump’s opposition to electric vehicles.
Asked if he thinks America’s bitter political divisions can be healed, Mr Searcy pauses for a long time and then says: “I really don’t know.”
Walking his dogs nearby, Mr Abelon speaks more respectfully about Mr Biden, even if the Republican questions what he has delivered for Delaware. He acknowledges Mr Trump is not perfect but he thinks the concerns about his return are overblown.
“I have friends who are Democrats but we all get along,” Mr Abelon says.
“People just have to be open-minded and pick who they want.”
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