United Mates: Voters in Brisbane, California rate Donald Trump and Kamala Harris before US election

In Australia’s twin town of Brisbane in California, voters are angry and frustrated about who could be the next President. See why and watch the first video in our election series, United Mates.

It is 100 days until Americans vote in one of the most consequential elections in their history.

And it has already been a campaign like no other. Donald Trump staged a shocking political comeback, was charged and convicted of crimes, and survived an assassin’s bullet. Joe Biden melted down in a debate and had to drop out of the race amid a fierce internal rebellion. Kamala Harris became the Democratic nominee almost overnight.

What do ordinary voters make of all of this? Over the next month, we’re asking them in Brisbane, Melbourne, Hobart, Perth, Adelaide and Sidney.

All of our state capitals have twins somewhere in the US, albeit with an unfortunate typo for Sydney.

They represent a remarkable cross-section of the country: tiny towns and big cities, urban neighbourhoods and regional areas, Democratic strongholds and Republican powerbases, as well as some of the key battlegrounds that will decide this year’s election.

Welcome to United Mates.

Watch the video above.

BRISBANE

The Californian town of Brisbane is not the sort of place Kamala Harris is worrying about in her 100-day sprint to defeat Donald Trump this November.

California is a lock for the Democrats, and that is especially true in Brisbane – or “Brisbain”, as the locals call it. Only one in five voters here supported the Republican in 2020.

The town sits on the city limits of San Francisco, which makes this Harris’s turf. She grew up in the area and became the city’s top prosecutor before moving on to state office, the US Senate and the vice presidency.

Brisbane, a California city shares the same name as Queensland’s capital.

But speaking to Brisbanites in the aftermath of her stunning coronation as the Democratic nominee, the scale of Harris’s challenge quickly becomes evident. For all the hype about her candidacy, even diehard Democrats are not convinced she is the right choice to beat the former president – no matter how desperate they are for her to win.

“I don’t think Kamala Harris is the best person,” researcher Christophe Guilbert says.

Sitting near him at the main street coffee shop, plumber Bill Dettmer is similarly sceptical.

“I don’t know her,” he says with a frown. “My lady friend says she’s not good material, she doesn’t think she’ll win. Ethnicity and female – it probably may not work.”

Christopher Guilbert and Solange Brill chat about politics at a coffee shop in Brisbane, California.

Brisbane’s Barranca Vos has ‘mixed feelings’ about Kamala Harris leading the US.

At the community garden, enthusiastic Democrat Barranca Vos also has “mixed feelings”. The artist and massage therapist points to Harris’s prosecutorial career to explain why.

While conservatives are now trying to paint Harris as a soft-on-crime progressive, it was her hard-nosed record that worked against her among liberals during her short-lived bid for the 2020 presidential nomination. She was derided as “Kamala the cop”, a slogan she is now leaning into, framing the race against Trump as the prosecutor versus the convicted felon.

Ms Vos knows her party needs “a fighter”. But her hesitation remains, as it does for Mr Guilbert, who tells his friend Solange Brill that Harris the prosecutor was “super tough” rather than fair.

Speaking two days after Joe Biden dropped out of the race, Ms Brill says she was “perfectly happy” with “an honest, high integrity, smart grandfather” as the party’s candidate. The semi-retired Silicon Valley worker nonetheless shares what is an almost universal view in Brisbane: the President made the right call.

Realtor and writer Kathy Wall, who is walking her dog Scruffy, says it was “more than time” for the 81 year old to quit after his debate disaster against Trump sparked the internal uprising. Brandon Ahlstrom – who is playing nearby with his 18-month-old son Bruce – was similarly concerned, even though changing candidates so close to the election is “not ideal”.

Mr Guilbert would have preferred a competitive process to choose Biden’s replacement, saying he did not “want to be imposed (with) Kamala Harris”.

Kathy Wall welcomed Joe Biden’s decision to step out of the race to be elected.

Brisbane’s Alfred Ramos will support independent Robert F. Kennedy.

At his handmade leather goods business, Alfred Ramos agrees. He reluctantly voted for Biden against Trump in 2020. This time, he’s supporting independent Robert F. Kennedy.

“They gave us no choice. It was like, shut up and take what we have to give you,” he says.

There are few signs, however, that Harris’s ascension will turn Brisbane’s Democrats into Trump voters.

Mr Brill says he is an insane lunatic. Mr Guilbert calls him a racist and a liar. Mr Dettmer reckons he is despicable. Ms Vos thinks he is mentally ill and is scared the US will “lose our democracy” if he wins.

Ms Wall declares: “I’m almost 70 – he is the scariest human being that I have encountered in the United States of America … I fear that he is going to create a civil war.”

An official ballot box in Brisbane, California.

Down at Brisbane’s marina, retired pilot Frank Schaffer is more diplomatic. He understands Trump’s appeal “to people who are under a lot of stress”, even though he is not comfortable with his lack of honesty. Nevertheless, Mr Schaffer would also be “terrified” if Trump wins, particularly after the Supreme Court recently handed the president sweeping legal immunity.

He cites abortion rights as a key issue – a centrepiece of Harris’s campaign – as he says with an ironic laugh: “I’m an old white male so he’s not going to come after me.”

Kamala Harris grew up in the area and became Brisbane’s top prosecutor. Picture: AFP

Donald Trump speaks during a campaign rally at the Bojangles Coliseum in Charlotte, North Carolina. Picture: AFP

Strumming his guitar, Mr Ramos does not want Trump back either, although he respects his “ballsy” foreign policy and acknowledges many Americans find him entertaining. Unlike most Brisbanites, he happily has Trump-voting friends, and he calls Lenny Albert down to chat.

An independent who once voted for Obama, Mr Albert likes Trump’s “America First” policies. He says the economy “was on fire” in the Republican’s first term and he avoided sending troops into new wars. The criminal charges against Trump have only hardened Mr Albert’s view.

“They’ve thrown everything at him, accusing him, trying to impeach him, trying to keep him off ballots, trying to throw him in jail, trying to bankrupt him, and the more they do that, the stronger he gets,” he says.

His friendship with Mr Ramos aside, Mr Albert says his opinions are not well received in the area. Women have walked out on him during dates when the conversation turned to Trump.

Lenny Albert will vote for Donald Trump in the upcoming election.

Back in the park, Mr Ahlstrom believes Trump’s backers in Brisbane like him solely for economic reasons. The Republican has recently won endorsements from influential leaders in Silicon Valley – a traditional Democratic stronghold – and plenty of well-paid workers live in town.

Mr Ahlstrom, who is gay, adds that his few Trump-supporting neighbours find it “less comfortable … to share conservative social opinions when they’re face to face”.

Ms Wall is despondent about how divisive politics has become.

“I don’t think we’re ever going to achieve unity in America right at this moment,” she says.

That’s why Mr Ramos wishes more Americans would stop “choosing out of loyalty to their tribe”.

“People are really going by like Coke and Pepsi,” Mr Ramos says.

“No one’s going to pick the healthier option or another option … It depends on which group of rich, elite people you want to support.”

A few doors up, standing in front of the deli where he works, Dave Hoene is dismayed by the lack of choice, even after Biden dropped out and Harris was installed.

“I don’t like her at all, but then I loathe him so it’s going to be really horrible,” the Democratic voter says. While Mr Hoene always casts a ballot, he thinks he may not bother this time.

Harris will be fine without his vote in Brisbane. But in the battleground states that will decide the election, the new Democratic candidate will need every one she can get.

Originally published as United Mates: Voters in Brisbane, California rate Donald Trump and Kamala Harris before US election