An hour after Kamala Harris was announced as Joe Biden’s running mate for US president last week, Dan Moore sat in his living room in Newton Falls, Ohio watching the news on Fox News.
`I’d like to see any candidate except Kamala Harris,` said Moore, 60, a boiler operator at a steel mill and a union member of the business.
Dan Moore, steel mill employee, in Newton Falls last week.
Before Donald Trump launched his first presidential campaign, Moore was a supporter of the Democratic party and voted twice for Barack Obama.
In Columbus, Ohio, Moore’s daughter, Kelley Boorn, again supported Biden’s choice.
`It’s hard to wake up and realize things aren’t always black and white,` said Boorn, a chemical engineer who quit his job to homeschool his three sons.
Boorn and his stepfather represent two groups of voters that have a major impact on the election.
Trump won Ohio by 8 percentage points in 2016 and the state has long been considered out of reach for Democrats this election season.
If he wants to continue winning, Trump needs voters like Mr. Moore to be loyal to him in the context of a declining economy and raging Covid-19.
In 2016, 56% of college-educated white women in Ohio voted for Trump.
When Trump first ran for president in 2016, the relationship between Mr. Moore and his daughter Boorn was very tense and bitter, and they sometimes argued.
Meanwhile, Boorn worries about climate change and about what her sons learn growing up in America.
Covid-19 devastated the state’s economy, while protests against police treatment of people of color took place across cities.
President Trump (right) and Democratic candidate Joe Biden.
Moore said he himself has black friends and believes Trump has made great strides in improving race relations and prison reform.
Mr. Moore believes that Trump’s political opponents are exaggerating the economic damage from the pandemic to hurt the President in the November election. `Are there some Democrats saying ‘we will
Mayor of Dayton, Nan Whaley, said that she `didn’t see any highly educated white voters` voting for Trump and emphasized that `these are longtime Republican supporters.`
But voters like Mr. Moore continue to stick with Trump.
`Trump attracts men over 40 and that’s the group of voters I represent,` Johnson said.
Last week, Boorn watched most of the Democratic national convention.
`She inspired me by saying that one day we will look back at this time and remember what we did, not what we thought,` Boorn said.
Meanwhile, Moore just watched Biden’s speech and commented that the former vice president `read the teleprompter pretty well.`
He said his support for Trump remains solid but complained that he hasn’t seen recent talk from either party about limiting the power of corporations to prevent them from influencing people’s health care.
`I voted for President Trump, yes, but I am very opposed to corporate greed,` he said.
