Midterms: in rural America, the Republican vote favored by the working classes

Vigil of arms before the midterm elections in the United States. In a tense, even hostile climate, there is not one but two Americas face to face, unable to get along. The Democrats are in trouble in the polls and are facing Americans with a choice, as Joe Biden reminded us this Sunday in New York. “Go vote!” he chanted during his rally. Donald Trump, for his part, in Florida, is also throwing his weight into the battle to support his party’s candidates. If Florida is traditionally favorable to Republicans, it will surely not be the only state to favor the right according to the polls.

According to the polls, the Democrats could lose control of the House of Representatives, or even the Senate. Revenge for supporters of Donald Trump, especially in rural America, hit hard by inflation, like in Pennsylvania where Europe 1 went.

The cost of living, the main driver for going to vote

There, driving his old blue pickup, Brian McDonald has only one word to describe the Biden presidency: “It’s a disaster.” In this rural area of ​​Pennsylvania, the car is essential on a daily basis and gasoline prices have broken records in recent months. “Gasoline, people need it to go to work. Me, I do what I can to save because it’s not normal to spend hundreds of dollars for a single tank of groceries. This can’t go on like that,” he adds.

Like many voters in the region, this staunch conservative will vote Republican on Tuesday to punish the ruling party and hope for change. Liliane is a nurse and a single mother. She can only see the decline in her purchasing power since the arrival of Joe Biden in the White House.

“I am a graduate and I shouldn’t have this kind of problem in this country. Difficult ends of the month, having to choose between taking more gas or more races. Everyone I talk to has the same difficulties,” says she. She will also drop a Republican ballot in the ballot box. In his county, Donald Trump had collected nearly 80% of the votes during the last presidential election.