US swing states: What matters most to battleground voters?
Tens of millions of Americans are set to head to the polls in November. However, out of fifty states, only seven swing states will play a key role in determining whether Kamala Harris or Donald Trump wins the White House. AFP spoke to voters in these battleground states about the issues that matter most to them and asked what their biggest fears are in the upcoming election.
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00:00Tens of millions of Americans are set to vote for the next president of the United States
00:05in a tight race between Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump.
00:10With the two candidates neck and neck, the outcome of the election is likely decided
00:14by just a handful of swing states where Republican and Democratic candidates have similar levels
00:19of support.
00:20Whoever I vote for, I want them to respect me.
00:22Us little people are the people.
00:24You shove us out and what have we got?
00:27Since we've seen our bodily autonomy go, what comes next?
00:32America can do better.
00:33Here's what the battleground voters have to say about their hopes and fears for this election.
00:39Everywhere you look, everything's upside down.
00:42Everything's backwards.
00:43Everything's how it shouldn't be.
00:45Everyday average Americans can't put food on the table anymore and there's families
00:50that are struggling.
00:51The socioeconomic conditions of our world, along with what will happen with my daughter
00:57in the future.
00:59Socioeconomic meaning that she will have the opportunities to be a part of society.
01:04She will have the opportunity to see a woman candidate being, hopefully, the president
01:10of the United States.
01:12Those are the things that matter most to me.
01:15Most of us, like the little people with the little mom and pop shops, they're gone and
01:20they won't be back because they can't afford it.
01:25Inflation and taxes, the price hike, just rules, regulations.
01:30Us little people are the people.
01:32You shove us out and what have we got?
01:35I think my biggest fear is where the economy's going.
01:37Interest rates are at an all-time high.
01:39So whoever has the biggest plan to make the most impact, make homes more affordable.
01:43The policy where the border is open is absolutely obscene and these people aren't being vetted
01:49and women are being raped and there's tons of crime and there's a lot of destruction
01:55of neighborhoods and these people not respecting our country.
01:59We are literally founded on the concept that this is a great place to be, to become whoever
02:05you want to be.
02:06To be kind, to be welcomed for whatever reason.
02:09To escape places that they can't be.
02:12Making sure that whoever I'm voting for is going to create a future where the people
02:17I love and the people who are most marginalized are safe.
02:20Geopolitics and the prospect that America might be at war, a hot war, in the next four years.
02:28What matters most to me when I go to cast my vote in November is human rights, but not
02:33just the human rights of those within our country, the human rights of those all over
02:38the world, including Palestine, including Congo, and including the Sudan.
02:43Women's rights and bodily autonomy.
02:46Women's rights to find proper health care, treatment, finding birth control, and eventually
02:56our rights because once we've seen our bodily autonomy go, what comes next?
03:01I have a 12 year old.
03:04He's a boy and I worry that he's going to grow up in a world where he thinks that he's
03:14bad.
03:16You know, because he's like a white dude.
03:20The climate crisis.
03:21I think that the climate crisis is the single biggest crisis that we really as a country
03:25and also as the world really face.
03:28It's hard to prioritize too much higher than climate change and fighting climate change
03:37is an issue.
03:39We could solve all the other problems if we don't address climate change, if we just all
03:43die.
03:44But that seems like not the solution we want.
03:47I'm afraid that this country is just going into a wrong direction and maybe to a dead
03:53end.
03:55And we need to stop it.
03:56We need to change leadership.
03:58America can do better.
04:01That Trump gets to win.
04:03This world's gone to crap.
04:05You know what I mean?
04:06We need somebody better in the seat.
04:08What matters the most to me is having my voice heard.
04:13People that look like me, whether that be a person of color, a woman, a millennial.
04:19We really want our issues addressed and not just thrown by the wayside.
04:23We want to be heard and action taking place for our issues.
04:28I would go for Trump.
04:29I think we need somebody in there that has, I can't say what I want to say, has the gumption,
04:35has the strength.
04:36I'm so concerned that Donald Trump will become president and we don't know what will happen
04:42because he's such a loose cannon.
04:44I do not like Trump and I just feel he's an ignorant person.
04:50The economy.
04:51That's the number one issue.
04:53The economy, getting things back on track, getting inflation under control.
04:58Only President Trump can do that.
05:01Whoever I vote for, I want them to respect me.
05:04And that means I expect them to be kind.
05:05I expect them to be empathetic.
05:06I expect them to be competent and I expect them to be strong in matters of taking care
05:10of people.