() – Joan London knew when Tuesday’s debate began that she wouldn’t vote for Donald Trump. But when it ended, she was in a very unfamiliar place: ready to cast her first vote for a Democrat for president. In hotly contested Pennsylvania, by the way.
“Harris clearly won,” said London, a lawyer who lives in conservative Berks County. “And now I’m going to vote for her even though I have a lot of serious policy differences.”
London became a Republican when she turned 18, an admirer of Ronald Reagan’s conservatism. Earlier this year, she voted in the primary for former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, then switched her registration to independent because she views Trump as a raging populist.
Until this week’s debate in Philadelphia, however, she planned to honor her conservative principles and write in some other Republican. But that all changed when the former president repeatedly refused to say he believed it was critical for the United States to stand by Ukraine. Trump said he wanted to end the war and suggested he might broker a peace between Russia and Ukraine.
“Conservatives don’t negotiate with communist dictators who invade other countries,” London said in a post-debate text. “It will take a decisive loss for Trump to reform the Republican Party, and I’ll be back when that happens.”
London is one of more than 70 voters from 10 states who are part of our All Over The Map project, an effort to follow the 2024 campaign through the eyes and experiences of voters who live in battleground states or are part of critical voting blocs.
His decision to support Vice President Kamala Harris was the most significant shift in the reaction we received from this group of voters during the debate and immediately afterward. None of our voters who had made up their minds about a candidate before Tuesday’s on-stage encounter changed their minds, though several Trump supporters shared concerns about his performance.
“I was prepared,” said Chris Mudd, a Trump loyalist from Cedar Falls, Iowa. But he added: “Trump can make some positive changes. Kamala is much ado about nothing.”
Lisa Reissman, a Harris supporter in Wisconsin, had a very different view.
“Harris was remarkable,” Reissman said. “Trump seemed irrational and desperate.”
Enthusiasm can matter in close races, and the conversation among Democrats is very different now that Harris has replaced President Joe Biden as the ticket holder. Even Democrats who had doubts about Biden but would have voted for him anyway are using much more forceful language when talking about their support for Harris, including in their assessments of the debate.
“She’s shown us tonight that she’s a president,” said Davette Baker, an African-American Democratic activist from Milwaukee.
Larry Malinconico, a professor of geology at Lafayette College in Northampton County, Pennsylvania, fits into this group.
“While I have always been of the opinion that we should do anything to prevent Trump from becoming president, I am also now much more confident that Vice President Harris is a great presidential candidate.”
Several voters who were undecided or leaning toward Harris or Trump but open to switching candidates rated Harris’ performance in the debate more positively. Several, however, said she was not specific enough in explaining her policy proposals.
“Kamala Harris says she wants to improve the middle class, but how?” said Linda Rooney, a Haley voter who lives in suburban Philadelphia. She also expressed concern about Harris’s shift in stance on fracking and other issues.
“This is why I don’t trust her,” said Rooney, who voted for Trump in 2016 but for Joe Biden in 2020. “She’s not a moderate.”
Rooney would rather not vote for Trump, but is not a fan of Biden-Harris’ economic policies.
“It’s so disappointing,” she said of Trump’s response to her conduct on January 6, 2021. “Kamala is right to call him out on this.”
Rooney emailed us twice to say that Trump was “off the rails” during discussions of the immigration debate.
“I still can’t vote for her,” Rooney said of Harris. “But I don’t want to vote for Trump. … I feel so alone in the middle.”
Rooney is from Media, Delaware County. So is Cynthia Sabatini, a Reagan Republican and “never Trump” voter who plans to write in a conservative’s name or vote for a third party unless Harris persuades her. The vice president did not do so Tuesday night.
“She’s a good debater,” Sabatini said. “But, in my opinion, she needs to answer specific questions.” Specifically, Sabatini said Harris failed early on when asked if she thought Americans were better off than they were four years ago and again on questions about the border.
“I’m undecided,” she said after the debate.
Antonio Muñoz also said Harris could have won the debate if she had been more specific and responsive.
Muñoz is a veteran and former police officer who now runs a taco restaurant and catering business in Las Vegas.
He sat down for the debate leaning on Harris but unwilling to commit. And that’s where he stayed afterward.
“Kamala was very poised,” Muñoz said of the vice president. “Trump was Trump. Killing babies after birth. Immigrants eating dogs and cats. How do you defend such untruthful comments?”
But Muñoz said he needs to hear more before Harris is guaranteed his vote in hotly contested Nevada.
“There’s not enough substance on how to move forward,” Muñoz said of his debate performance.
Zoila Sánchez, on the other hand, is firmly in the Harris camp, even though she describes herself as a Reagan Republican.
“His focus on real issues and pragmatic solutions was refreshing,” said Sanchez, a Las Vegas real estate agent. “Donald Trump seemed erratic and out of control. … We need leaders who are grounded in reality.”
Allen Naparalla would also like more details from Harris. But he is now willing to commit, after telling us in July, when Biden stepped aside, that he did not see Harris as up to the job.
“Right now, I just want to vote for optimism in the world,” said Naparalla, who runs a winery in Cedarburg, Wisconsin. “We need something to be happy about and look forward to. Enough of the negativity.”
Other Harris voters reveled in her success in distracting and unnerving Trump.
“A master class,” said Marvin Boyer, a civil rights activist in Northampton County, Pennsylvania, a swing county. “She was calm, focused and collected. He was defensive, angry and out of control.”
Several Trump supporters also said Harris had managed to put Trump out of the running.
“Kamala successfully dodged questions and unsettled Donald,” said Natalya Orlando, a Trump voter in New Hampshire. “The build-up to the debate was exciting, but the debate itself was just okay. Nothing new.”
Similarly, Priscilla Forsyth, a lawyer from Sioux City, Iowa, said: “Trump was not at her best and fell for the bait too often. But she seemed so fake, especially when she tried to talk about uniting the country. I will never believe she can or will represent my interests.”
That was a common theme among Trump loyalists: that Harris is inauthentic.
“Kamala Harris’s incessant posturing and insincere theatrics while Trump spoke came across as immature, rehearsed and out of place,” said Rachel Kulak, a Christian conservative who lives in suburban Richmond, Virginia.
“Her defensive reactions didn’t help,” Iowa businesswoman Jaclyn Taylor said of Trump. “Kamala didn’t feel genuine for much of the night.”
Billy Pierce, a Trump supporter from South Carolina, pointed to Harris’ time in the administration. “I can’t believe Kamala is talking about change when she’s been in office for three and a half years.”
Debbie Katsanos, a Trump supporter from New Hampshire, said: “The status quo has to change. This was once a great country and now it’s not.”
Betsy Sarcone, who supported Haley in the Iowa caucuses but plans to vote for Trump in November, said of Harris: “Her memorized and regurgitated lines lack depth.”
Many voters who remain unhappy with their election even after the change in the Democratic leadership saw nothing Tuesday night to change their disappointment.
“I want better than this,” said Stanley Tremblay, an independent from New Hampshire. “I’m afraid we’ve dug ourselves into a hole we can’t climb out of.”
Gina Cilento, a competitive pickleball player and owner of a training studio in Cedarburg, Wisconsin, echoed Tremblay’s dismay.
“It’s exhausting,” she wrote during the debate. “It makes me feel so sad. Is this the best our country can do?”
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