‘I’ve lost friends, for sure’: Voters yearn for the election to be over

An earlier version of this article was first published in the On the Trail 2024 newsletter. Sign up to receive the newsletter in your inbox on Tuesday and Friday mornings here.
Happy Friday, friends. I hope all enjoyed a safe Halloween. My best costume ever — and my first attempt at election forecasting — was when I dressed as a “ballot box” in elementary school. (Proof here.) People would cast their vote by sliding candy by pictures of Obama or McCain. It turned out to be a successful foray into forecasting: Obama edged McCain among neighbors in my red Virginia town.
Anyone’s kids try a candy poll? Let me know. Their guess at what happens Tuesday is as good as mine.
Campaign trash talk
In the upper concourse at a Las Vegas-area arena on Thursday afternoon, Brian Holland looked tired. Down below, a raucous crowd of MAGA faithful anxiously awaited Trump’s arrival, swaying to music and chanting Trump’s name. Holland, wearing a custom “Trump 45″ football uniform, noted it was “good to be around people that are like-minded,” he said. But instead of immersing himself in the crowd, he stood above, alone.
The idea of a Trump presidency was exciting to him, he said. But there was also something gnawing at him. “There’s a lot of tension right now,” he said. Politics were driving a wedge in his relationships, and as a result, some of his friends aren’t his friends anymore. “It’s more my family than anything,” he added, “and social media. That’s probably the biggest place where we created the divide.”
“Hopefully it’ll calm down after the election,” he said. “I hope we get there.”
Over the past 14 months, I’ve attended dozens of Trump rallies and spoken with hundreds of voters. This was a sentiment that I’d never heard before. On Thursday, at what will likely be Trump’s final visit to Nevada before Tuesday’s election, I heard it from multiple people. Things have gotten too nasty, they said, and they’re ready for the election to be over.
That doesn’t mean they’re any less passionate about Trump’s candidacy or his platform. Some told me that’s exactly why they’re tired of this election. “I’m trying to block out all the noise, because it’s about the issues,” Kate from Henderson said. (She declined to offer her last name.)
The noise, in the final week of what was already a messy, ugly election, seemed to reach a fever pitch. What began as a comedian’s irreverent warm-up act at Trump’s Madison Square Garden rally Sunday quickly devolved into a string of derogatory comments — and, for a day, the election’s leading news story. The loudest of the slurs was the claim that Puerto Rico was a “floating island of garbage,” and Puerto Ricans, understandably, reacted swiftly. Prominent Puerto Rican celebrities endorsed Harris or walked back endorsements of Trump. The Trump team tried to distance themselves from the joke, but one attendee at Harris’ speech in Washington on Tuesday told me the comment was the long-awaited “October Surprise.”
But then, even as Harris delivered a unity-focused closing argument outside the White House, President Joe Biden was inside on Zoom, calling Trump’s supporters “garbage.” (Biden later walked back the comments.) The Biden White House is now facing allegations it changed the transcript of his remarks.
A day later, when Trump was given a chance to respond, he turned it into a spectacle. When he arrived on the tarmac in Green Bay on Wednesday, a Trump-branded garbage truck picked him up. He wore an orange safety vest — the type sanitation workers wear — while delivering a rally speech that night. “These are horrible people,” Trump said. “Oops. ‘We should get along with everybody.’ They’re horrible people! Some people you just can’t get along with. You can’t.”
With just days until the election, it’s the type of news cycle that has exasperated some of even Trump’s most staunch supporters. Some, like Ariel, a realtor in Las Vegas, thinks the blowup over Biden’s comments distract from more important issues. “Just like I’m going to allow grace for Donald Trump, I’m allowing grace to just kind of let that brush off my back,” she said. “The moment you allow words like that to affect you is when you stop thinking logically and you start thinking emotionally. And I think this election is one that needs to be backed by logic.” (Ariel cast her vote for Trump.)
For some, though, the election cycle already took a toll on their lives. “I’ve lost friends, for sure,” said Allan Talley, a 37-year-old who just relocated to Carson County. “It’s kind of sad.” It’s not an issue unique to Trump supporters: at a Harris event in Philadelphia earlier this month, a man from Missouri told me his daughter stopped speaking to him because of his vote, and a woman from Arizona said she became an “outcast” in her church community because of her political views.
“It’s okay to disagree,” Talley said. “We’ve stopped being open and hearing people out.”
At the rally Thursday, Trump seemed to take a step in the right direction. “My response (to Biden) is very simple: You can’t lead America if you don’t love America,” he said. “You can’t be the American president if you hate the American people.” Before long, though, he was back to name calling. “She’s the worst vice president in the history of our country,” he said. “Kamala, you’re fired. Get the hell out of here.”
Is it Trump’s obligation to turn the temperature down? Even his most exhausted followers don’t seem to think so. “It’s ours,” he said. “I mean, we all make our own personal choices. We can either engage or not engage.”
It’s a toss up, folks. The latest batch from the swing states, all within the margin of error:
Musk vs. Cuban: In a celebrity battle of billionaires, two prominent businessmen — Elon Musk and Mark Cuban — have stepped up as top surrogates for the respective Trump and Harris campaigns. The economy is voters’ top concern, and Musk and Cuban step in with an ability to reach voters the top-of-ticket candidates can’t. (Harris “is just not a good salesperson” on the economy, Cuban said last week.) But the two celebrities have vastly different messages on the economy: for Cuban’s part, he’s preaching Harris’ economic plan as gold for entrepreneurs and small-business owners (the “grinders,” in his parlance). Meanwhile, Musk is pitching a complete overhaul of the U.S. financial sector: slashing government spending, sparking a market collapse and some “temporary hardship” — before “a rapid recovery to a healthier, sustainable economy.”
Trump secured a big endorsement from Nikki Haley over the summer. Since then, nothing has happened. The two haven’t spoken since June, Haley says, and though Haley has offered to campaign with Trump, the former president hasn’t called. It’s a mind-boggling strategy, as Haley earned 4.4 million votes in Republican primaries across the country. Trump is making no effort to reach them, while groups like “Haley Voters For Harris” are. Trump Keeps Nikki Haley on the Sidelines (Editorial Board, Wall Street Journal)
In battleground Nevada, the election could be decided by “ex-Californians who hate their former home state’s politics.” California expats make up over 20 percent of Nevada’s population; since 2020 alone, over 150,000 Californians have flocked to Nevada. In that span, the gap between registered Republicans and Democrats in the state has shrunk significantly. “In a state that was decided by less than 34,000 votes in 2020, a bloc of highly motivated, California-hating ex-Californians with an axe to grind could play a pivotal role in shaping the outcome this year.” The Ex-Californians Who Hate Kamala Harris — And Could Flip Nevada (Calder McHugh, Politico)
BONUS: The Honorable Thomas B. Griffith, a retired federal judge, writes for the Deseret News: “When did conservatives decide that the success of our economy — or anything, really — was more important than the character of our leaders?”
See you on the trail.
Editor’s note: The Deseret News is committed to covering issues of substance in the 2024 presidential race from its unique perspective and editorial values. Our team of political reporters will bring you in-depth coverage of the most relevant news and information to help you make an informed decision. Find our complete coverage of the election here.