BRISTOL, Pennsylvania — This week’s presidential debate was the latest insult to Rosie Torres’ lifelong Republican faith. She said her loyalty to Donald Trump, already strained over his stance on abortion, was shattered by the former president’s “eye-opener” meeting with Kamala Harris.
It’s time to “put country before party,” Torres, 60, said Wednesday in Bristol, a river city on the outskirts of Philadelphia. Trump left her frustrated after his recent appearance at Arlington National Cemetery when a member of his staff pushed a cemetery officialshe said.
“I was still prepared to vote for Donald Trump,” Torres said. “But you know, I think what he did at the veterans cemetery — that was very disrespectful. I feel like our country is being disrespected.”
In Bucks County, a crucial area in a vital swing state, the debate is fueling much thought about what to do in November. Millions of Americans elsewhere have already made up their minds, but in purple Pennsylvania, there are still plenty of voting choices.
In interviews in Bristol and Langhorne, another longtime Republican was intrigued but unconvinced by Harris, a young first-time voter is backing Trump and a Democrat still trying to shake the image of people eating pets in his head after Trump’s “idiotic” speech on the subject Tuesday night.
A closer look at what voters in a significant portion of the country are thinking after what may be the only presidential debate:
Mary Nolan, 70, of Bensalem, has been a registered Republican for 50 years. She voted for Hillary Clinton in 2016 and Trump in 2020. She’s got some thinking to do after a debate in which Harris both impressed and frustrated her.
“I wasn’t happy with Biden-Trump,” she said of the options President Joe Biden had to leave his re-election campaign. “I didn’t feel like we had good choices. And I’m still not sure we do. Maybe we do. But I still want to know more about Kamala Harris.”
She said she and her husband, who is registered as a Democrat, split their party registrations so they could have a say in the primaries as a family. Immigration, the economy (she said she just paid $6 for a pound of butter) and the infrastructure bill that Biden signed were her main issues.
“I like that Kamala Harris says I’m going to be the president for everyone,” Nolan said. “I don’t think our politicians say that very often.”
She thinks she will make her voting decision in late October, just days before the election. In the meantime, she is aggressively gathering information.
“I take different opinions from all over. I don’t do blogs. It’s just news. Different interest groups like AARP.”
Her political ideology? “I think the world is changing rapidly, and I still hold on to my 1960s values,” Nolan said.
Which values?
“Family, home, morals. You know, our kids didn’t have the upbringing that you or I had, because the streets are different now. I think if someone said, you know, this is what I’m going to do to make life better in the United States, I would definitely vote for them.”
She said that she thought Harris had a good debate but that he dodged some issues.
“I didn’t like that she dodged questions. She talked around them when they asked her direct questions about abortion. There was one about abortion. There was another one about immigration. And there were a couple who said, hey, you’ve been here for three and a half years, and you haven’t done these things that you say are so important. Why not? She went straight into her talking points and never gave a direct answer.”
But Harris gave her a good impression. Trump did not.
“I think Kamala Harris absolutely presented herself very well yesterday. She is worthy. … She would be a great representative of our country.”
Trump? “I like his policies. I just want a more stable, more dignified president.” She wants “someone who doesn’t yell and scream and curse people out.”
Terry Culleton, 68, of Langhorne, Pennsylvania, a retired high school English literature teacher, was reading Anne Applebaum’s “Autocracy, Inc.” Wednesday morning at a coffee shop. His support for the labor movement, and then for civil and human rights, made him a Democrat.
He thought Harris stood her ground against Trump and articulated her plans well.
But what really stuck with him were Trump’s incorrect comments about immigrants in Ohio eating pets.
“It’s such an idiotic statement and repetition that I just can’t get it out of my head that someone would say something like that on national television,” he said.
He said he got a sense of history during last night’s debate.
“I think it’s democracy versus something close to totalitarianism. I think it’s a matter of supporting democratic governments rather than supporting the kind of governments that (Russian President Vladimir) Putin is trying to export, which Trump has no problem with, as far as I can tell.”
Kelli Surline from Langhorne was in a cafe with her fiancé and young daughter, who was wearing an Eagles kelly green T-shirt. She described herself as politically disengaged until the pressure of higher prices became too much. She didn’t watch the debate, partly because she had already made up her mind.
“I’m 28 years old and I’ve never seen the country in such bad shape,” she said. “So I’ve chosen to register to vote, and I’m absolutely going to vote for Trump.”
She talked about how difficult it was to move forward.
“We wanted a house together,” Surline said, pointing to Geoffrey Trush, 40, her fiancé. “We can’t do that.” Instead, she lives with her mother. Unaffordable prices make it “a struggle every week.”
Ron Soto, 86, of Levittown, Pennsylvania, is a staunch Trump supporter and retired truck driver and war veteran. He left the Democratic Party for the Republican Party in the 1990s after finding he disagreed with the positions of Bill and Hillary Clinton.
He said he watched the debate on Tuesday, with his dog Sam at his side, after watching the Phillies game.
Illegal immigration is a big problem for him and Harris couldn’t convince him.
“The biggest problem is I don’t like her, and I don’t like Joe Biden.”
Soto said he served in the Army from 1955 to 1963 and asked, “What the hell did I stick my neck out for? Why? So you can give it away? The Democrats can open the gates, the floodgates, and tell the whole world. You’re welcome. Come on in.” He added, “These people have ruined this country.”
Christine Desumma, 50, a former Trump voter and owner of a salon on Bristol’s quaint shopping street, expressed frustration with both parties and said she won’t vote at all in November. She said her taxes were lower when Trump was in office and recalled the pain of COVID-19 closures.
She was fed up, especially with social media and Facebook. Online debates, she said, were driving a wedge within her own family and she is withdrawing.
“I just decided I’m not going to vote and I don’t want to hear it,” she said. “Now I choose not to watch, not to pay attention.” She’s found another occupation.
“I study yoga,” she said. “I found myself again.”