From basketball courts to the rodeo – how the state of Georgia could shape the US election
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It’s been a mad few months, even by American political standards.
After Donald Trump’s criminal conviction in New York came Joe Biden’s blunders at that debate, then Trump’s brush with an assassin’s bullet and then that dramatic switch for the Democrats from Biden to Harris.
Events have jolted politics here and the Democratic Party’s remarkably smooth ‘switcheroo’ has upended the race for the White House.
Harris’s entry has turned the race into a neck-and-neck fight. In a few weeks, she has – polls suggest – won back voters who should have been in the bag but were put off by ageing Biden.
But beyond what promises to be a star-spangled crowning convention for Harris this week in Chicago, what’s the vibe in the states where it really matters?
I’m just back from Georgia. It is one of those ‘must-win’ swing states.
So starkly diverse and so close electorally, every vote really does matter in Georgia. Biden won here in 2020 by a margin of 0.23% – just 11,779 votes.
It’s been revealing in so many ways. Yes, Harris has shaken up the race, but the fundamentals of this election are unchanged.
The economy, the southern border, abortion and the character of the candidates remain the key factors. And it will come down to a narrow portion of the electorate – probably just over 10% of persuadables.
Here’s a snapshot of a journey through Georgia.
The barbecue joint
No visit to America’s south is complete without a good barbecue.
The Emerald’s Touch in the southwestern Georgian city of Columbus is new and it is the perfect product of the American dream.
Three generations of the same family run the place.
Jayden is taking the orders, his father is in the kitchen and his grandfather is the master griller out at the back. And Sandy, the matriarch, is the creator of the best mac-n-cheese I’ve had in a long time.
It is a business born in COVID under a Trump presidency as a food truck, it expanded under Biden’s term to the take-away it now is. In the next few months, they will expand again to become a full eat-in restaurant.
It’s the perfect reflection of what’s achievable in America. Trump’s low taxes and then Biden’s bottom-up economics have made it possible.
Jayden is going to be voting for the first time in November and he is undecided – just the type of person both parties will need to target.
He represents a significant group of so-called “low information” voters. It’s an inelegant phrase, but essentially means he hasn’t yet tuned into it all. He doesn’t know what the two candidates represent.
Conversations with the customers are revealing.
Reflecting on the prospect of a female black president, young black mum Erica says: “It’s something that I would like to tell my daughter about… but I don’t let something that’s so close to me be the blindside of a vote just because it could be so historical.”
Vince Allan is a local pastor.
“To me, it’s a disturbing race,” he says. “We hear a lot of bashing and negative rhetoric instead of the candidates sticking to their policies… it’s pretty toxic.”
Then, away from the microphone, he whispered his candidate in my ear. I will not divulge, but it was a surprise.
The basketball court
This election will be all about targeting different demographics and young black men are key. On the basketball court, as the southern sun set, the perfect group agreed to talk politics.
All under 50 and all black or Latino, they are just the people Harris needs if she’s to win the state.
“I’m voting for Trump,” one man says. “He’s our best choice.” Two others pile into the conversation, excited. “I’m Trump too… we’re with the Trump!”
“He’s got 34 felony counts! Hell, he’s more black than me!” another player says with a laugh.
This sort of self-deprecating humour speaks volumes for a certain portion of the electorate.
It’s not the first time I have heard it; the idea that it’s kind of cool that their street fighter has been put through the legal wringer and could still rise to the top.
But on this basketball court, it was clear too that beyond the machismo there are simple back-pocket motivations drawing people to Trump rather than Harris.
“Trump is real bro. He doesn’t care what you think about him. He’s going to speak his opinion,” another man says.
But like Jayden in the barbecue restaurant, here too I found many are just not tuned into it all, not yet, maybe they’ll never be, but their vote – if they vote – will count the same as any other.
Trump and Harris both need to swing them just enough to secure their vote.
The rodeo
In the far north of Georgia is the picturesque town of Blue Ridge.
It sits at the bottom end of the Blue Ridge mountain range which stretches hundreds of miles north through Tennessee and into Virginia. Much of this part of Appalachian America is deeply Trump country.
The annual rodeo is a wonderful snapshot of Americana and felt a million miles from the basketball court a hundred miles or so to the south.
It’s a country of such extraordinary diversity yet they must coalesce around one of two choices in November.
The first conversation ended any temptation I had to stereotype.
Three young friends, all first-time voters, all in their cowboy hats and all with a different view. One for Trump, one for Harris, and one undecided.
The Trump supporter was motivated mostly by his rough-and-ready character, the Harris supporter was concerned about the situation in Gaza, and the undecided person was worried about petrol prices.
For so many, this election will come down to single issues.
Abortion is another. A debate often framed as choice versus life. And in deeply religious Georgia the issue cuts both ways. A libertarian ‘mind your own business’ attitude intersects with fundamentalist religious beliefs.
For many, religion trumps choice. “I’m a devoted catholic,” one young woman told me. She confirmed that she would be voting Republican because of their abortion-restricting policies.
Another local then suggested, intriguingly, that a significant proportion of female voters may claim to support Trump but would, in the end, quietly vote for Kamala because of what she represents.
It is another dynamic to consider in this fascinating race.
Read more:
Trump had the election in the bag, until he didn’t
US politics is laced with malevolence and division
Remember how dramatically wrong the polls were in the past two presidential elections.
Trump has a tendency to poll lower than he actually performs.
How accurate are the polls on Harris? It’s hard to know because she is, for now, hard to define.
In one sense she represents something entirely new and fresh, certainly in terms of race and gender.
But she is also fully attached to the last four years of Biden.
That’s the challenge for team Harris: are they selling ‘continuity Kamala’ or does she represent change? Will she build on Biden’s legacy or is she distinct from it.
Different voters want different things. It feels like it’s a tricky balance in a campaign where all’s to play for.
