New York Metropolis, US – Because the solar rose over the 5 boroughs of New York Metropolis on Tuesday morning, a sure unstated unease permeated the crisp autumn air.
New Yorkers — each supporters of former President Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris — flooded polling locations early on November 5 as voters in america started to duke it out on the poll field.
For some, it was an opportunity to dismantle the established order. For a lot of, it was the election of a lifetime.
New York Metropolis is a Democratic stronghold. In 2020, it voted overwhelmingly in opposition to Trump, serving to to ship present President Joe Biden a important election victory.
However every of the 5 boroughs has its personal persona, and the pockets of voters that make up New York Metropolis paint a way more difficult image of this yr’s presidential race.
Within the blue-collar neighbourhood of Ridgewood, a part of the westernmost borough of Queens, 36-year-old hairstylist Adrianne Kuss expressed anxiousness concerning the election’s eventual consequence.
“I feel nervous,” Kuss instructed Al Jazeera moments after casting her vote for Harris on Tuesday morning. “Nobody should be on the fence… Too many things are at stake.”
Sporting pink hair with matching pink sun shades, cargo pants and boots, Kuss added that the prospect of one other Trump presidency frightened her.
The Republican candidate has pledged to be a dictator “for day one” if re-elected on Tuesday. Kuss additionally identified that Trump has made quite a few anti-transgender and anti-immigrant feedback.
“As a German American, I got this thing about fascism,” Kuss defined.
“I’m concerned about his racism, about his misogyny. But also, he is old and senile and out of touch. He’s not someone who represents New Yorkers. I mean, honestly, he’s this silver-spoon idiot.”
She pointed to the occasions of January 6, 2021, as fuelling her fears. On that day, a mob of Trump supporters stormed the US Capitol to disrupt the certification of the 2020 election after Trump repeatedly known as the outcomes a fraud.
“I don’t want this cultish mob rearing its ugly head again,” Kuss defined. “That was absolutely terrifying. In 2020, when the insurrection happened, people’s lives were literally at risk. I don’t want to see that again.”
Queens, nevertheless, is Trump’s dwelling borough: He was born and raised within the space, and his household’s actual property enterprise was anchored there.
Historically, the borough seems a better proportion of voters — particularly white voters — for the previous president and actual property billionaire than different pockets of the town.
In 2020, for example, Trump carried over 26 p.c of the vote in Queens, a better quantity than in Brooklyn, Manhattan or the Bronx however decrease than in Staten Island.
The Republican continues to have sway in areas of Queens like Ridgewood, a working-class, blue-collar neighbourhood the place many Polish, German and Albanian voters stay.
Retired Queens instructor Alice Kokasch, 83, is one in all Trump’s supporters. Kokasch, who voted for the Republican chief in 2016 and 2020, mentioned she had no qualms about sending Trump again to the Oval Workplace — regardless of his 34 felony convictions final Might.
“He didn’t do anything that bad,” Kokasch instructed Al Jazeera exterior Public College 88, the place she taught and went to high school. It had been reworked right into a polling web site for Tuesday’s race.
Kokasch mentioned that, no matter Trump’s private failings, they had been no dealbreaker. “He’s not perfect, but who is, right?”
Brian, a 28-year-old Latino immigrant in Queens, additionally voted for Trump. Likewise, he was unfazed by Trump’s scandals and legal historical past: Final yr, the Republican chief grew to become the primary US president ever to face legal prices.
“Honestly, it doesn’t bother me,” Brian, who additionally declined to present his title out of concern of retribution, instructed Al Jazeera.
“Nobody’s perfect, and I just look more towards what can he do for his country rather than his prior felony cases. I do acknowledge that that did happen. And, of course, that’s not a good look on anybody. But, you know, nobody’s perfect.”
For Brian, a customer support employee, Trump’s financial report was a mighty pull on the poll field.
“I believe he’s the right candidate for us,” Brian mentioned. “While he was in power, I felt like the economy was on the right track.”
Nonetheless, Brian acknowledged that Trump might not settle for the election outcomes if Harris inches forward of him within the tight presidential race.
“Most likely not,” Brian mentioned with a chuckle. “I know he won’t accept.”
One other voter in Queens, David, a 30-year-old development employee with a gentle European accent, additionally voted for Trump on Tuesday alongside his father. He declined to present his final title out of concern his political leanings might have an effect on the household enterprise.
Like many Trump supporters, he cited the excessive inflation below outgoing President Joe Biden as a motivation for his vote.
“The economy’s going to sh**,” David mentioned. “Everything is up. Inflation is at an all-time high. I think it’s time to drain the swamp. What more can I say?”
With wars ongoing in Ukraine, Gaza and Lebanon, he additionally expressed fears that the US may very well be dragged into a brand new battle below additional Democratic management.
“Countless wars…,” David mentioned, trailing off. “They want our troops to go out there and kill while they’re dining somewhere in Washington, DC, eating steak dinners.”
For him, a Harris win was inconceivable — and he echoed the unfounded election fraud claims that Trump has unfold forward of Tuesday’s election, in search of to undermine a possible Democratic victory.
“There’s a lot of spooky stuff going on,” David instructed Al Jazeera, citing a conspiracy concept that hundreds of ballots had been hijacked off an 18-wheeler in Pennsylvania. “I’m not accepting the results.”
South of Queens, within the extra left-leaning borough of Brooklyn, public sentiment was barely completely different.
In Williamsburg, Brooklyn, a girl strolling her canine and toting a yoga mat hugged a buddy because the pair lined as much as enter a polling station on North fifth Road.
Close by, Brooklyn artist James Kennedy, 46, who wore a tie-dye hat with a blue Kamala pin, posed for a selfie. He instructed Al Jazeera he was feeling the burden of the second.
“[I feel] pretty nervous,” Kennedy mentioned. “I don’t know, man. It’s tough. I just wish we could all just get along again, you know? But I don’t know if it’s going to happen, but we’ll see. I just hope positivity wins over negativity.”
The divisive presidential cycles of the final decade had left him feeling depleted, he defined. However, Kennedy, a longtime registered Democrat, mentioned his selection was clear: He would vote for Harris. There was no manner he might help Trump’s behaviour and insurance policies.
“The way this man acts, it’s just unpresidential,” the artist mentioned of Trump.
Kennedy, notably, had been troubled by the undoing of Roe v Wade, the 1973 Supreme Court docket choice that had beforehand protected the best to abortion entry.
Trump has boasted on the marketing campaign path that it was the judges he appointed to the court docket that made Roe’s demise doable. In 2022, after Roe was overturned, many states took the chance to implement restrictions on abortion rights — if not ban the process completely.
Kennedy fears additional draconian legal guidelines may very well be imposed if Republicans seize the White Home once more.
“I think that’s just really what’s so important right now,” he added. “But I just think it’s ridiculous that we even have to have [that conversation].”
Throughout the water, within the island borough of Manhattan, polling websites within the Harlem neighbourhood drew scores of primarily African American voters.
Many had been desperate to forged votes for Vice President Harris, who can be the primary Black lady elected to the White Home if profitable in Tuesday’s race.
One polling web site at EM Moore Public Housing drew 98-year-old lifelong Harlem resident Eula Dalton, who walked arm-in-arm along with her daughter, Rose Dalton, to the polls.
“It was beautiful,” Eula Dalton mentioned of this yr’s voting course of.
Each mom and daughter likened the second to Barack Obama’s beautiful 2008 presidential win. Obama grew to become the primary non-white particular person ever to steer the nation.
Rose, a court docket reporter, travelled from Connecticut to make sure her mom, who struggles with early onset dementia, might train her proper to vote.
“I knew I wanted to bring her,” Rose mentioned, explaining that it was troublesome for Eula to vote with out help. “She’s been inactive since Obama, I believe, because, you know, back then, she was probably 16 years younger. She was more aware.”
However the Election Day vitality in Harlem was “awesome”, Rose mentioned, calling it a monumental second in American politics. She predicted Harris would win in a “landslide”.
“Boy, let’s wait till tonight,” she mentioned. “We know it’s historic. It’s very historic.”
