Election Day is less than a week away. Polls show a neck-and-neck race, and both campaigns are targeting the swing state of Pennsylvania, including its rural voters.
Sarah Thomas waited for the bus along a busy road in Warren, Pennsylvania. She said the stimulus checks she got during the Trump administration in 2020 were a life changer.
“I clean the roads every day, clean the town every day," Thomas said. "(I) don't have much, and I’ve no home.”
Thomas said her house burned down, and it’s been a struggle to get by since then. She hopes to see Trump bring down food and gas prices.
Richard Fitzgerald is from nearby Sheffield, but he was also walking along the street in Warren. He plans to vote for Trump, but he said, “There's so much controversy between the Democrats and Republicans right now. I don't even see them able to work together.”
Fitzgerald said he dislikes the fighting.
“I feel like it's gotten worse in my lifetime. I'm only 36, so, pretty much my entire lifetime it's been going downhill," Fitzgerald said.
Fitzgerald said he isn’t sure Trump or Harris can solve border or international issues, but he thinks Trump has a better chance.
A hundred miles south in Port Matilda, Rabie Daughenbaugh sat at a table outside of a convenience store. He was chatting with a friend over a cup of coffee.
“I think prices have to come down," Daughenbaugh said.
Daughenbaugh said he believes the economy has gotten worse under Biden.
“My 401K was doing a lot better under Trump," Daughenbaugh said, "although it's doing fine right now."
The stock market is up about 50% since four years ago and is at near record highs. And the rate of inflation is slowing, but many are still struggling with the higher price of groceries and goods.
Besides the economy, Daughenbaugh said he wants to see Trump close the southern border.
“They wonder why there's a housing shortage," Daughenbaugh said. "You bring 18 million new people into town, I guess there's going to be a housing shortage.”
Border security is also on the mind of voters in Bellwood, a small borough near Altoona.
Dan McPhail, who’s from nearby Blandburg, was one of several people stopping at Sheetz. He said border security is one of his top issues, along with abortion.
“You know, if a woman that is pregnant is in a car accident and killed by a drunk driver, that's a double homicide," McPhail said. "But if she has an abortion, it's not homicide at all. And that's...It's just not...you know, level the playing field. If it's right one way, it's right both ways.”
Even in cases of rape, incest or the life of the mother, McPhail said abortion should be illegal. He said abortions should be tried as a homicide.
Trump says he would not support a nationwide abortion ban, and that abortion laws should be left to the states. Kamala Harris says she wants to restore nationwide abortion access.
McPhail said the economy is what’s most at stake in this election. He supports Trump’s plan to increase tariffs on imported goods, especially from China.
“That way it brings business back to the United States, instead of leaving the United States to go to foreign countries with lower rates of production costs," McPhail said.
But not everyone in rural Pennsylvania is supporting Trump. Susan Crotsley sat on one of the metal chairs outside that same Bellwood Sheetz and smoked a cigarette, watching as people came and went.
“Informing my vote is Donald Trump," Crotsley said. "I'm not voting for Trump. I would not vote for him. I do not believe in dictatorship.”
Crotsley says she believes Kamala Harris would make a great president.
“I live on a fixed income, so I'm looking forward to keeping our Social Security and keeping our Medicare and all that stuff," Crotsley said. "And so that's great for me, myself, because I'm disabled myself.”
Both campaigns say they’ll protect Social Security and Medicare. But Trump has pledged to cut some forms of taxes that help pay for the program.
Crotsley says she voted for Joe Biden in 2020, and believes he would be in the lead if he hadn’t dropped out.
“When the Democrats are in office, there's money for everybody. When the Republicans are in office, it's for all the rich and to hell with everybody else," Crotsley said.
Crotsley’s party affiliation is something of an outlier in the predominantly red rural Pennsylvania counties.
Statewide, polls show Kamala Harris and Donald Trump in a neck-and-neck race. It was a similar story four years ago. Joe Biden won Pennsylvania by just over a 1% margin.
Election Day is next Tuesday. Polls open at 7 a.m. and close at 8 p.m.
