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| Angelika/Mike Schilli |
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Angelika The USA is in the final stages of the election campaign, and newspaper writers are typing their fingers to the bone. We are already quite exhausted from all the debates, analyses, and forecasts. Many have asked us for our assessment since we live in this country. Who will win, Harris or Trump? This may sound a bit offhand, but the chances are still 50-50 for both. We can't provide any smarter analyses either. It's very close. The decision for Biden to step aside in July was necessary and important, but unfortunately, it came a bit too late. I would have at least wished for an open Democratic convention where not only Kamala Harris was nominated, but also other candidates, for whom the delegates could have cast their votes. But no one asks me.
And it's not about convincing the Democratic voters in California or New York, but rather the undecided ones in the middle of the country. And Kamala Harris is, after all, associated with Biden's policies and, as Vice President, had extremely low approval ratings in polls at times. However, these have since improved and are now just under 50%. According to the New York Times, one in six voters still did not know in October for whom they would cast their vote on November 5th. This group also includes voters who ultimately decide not to vote at all because they cannot warm up to either Harris or Trump, or who, in protest, write in a joke candidate on the ballot. Interestingly, Robert Kennedy's name is still on the California ballots, even though he officially withdrew his candidacy, but the ballots had already been printed.
Our voter ballots are already on our living room table because in California, since the pandemic, we automatically receive mail-in voting materials. We also have piles of pamphlets accumulating in our apartment, and every day I receive text messages asking me to donate to Kamala Harris. I have no idea where they got my mobile number. In these text messages, I'm often addressed as Henry. Hmm.
Living in an already decided state, we never get presidential campaign advertisements. The brochures that clog our mailbox daily are about the local elections, because in California and San Francisco, voters can once again decide on numerous propositions. And there's a mayoral election in San Francisco, which the international press isn't reporting on because the presidential election is too much in the spotlight.
Actually, we were supposed to have the mayoral election in November 2023, but with the passing of Proposition H in 2022, voters decided that mayoral elections should now always coincide with presidential elections, as it is hoped this will lead to higher voter turnout. San Francisco has been grappling with several issues for quite some time. Downtown has been desolate since the pandemic and just isn't recovering. The crime rate is high, with break-ins in homes and cars, large-scale shoplifting, homeless tent cities on sidewalks, and the fentanyl crisis significantly reducing the quality of life for many in the city. Many voters are fed up with the status quo and want change.
Politics in this city is indeed complicated. Ultimately, there is no opposition in the city council; instead, politicians are categorized as either moderate or left-leaning Democrats. It should be noted that by San Francisco standards, a moderate Democrat here would probably be considered a leftist in other parts of the USA. Politicians in San Francisco also frequently struggle with accusations of corruption. There is an inflated bureaucratic jungle and little oversight to ensure that tax dollars are used as intended.
And that's not all: In addition to the President of the USA and the Mayor of San Francisco, a good dozen other offices are also up for election: Among others, the sheriff, the chairpersons of the school board, the director of the subway (BART), and several city council members, who will only receive votes from voters residing in their respective districts.
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