[Following is an abstract from Washington Post’s third article on Door County]
In a swing Wisconsin county,
everyone is tired of politics
Story by Danielle Paquette and Sabrina Rodriguez
Photography by Carolyn Van Houten
Nov. 19 at 6:00 a.m.
DOOR COUNTY, Wis. — She didn’t trust the government. She didn’t trust the news. She didn’t know whom to trust, so Kathy Nichols eased into the armchair facing her psychic.
,“What comes up in my future?” she asked.
Outside, the autumn sky was gray, and things at home were rough, and her television blared chatter about the House speaker drama or the New Jersey senator accused of trading influence for gold bars or the people running for president — all of whom she disliked.
In the vanilla-scented office of Abby Rose Spirit, under the glow of Turkish ceiling lights, she tapped her white Skechers on an Oriental rug and listened to a voice she found soothing.
“You know how they have those amusement park cars?” the psychic asked, leaning in. “It’s like you’re in the go-kart and you feel like something is going to smash into you.”
Yes, Nichols thought: Navigating life on Wisconsin’s northeastern thumb was stressful enough. Why did she have to worry about the country’s chaos, too?
“It’s overwhelming,” she agreed.
The presidential election is less than a year away, and Americans are drained. Almost two-thirds say they always or often feel “exhausted” when thinking about politics, according to a recent Pew survey, while more than half say they feel “angry.” Trust in the nation’s institutions has plunged to the lowest point in nearly seven decades, the poll found, with respondents describing the landscape in overwhelmingly negative terms: Divisive. Corrupt. Messy.
A rising share of Americans, meanwhile, now identify as politically independent, according to Gallup’s latest annual snapshot, as the major parties’ front-runners remain unpopular. When other pollsters this year asked people to describe President Biden, the most common labels were “old” and “confused,” while former president Donald Trump was viewed as “corrupt” and “dishonest.”
Similar sentiments abound in Door County, a slice of peninsula between Green Bay and Lake Michigan with a stubborn independent streak. It’s the swingiest place in the perennial battleground of Wisconsin and one of nine U.S. counties that has backed every presidential election’s winner since 2000.
How many times has your county picked the winner of the presidential election?
Door County, Wis., has voted for the winning presidential candidate six times since 2000.
2020 Joe Biden ✔
2016 Donald Trump ✔
2012 Barack Obama ✔
2008 Barack Obama ✔
2004 eorge W. Bush ✔
2000 George W. Bush ✔
In interviews this fall with The Washington Post, dozens of residents in the community of roughly 30,000 said they’re tired of America’s turmoil. The pandemic and inflation have already rattled folks, and the broader political backdrop — the impeachments, Trump’s torrent of falsehoods about the 2020 election, the Capitol insurrection, the band of hard-right Republicans ousting their speaker — has blocked out notice of what both sides cast as accomplishments, such as the billions of dollars poured into updating the nation’s roads, bridges and ports. Even as the economy grows at the strongest pace in two years, and jobs continue to proliferate, signs of progress are easy to miss amid what voters see as screaming matches.
They long for compromise. They want to feel heard and understood. Most Americans, for instance, desire access to abortion, tighter restrictions on guns and affordable health care. Many wonder why our laws don’t reflect that.
The emerging choices for the 2024 race further sour the mood. Support for Trump in Door County tends to be stronger in the south, a redder expanse of dairy farms, while Biden is more embraced in the north, a bluer enclave of lakefront vacation homes. A common curiosity, however, unites Republicans and Democrats: Why aren’t there better options?
Nichols, a 58-year-old caregiving service manager in the city of Sturgeon Bay, sees Biden as “not super impressive” at a time when she aches to be reassured. She wants a leader who can bring the sparring factions together — a feat no one seems to be close to accomplishing. (Her favorite thing about Biden, though: “He’s not always in the news.”) Trump, on the other hand, was guilty of “mean girl behavior,” she thought, picking fights with even his own party while racking up criminal charges.
The government in general reminded her of the reality series “Big Brother” — “with all the lies and deals behind the scenes.”
“You don’t know where to turn or who to believe,” she said.
A self-described middle-of-the-road voter, Nichols recalled feeling calmer during Barack Obama’s administration, when Washington dysfunction seemed less glaring. Or at least less in her face. Now, she resented having to fret about her rising grocery bill and potential government shutdowns.
“Yeah, you’re really going through it with frustration,” the psychic told her.
Nichols nodded.
“You’ve got to accept people for how they show up,” the psychic continued. “You can’t expect more from them.”
People walk through Sister Bay in Door County, Wis., on Oct. 11.
Passing the baton
Susan Kohout saw herself in the leading candidates, which was why she thought, “What are they doing?”
At 77, the retired teacher is the same age as Trump. She’s three years younger than Biden. And she had been telling people plainly: It was time to prepare for the final chapter of her life.
“When are you moving?” her physical therapist asked one morning while Kohout, prone on a padded exam table, tested out a new sleep position.
“Next July,” she replied, wedging a pillow between her knees.
She and her husband planned to join their younger son in Arkansas. They didn’t want to leave Door County — their community of four decades, their ranch house in the woods — but the couple worried about the frailties of old age. Kohout used to drive four hours round-trip to care for her mother. She didn’t want her two kids to inherit the same long-distance burden.
“I don’t think these men should be running again.” – Susan Kohout
She thought of this during her PT session, moving through exercises to keep her mobile longer — “It feels like there are marbles rolling around my left knee,” she remarked — and at meetings with the nonpartisan League of Women Voters, which is tasked with boosting civic engagement. Kohout, an independent, served as head of the local chapter.
“I don’t think these men should be running again,” she told members. “They won’t be around to see the consequences of their decisions.”
Biden and Trump should pass the baton to someone who connects with younger generations, she thought. Sticking around as their approval ratings sag is a blow to collective morale.
One of the league’s outreach strategists brought a Washington Post article about Capitol Hill clashes to one of their October meetings and circled the phrase “trust deficit.”
Talking about Washington, they decided, isn’t the best way to nudge Door County voters to the polls. But when the group focused on hot-button issues, Kohout noticed, residents seemed eager to listen. Chairs filled up at their event focused on mental health and opioid addiction.
During her last nine months in charge, she planned to keep fostering those discussions.
“People see the candidates as distant,” Kohout said. “The issues are what they deal with every day.”
[To Be Continued – – –
with some more non-conventional opinions.
Part two of this article will publish Tuesday, December 19th]
About our Bellwether County series
Why we’re doing this series
As part of coverage exploring the views of voters in advance of the 2024 election, we are reporting on a county that has backed every presidential winner since 2000: Door County, Wis. The margins here have historically been narrow: In 2020, Joe Biden beat Donald Trump by 292 votes; four years earlier, Donald Trump bested Hillary Clinton by 558 votes.
How we chose Door County
Door is one of nine counties in the United States that have backed every presidential winner since 2000 and is located in what’s likely to be a key battleground state. The other bellwether counties are Delaware’s Kent; Minnesota’s Clay; Montana’s Blaine; New Hampshire’s Hillsborough; New York’s Essex and Saratoga; Virginia’s Chesapeake; and Washington’s Clallam.
More in this series
During their previous visit to Door County in August, national correspondent Danielle Paquette, national politics reporter Sabrina Rodriguez and staff photojournalist Carolyn Van Houten explored how the abortion debate was uniting voters who lean left while seeding discord among those who lean right.
Other W.P. Articles previously published on DoorDems.org:
First article “Door County Backed All Presidential Winners Since 2000”
published on Sept 11 and Sept 14
Second article “Door County Is A Key Battleground State”
