Dislike of both America’s presidential candidates is on full display in Iowa.
By Brent Griffiths
Along streets lined with American flags and among crowds decked out in every shade of the red, white, and blue, countless Iowans marked their Fourth of July by waiting patiently for parades to traverse their streets. But stop these patriots for a minute, ask them about the outlook for their country after November, and their glow slowly turns into gloom.
“This is what all the world is seeing right now, and frankly, it is embarrassing,” said 20-year-old Marissa Gordinier as she watched the Coralville Fourth of July Parade.
Faced with the most unpopular major-party presidential candidates in history, according to polling, Iowans and a large number of their fellow countrymen and women express all the enthusiasm of a child going to the dentist. In interviews with a dozen possible voters, The Daily Iowan found some optimism but a large amount of distaste for both of the candidates.
Joel Nasby, a 57-year-old Desert Storm veteran from a family rich with military service, expressed dismay over former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s private email server during her time at the State Department. The self-described independent said that if forced to choose between Clinton and businessman Donald Trump, he would pick Trump. But he finds flaws in both of them.
“I love our country, and having served in the military … it seems to be slipping away from where it was 20 or 30 years ago,” he said. “I’m disappointed in all of the candidates.”
On Tuesday, after interviews took place for this story, FBI Director James Comey said the agency would not recommend criminal charges against Clinton despite finding a handful of classified emails on her server. Of those interviewed who were wary of Clinton, the email situation was a frequent point of contention.
The dislike of both major candidates mirrors a nation feeling unprecedented disgust with major candidates in a presidential election. According to a FiveThirtyEight study of polls from late March to late April, 37 percent of Americans have not just an unfavorable view of Clinton but a strongly unfavorable one. But disdain for Clinton is widely surpassed by Trump, who elicited an off-the-chart 53 percent strongly unfavorable rating during the same span.
“I’m optimistic if she [Clinton] gets into the White House,” said Mille Cook of Oxford. “If Trump gets in, though, it’s going to get scary.”
Jodie Theobald of Iowa City added she is embarrassed that Trump, who is all but certain to be the Republican nominee, has made it this far.
Despite Trump’s disapproval rating, a number of interviewees expressed admiration for him. His success, and to a lesser extent that of Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, illustrates that it is high time for elites to take notice, said Lori Roller of Oxford, Iowa.
“People are being heard, and I think the politicians need to listen to that,” she said while gazing at her town’s Independence Day Parade.
A former reality TV star on NBC’s “The Apprentice,” Trump has used his entertainment background throughout his campaign, highlighted by his rambling, off-the-cuff speaking style that veers from topic to topic, sometimes shifting gears in the middle of a sentence. His unconventional approach netted wall-to-wall coverage on cable TV as networks were glued to who would be the target of Trump’s next insult or antic. Such a spectacle, said 28-year-old Ben Murga of Des Moines, has left him feeling a lot less concrete in his love for America.
“It’s all focused on the show,” he said. “It makes [my patriotism] feel a lot less sincere and makes the election into another show on TV.”
While there was plenty of pessimism to go around on the holiday weekend, Brian McKillip of Iowa City said he was just happy to live in a country in which people could express their frustrations with any candidate.
“I still think that America is the greatest country in the world,” he said. “It is nice to have the ability to complain about both candidates.”