(AFP) – Inflation, the cost of gasoline and food, rising rents: for Las Vegas voters heading to the polls on Tuesday to choose between Donald Trump and Kamala Harris, the cost of living was paramount.
“Here, since COVID, the cost of living has gone out of control,” said Lee Lovett, who works in a video equipment store in the city. “There’s people that they have to live three people to a household… because they can’t afford to have a home on their own. Young married couples can’t afford to live by themselves.”
Las Vegas is the biggest city — and biggest concentration of votes — in must-win Nevada, one of seven battleground states that are expected to determine the election winner. Its economy is almost entirely dependent on entertainment, such as sporting events, glitzy shows, quickie weddings, and casinos. All of it came to a shuddering halt during the pandemic, leaving tens of thousands of people with virtually no income. When the economy reopened, the inflation that plagued the rest of the country was very keenly felt here, with rocketing rents and soaring grocery bills that have left many people struggling.
Michael Pidding, a military veteran who moved to Las Vegas seven years seeking somewhere cheaper to live than his former home of Seattle, looks back fondly on the pre-pandemic times. He told AFP he is voting to go back to the Trump years. “I lived through the four years that he was in office before and everything was low,” the 79-year-old said. “Gas prices were low, groceries, everything, the economy was roaring.”
It’s economics that have led 18-year-old Amy Rivera to her decision but a different one. Heading to her first presidential election wrapped in a US flag, the young Latina says she will be casting her ballot for Harris. “She promises incentives for people who are going to buy a house for the first time, something that my brother and I want to do one day, as well as helping students with their college payments.”
A recent survey by Emerson College found that for 37 percent of potential voters in Nevada, the economy was the most important issue, while housing was the second.
**- ‘Promises’ -**
Democrats have won Nevada in the last four presidential elections, although with increasingly narrow margins. Joe Biden bagged its six electoral college votes with a wafer-thin majority of 33,500 votes in 2020. Pollsters are predicting another photo finish this time around, with the state in a technical tie after months of frenzied campaigning by both sides, including multiple visits from Harris and Trump. Both have pledged to get rid of taxes on tips — a measure that is popular in a place where the service industry is such a large employer.
For Gina Sanders, who works in a casino and voted for Harris on Tuesday, it is vital that whoever wins sticks to this pledge. “The most important thing is… each candidate just needs to deliver on their promises,” she said.
– Paula RAMON
© 2024 AFP
