Tuesday, November 1, 2016

US Voters Split in Crucial Battleground State of Pennsylvania

If Donald Trump wants to win the US presidency, his path to the White House will have to pass through Pennsylvania.

It's a disproportionately white, blue collar state full of old industrial cities where the Republican nominee's message on trade has played well.

But the latest polling shows Hillary Clinton's now ahead there - and our reporter Lorna Shaddick found that people there are split over the best way forward for the country.

IN: Littering the lawns...
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GENERIC: http://www.fsnradionews.com/feeds/1101pennvoters-ls-generic.mp3

Script:

Littering the lawns of the Lehigh valley in Pennsylvania… signs of a state, divided. Trump and Clinton posters pepper the front yards of houses on the road between Allentown and Bethlehem… sometimes, in houses right next door to one another. I've come to one area gallery where local artists have been reflecting the 2016 campaign through their work.


VO recorded on location at Allentown Art Museum

The Allentown Art Museum's never done anything quite like this exhibition, called Hues of Red and Blue. ever before. But when it put out a call for artists to respond to this election they had a big response, lots of different entries, photos, paintings and even video art as well. And there are a range of political views expressed in this exhibition, just as there will be a big range of political views expressed at the ballot box on the 8th November.


The Museum's President and CEO David Mickenberg says the gallery felt it had to do something to channel that range of opinions:


Q from Lorna - What was it about this particular campaign that made you feel there needed to be some kind of artistic response?


SOT - David Mickenberg, President and CEO, Allentown Art Museum

I think America's a very split society right now, it's a very divisive time, and this was a way for the museum to allow people to express themselves aesthetically as to where they stand on some of the issues which are being discussed. // I think Pennsylvania reflects the rest of America in being concerned about the level of discourse in the presidential campaign.


Just down the road from the gallery, abandoned factories show just why Pennsylvanians feel they have so much at stake in this election.


VO recorded on location in Bethlehem

Steel made here in Bethlehem PA used to be famous all over the world. It was steel manufactured in this plant that helped build the skyline of Manhattan and helped America win the war. And when Donald Trump talks about American jobs disappearing, it's places like this that he means. This used to be a thriving steel mill right up until the 1990s - now it's a parking lot, a casino, a hotel and a shopping centre. We're going to head inside and ask people what they think about Donald Trump's message.


Near the casino, we meet 66 year old, pink haired Colleen and her friends, here for a birthday celebration. They're keen to tell me just why they think the Republican candidate can help their area.


SOT - Colleen Benderawicz, 66

I like Donald because he says what he means. Right now, I agree with him, we need to make our country great again. Our country's not doing good.

Lorna - In Bethlehem, and in this part of Pennsylvania, what's gone wrong?

Theresa - There's no factories anymore. They kinda took our mill and they sent it down to Florida and from there it went over to China. This stuff isn't here no more. No mills,  no nothing.

Colleen - Looking at this building! No steel made here.

Colleen - The Mexicans, right? I don't begrudge anybody coming in here, but just like he made the comment - oh, the murderers, the rapists - they are bad hombres.

Rose - He's trying to reach the average individual and let them know, hey, he's just as normal as anybody else is, you know?


But in the shadow of the steel mill, I meet other Pennsylvanians who feel differently. The Respect Islamic graduate school has put on an exhibition of rare old Qurans to try and get people through the door and talking about their faith, at what they say is a time of deep polarisation. One Masters student, Hafza, says Trump's candidacy has changed the local atmosphere:


SOT - Hafza Turkyolu, Masters Student, Respect Graduate Centre

It reminds me of the days after 9/11. I was a little kid then so I don't know as much but I still remember the looks I would get, the insecurities I would feel, and I feel like those are back - especially in Pennsylvania. I still go back to New Jersey for my other studyings. I don't feel uncomfortable there, but in Pennsylvania I feel the responsibility to smile more, watch my actions more because of the looks we started to get again thanks to Mr. Trump.


VO recorded on location

This graduate centre and its Quran exhibition wants to bring people together and get them talking - not just about Islam but about faith and life in general, in what has been an unusually divisive and contested election campaign. And it feels like whoever wins the White House on the 8th November will have a similar task ahead of them - starting up dialogue and bringing people together across America, but especially in battleground states like this one, one of the most divided in a very divided America. Lorna Shaddick, Bethlehem, Pennsylvania.