(Lauren Green / Ideastream Public Media)
At 74 years old, Susan Hohs has voted in dozens of elections. But none of them, she said, compare in tone to the last three presidential cycles that have included Donald J. Trump.
"I think it's only getting worse," Hohs said. "And I don't like it at all. It's mean-spirited. It's wrong."
As America gears up for results in the match-up between former President Trump, the Republican candidate, and Vice President Kamala Harris, a Democrat, Tuesday, heated political rhetoric is seemingly at every turn.
In recent weeks, Trump has called Harris "mentally impaired" and a "sh** vice president," while Harris has mocked Trump's statement that he is the "father of IVF" and laughed at his assertion during the presidential debate in September that he had a "concept of a plan" for health care.
Voters like Hohs, a retired nurse living in Northfield, Ohio, say they are tired of it.
A 2019 Pew Research Center study found that 85% of Americans say political debate in the U.S. has become less respectful. In May, 62% told pollsters they were already worn out by so much coverage of the campaign and candidates.
So, if people are so burned out, why do politicians go with it?
Because it often works, said Kyle Kondik, of the University of Virginia’s Center for Politics.
"We can talk about politics like it's supposed to be... this sort of like Kumbaya, everyone-gets-along sort of thing," said Kondik, the managing editor of Sabato’s Crystal Ball, the center's nonpartisan newsletter on American campaigns and elections. "But parties want to win."
Vicious campaigns are not new. Kondik pointed to the election of 1800 where incumbent President John Adams’ people said Vice President Thomas Jefferson would openly promote prostitution, incest and adultery.
Jefferson’s supporters claimed Adams wanted to be king and called him fat, nicknaming him “His Rotundity” — which stuck. Even today if you Google the moniker, Adams comes up.
"I guess then the question too is... is Trump more blatant and worse than what has come before? And I think there you could make compelling arguments that he is," Kondik said. "But again, I don't think that American politics was this just sort of... civil happy-go-lucky thing prior to Trump either."
But some voters say the tone today is different.
"I'm worried that there's no way to put that crap back into Pandora's Box," said Leonard Rose, a 75-year-old living in Fairlawn, Ohio. "Stuff has been released, and I don't know how you get over it."
Polls show a majority of Americans think divisive rhetoric from politicians and their bases can be dangerous and raises the risk of political violence.
"We need somebody to bring down rhetoric," said Paul Ringold, a 46-year-old registered Republican from Warren, Ohio. "You know, the tensions, the racial tensions, all that we're we're experiencing in this country. It's just, you know, to me, at limits. I mean, people are road raging. I mean, just fighting and killing. I mean, it's just too much."
Ringold said he voted for Trump in 2016 and Biden in 2020. With concerns over the economy, he said he may overlook Trump’s inflammatory language and vote for him.
Voters didn’t always have to choose. In 2008, audience members at a town hall forum called Democrat Barack Obama an Arab who associated with domestic terrorists. His opponent, Republican Senator John McCain shut that down.
"He's a decent, family man, citizen that I just happen to have disagreements with on fundamental issues, and that's what this campaign is all about," McCain said.
McCain lost.
And so did Republican Roy Depew who last year faced off in a friendly mayoral race in Canton, Ohio against his former high school classmate Bill Sherer.
"I think that everybody should take a page out of our book and start running on what we ran on, which were the issues, and... care about what's going on with the community," Depew said.
Depew said he has no regrets about how he ran that campaign.
"When you're too busy bashing the other person... you're really not getting any points. You're losing people's interest in making people angry at each other," Depew said. "There's no reason for it."
The only remedy, Depew said, may be kindness — and getting out to vote.
Election Day is November 5.
This story originally aired on WKSU/Ideastream Public Media on Nov. 4, 2024.