Politics
Why Nevada Latinos Are Losing Faith in Government
Las Vegas is best known for its glittering casinos along the Strip, but it is also a perennial political battleground. That is partly because it is a transient region inside a transient state — a place where people move in and out with rapid speed, adding a new crop of voters with every election cycle.
Adding to that volatility is the fact that the state’s demographics skew young, and that the number of new voter registrations keep growing. Much of that growth comes from Hispanic voters, who make up more than 20 percent of the Nevada electorate.
For nearly two decades, Nevada Democrats have eked out wins in the state, making it an essential part of the path to win the White House. But Democrats’ popularity here has slipped recently. Latino voters frequently cite the economy and housing as their top concerns, and many say they are deeply frustrated with the party they once supported.
A Struggling Economy
No other issue is as important in Las Vegas as the economy: Spend a few minutes with any voter and they will tell you about the price of groceries or gas or rent or electricity — or all of the above.
Working-class voters are especially concerned about the cost of housing, with renters struggling to keep up with their monthly payments and increasingly seeing homeownership as out of reach.
Livier Maxwell, a 41-year-old stay-at-home mother, moved from San Diego to Las Vegas more than a decade ago largely because she believed that the economic opportunities would be better. Here, her family can comfortably live on her husband’s salary alone.
Ms. Maxwell says she plans to enthusiastically vote for former President Donald J. Trump this year, because she believes he will help improve the economy.
“Things were better for me when he was in office, I had more money in the bank,” she said.
The pandemic particularly ravaged Las Vegas, as casinos on the Strip shut down for months in 2020 and brought the economy, dependent on tourism, to a standstill. Though the situation has dramatically improved from four years ago, when roughly 90 percent of the members of the powerful Culinary Workers Union were out of work, many workers say they haven’t recovered.
Suldenil Alvarez-Loriga, 45, emigrated from Cuba nearly a decade ago, coming to Las Vegas because she had seen the glittering Strip in TV shows. But in recent years, Ms. Alvarez-Loriga has been shocked to see she needs to hold down two or three jobs just to pay her bills.
“I have to work all the time, with no time to see my family,” she said. “But what other choice do I have?”
For weeks now, Ms. Alvarez-Loriga has joined other members of the Culinary Workers Union, including Joleen Reyes, who works at the Cosmopolitan hotel, knocking on doors to drum up support for Vice President Kamala Harris and other Democrats.
“I think she understands what we are going through, and will make it better for people like us,” Ms. Reyes said.
Politics
How Red and Blue America Shop, Eat and Live
There are thousands of golf courses in the United States. You can find them in every state, in nearly every county; there’s probably one near you.
Take all those data points, and you can see that there are more golf courses for every 100,000 voters in redder neighborhoods than in blue ones.
There are also thousands of breweries in the U.S., but they’re much more concentrated on the coasts and in urban areas.
The brewery-to-voter ratio is much higher in some of the country’s bluest precincts, where Joe Biden won the vote in 2020.
You can’t tell how people vote just by whether they enjoy a drink at a brewery or a round of golf. But the geographic distribution of these two places shows how much our surroundings differ, often unintentionally, along political lines.
It’s not just golf and brewing: People in America’s reddest neighborhoods see a different landscape of stores, restaurants and venues when they step outside their homes than those in more politically even precincts or the very bluest areas.
We wanted to look at this relationship between politics and the places around us. So, using data from the Overture Maps Foundation, we took the location of millions of different stores, restaurants, churches, parks and more and lined them up with the 2020 election results, down to the precinct.
We don’t know who goes to each place. But we know how the neighborhoods surrounding each locale vote.
The results are sometimes obvious: Yoga studios and cocktail bars skew toward deeply blue spaces, and gun stores and farms toward redder precincts. But they show how our politics, geography and lives intersect, not always in obvious ways.
In many cases, these graphs look the way they do largely because of the urban-rural divide. Certain activities, like golf, need space, and the more rural parts of the country tend to vote for Republicans. Meanwhile, a small, Democratic-leaning urban area might be a commercial hub for a redder county, with a brewery, coffee shop and bookstore; those businesses would look blue in our data set even if they were frequented equally by Republicans and Democrats.
“The placement of businesses is probably motivated primarily by income level and population density,” said Nick Rogers, a sociology professor at the University of Pittsburgh. “It just so happens that an area’s political ideology is highly correlated with these things.”
Some places, of course, are just everywhere:
And some kinds of places don’t fit easily into one bucket or the other.
Consider Baptist churches: A majority of the tens of thousands of these churches in the U.S. are in the South. That means they’re heavily concentrated in both Republican neighborhoods and largely Black, heavily Democratic areas. The resulting distribution looks like this:
Wineries, too, show a double hump. You can see that in California alone — with wine production clustered along both its bluer coastline and the redder Central Valley.
For many brands, the partisan map emerges from the regional footprint of the business. Piggly Wiggly mostly serves redder states in the South, while Food Lion is spread across a more politically varied area in the Southeast.
But the maps cut across people and places in different ways. A liberal voter in Los Angeles may have never heard of Piggly Wiggly. But it’s also possible that person has never heard of Stop & Shop, a supermarket in the bluer Northeast.
Other brands that aren’t so regionally clustered have expanded in pursuit of the clientele they already know. For example, Whole Foods, Peet’s Coffee and the upscale sportswear brand Lululemon have a high-earning urban customer base.
The Overture data in this analysis reflects businesses and places that have logged their locations on either Meta or Microsoft platforms; the data is imperfect and includes mislabeled locations and closed stores. But this is the best publicly available data set of its kind, and it lets us see patterns in the data that aren’t captured by surveys of consumer preference.
Here’s a roundup of them.
Fast food
One fast food chain in many deep blue precincts is Popeyes. The chicken purveyor is found in many Southern cities but also across the West Coast and up and down I-95.
Its competitor Chick-fil-A — despite an early 2010s controversy over gay rights — is also in many blue areas.
Among the chains found in redder places are Tennessee-based Hardee’s and Oklahoma-based Sonic.
And Burger King, like McDonald’s, is everywhere.
Coffee shops
Starbucks is by far the nation’s largest coffee chain, and while it might feel as if it’s everywhere, it hews toward slightly denser locations.
Some smaller coffee chains have a more significant skew. West Coast chains like Blue Bottle and Peet’s Coffee are common in some of the bluest areas; the largest chain in our data with a strong presence in redder areas is Scooter’s Coffee.
Breakfast spots
IHOP neighborhoods are bluer than those around the largely Midwestern restaurant Bob Evans. Huddle House is the major breakfast chain with the highest frequency in red areas in our data.
Convenience stores
7-Eleven started in Texas, but it has since spread across many blue places.
Regional convenience store chains in redder areas include Casey’s General Store and Allsup’s.
Religious institutions
The headquarters of the Mormon Church are in blue Salt Lake City. But it has many temples in rural parts of the Mountain West.
First Congregational Church, on the other hand, is a common name for a church in the United Church of Christ, a socially liberal Protestant denomination common in New England.
First United Methodist churches are in redder areas:
Hindu and Buddhist temples are both typically in more liberal areas.
Professionals
Occupations also have recognizable patterns in our data, probably in large part because of the rural-urban political divide.
Some professions lend themselves to cities:
Others, to the countryside:
And yet others can find business just about anywhere:
Leisure
A lot of the activities we do for fun also map across politics.
Services
Even basic services follow similar patterns. Fire departments skew red because they have to be everywhere, regardless of how many people live there. Even a small, rural area needs a fire department. When you consider population density, you get this:
Elementary schools, meanwhile, are more population dependent.
Train stations, including those with subway stops, tend to be in more urban areas.
And propane suppliers, though everywhere, typically have more business in rural areas, farther from natural gas pipelines.
Taken together, the patterns are a reminder of how big and varied the country is — in its places and its politics.
You can explore the distribution of 100 large coffee chains, grocery stores, shops and other places below.
See More: Political Geography of 100 Large American Businesses
Politics
Alaska, Iowa, Montana, 7 other states end early in-person voting on Monday
Ten more states are wrapping up their early in-person voting periods on Monday as the country sits on the eve of Election Day.
Here is everything you need to know to cast an early ballot in Alaska, Arkansas, Colorado, Iowa, Indiana, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Rhode Island and Wyoming.
Montana’s hotly contested Senate race
Montana is a Republican stronghold at the presidential level, but it also hosts one of the most competitive Senate races in the country this cycle. Incumbent Democratic Sen. Jon Tester faces Republican Tim Sheehy in a race where Trump’s popularity and Sheehy’s discipline gives the GOP an edge. It’s Lean R on the Power Rankings.
Other key down-ballot races in today’s states
- Alaska’s at-large district: In 2022, moderate Democrat Mary Peltola pulled off a historic upset when she beat former Gov. Sarah Palin in the final round of the state’s ranked choice ballot tabulation. This year, Republicans hope that second-time candidate Nick Begich will return the state to GOP hands. Peltola has made the fishing industry a focal point of her campaign; Begich is focusing on energy policy. This race was last ranked Lean D on the Fox News Power Rankings.
- Iowa’s 1st District: Second-term GOP Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks won this seat by six votes in 2020, and while redistricting gave her a more comfortable win in the midterms, she remains vulnerable in the Davenport and Iowa City district. Former state Rep. Christina Bohannan is the Democrat candidate. It’s a toss-up in the Power Rankings.
SLOTKIN SLAMS FELLOW DEM BIDEN FOR ‘GARBAGE’ GAFFE AMID HEATED SENATE BATTLE
- Iowa’s 3rd District: The southern 3rd District is represented by Republican Rep. Zach Nunn, who flipped the seat during the midterms. It was another close race, with 2,145 votes separating him and his Democrat opponent. This year, he’s up against Democrat Lanon Baccam, who recently worked at the U.S. Department of Agriculture. This is a Lean R race.
- Colorado’s 3rd District: The 3rd District stretches across most of western Colorado. Thanks to a largely rural working-class population (Aspen is the exception), it’s been safely Republican for over a decade. But in 2022, the race came down to just 546 votes. Incumbent Rep. Lauren Boebert is moving to safer Republican turf this year, making this a race between her former Democratic challenger, Adam Frisch, and Republican attorney Jeff Hurd. It’s Lean R on the rankings.
TRUMP CALLS FOR SUPPORTS TO ‘FORGIVE’ BIDEN IN SHOW OF UNITY AFTER PRESIDENT CALLS SUPPORTERS ‘GARBAGE’
- Colorado’s 8th District: The 8th District starts in rural Weld County, where Trump won by 18 points in 2020. But the further down you go, the more suburban it becomes. Strong Democratic turnout in Adams County, which Biden won by 16 points, gave Democratic Rep. Yadira Caraveo her first win in 2022. This time, the incumbent is up against Republican state politician Gabe Evans. This is a toss-up race.
- Indiana’s 1st District: Democrat Rep. Frank Mrvan has held this northwest Indiana district since the last presidential election; he won it by 5.6 points in the midterms. This year, he faces Republican Lake County Councilman Randy Niemeyer. It shifted from Lean D to Likely D in the Power Rankings.
- Montana’s 1st District: Montana’s 1st Congressional District is the less Republican of the two; incumbent GOP Rep. Ryan Zinke took it by a slim three-point margin in the midterms. He has an edge in this western district established just two years ago following redistricting, and will compete against the same Democrat he faced two years prior: Olympic rower Monica Tranel. It’s a Lean R race.
How to vote in Alaska, Arkansas, Colorado, Iowa, Indiana, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Rhode Island, Wyoming
Voters who have received their mail-in ballot have until Nov. 5 to deliver it to state officials. Monday is the final day for early in-person voting.
Politics
Who needs Trump or Harris? In hotly contested states, it was time for football
PHILADELPHIA and GREEN BAY, WIS. — A bird beak perched on his nose, a Philadelphia Eagles’ fan expressed his disdain for the day’s opponent by dragging a Jacksonville Jaguars helmet on the ground by a leash.
Nearly 1,000 miles northwest, green and yellow Green Bay Packers flags punctured the otherwise dreary, rainy gray skies, as the Wisconsin faithful replaced their trademark cheesehead hats with ponchos and tried to stay dry under pop-up tents before their contest with the Detroit Lions.
On Sunday, two days before the election, in two of the nation’s most closely divided states that will determine control of the White House, football took center stage for fans who also happen to be voters.
Over cheesesteaks and Yuengling beer in Philadelphia and an inordinate variety of sausages and Miller Lite cans in Green Bay, fans were trying to put their election anxiety on hold for a few hours of tailgating and four quarters of football.
Watching the game in person meant they could escape the nonstop attack ads that have blanketed battleground states for months with increasing intensity ahead of election day on Tuesday.
“I stopped watching TV, and it’s almost impossible to listen to the radio, because you want to try to try to get a moment of peace, and you just can’t get it,” said Tim Ellsworth, 63, who lives in a suburb of Green Bay and was tailgating across from Lambeau Field.
The retiree, who previously ran paper mills, is a supporter of former President Trump, but he’s sick of the politicking by politicians on both sides of the aisle.
“It’s just who can lie more? You can’t believe any of it from either side. It’s just pathetic on either side,” he said.
A friend and fellow Packers-Trump fan whom he had been tailgating with since 10 a.m. unsteadily waved a bottle of beer and showed off rounds of spent shotgun shells to a reporter before asking Ellsworth what Trump had lied about.
“It’s all the way through,” Ellsworth replied. “All the way. At the Senate level, down to the local, state levels. They’re lying. So I just look forward to Tuesday.”
Dave Schofield, who wore the Eagle beak on his nose outside Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia, said he is anxious that Trump is blowing the election because “he can’t keep his mouth shut.”
“Some of the things he says, it’s all right to say it at a bar with your buddies, but you don’t say that stuff out loud,” said Schofield, a 63-year-old chemical salesman.
But Schofield and his friends weren’t stewing or scanning the latest polling averages on Sunday.
“Everybody’s worried more about the game today,” said his friend Everett Terry, a 65-year-old police officer who posted a “Trump Safety/Kamala Crime” placard on his truck. On Monday, he said, they can get wound up about politics again, then wait like everyone else for Tuesday’s results.
Despite the country’s political polarization, many people in these tailgate groups weren’t even sure who their football friends were supporting.
“We’re here to talk about the Eagles,” said Mike Warren, a 67–year old supporter of Vice President Kamala Harris in the same tailgate group as Schofield and Terry.
Warren was more eager to show off the green illustrations on the van he bought this year with his brother, with images of LeSean McCoy and other Eagles legends making spectacular catches.
But underneath, Warren is also scared.
Trump “will go against whatever the rules say that he should do,” said Warren, who works in human resources. “The majority says one thing, he disagrees. He finds a way to get around it. That’s what scares me.”
Steve Rostloch, a 41-year-old carpet installer from Mequon near Milwaukee, is a Harris supporter and said he expected to her to win.
“She’s a woman. Women always win,” he said. “I ain’t voting for that idiot.”
But if Eagle and Packers fans shared anything, it’s the recognition that Trump and Harris remain neck and neck.
“I’m hoping Trump wins, but I don’t know. This is tough to say. I mean, it seems like it’s very close in so many places,” Cyle Wanek, 42, said outside Lambeau Field.
Wanek grew up so close to Lambeau that he could hear the crowds roaring as a child. His dad entered the family into the season-ticket lottery more than two decades ago. They finally got their season tickets last year.
Grilling cheddar wieners from Konop Meats near Stangelville — “Go there for meat!” Wanek advised — the aluminum foundry worker said he predicted the Packers would win by 20 but was uncertain who is going to prevail on Tuesday. (His prediction would prove as suspect as some polls.)
Camaraderie among fans of rival teams was also on display Sunday, though with a sharp dose of ribbing.
Mike Kleczka, 60, and his wife, Debbie, a nurse, grew up in Wisconsin. They live in Kansas, but said it was nice to take their mind of politics for a few hours as they tailgated with their daughter Rachel and her husband before the game.
“It is, because we’ll be back at it tomorrow, right?” Kleczka, a direct marketer, said.
While the family largely agrees on politics, the bigger rift is sports. Rachel, 23, married Josh Forgie, 26, a Michigan native who was wearing a blue Lions jersey in the sea of Packer green and yellow. They have had some interesting conversations around the dinner table, they chuckled.
“The Lions have kind of been easy to make fun of,” Kleczka said.
Forgie smiled as he shot back, “The five games we played you guys? We won.”
(This was a few hours before the Lions once again beat the Packers 24-14.)
In Philadelphia and Green Bay, overt political displays were rare, though
Tim Biegalski, a 26-year-old contractor from King of Prussia, Pa., wore the closest thing to a political jersey, a green shirt with a “Hurts/Barkley ’24” logo. For the uninitiated, that’s the team’s quarterback and running back, Jalen Hurts and Saquon Barkley.
He’s voting for Trump, after supporting President Biden four years ago and Trump in 2016, but calls this year’s election “a no-win situation.”
Biegalski hopes Trump wins. But unlike most fans asked whether they would prefer a White House or a Super Bowl victory, Biegalski said if he had to choose — in a city so passionate about sports that it was home to the first NFL stadium to have a jail built into in its bowels — he’d rather have another Eagles championship.
“Super Bowl all day,” he said. “That will bring more joy than the election.”
Bierman reported from Philadelphia, Mehta from Green Bay.
-
Health1 week ago
New cervical cancer treatment approach could reduce risk of death by 40%, trial results show
-
Sports1 week ago
Freddie Freeman's walk-off grand slam gives Dodgers Game 1 World Series win vs. Yankees
-
News1 week ago
Sikh separatist, targeted once for assassination, says India still trying to kill him
-
Culture1 week ago
Freddie Freeman wallops his way into World Series history with walk-off slam that’ll float forever
-
Technology1 week ago
When a Facebook friend request turns into a hacker’s trap
-
Business3 days ago
Carol Lombardini, studio negotiator during Hollywood strikes, to step down
-
Health4 days ago
Just Walking Can Help You Lose Weight: Try These Simple Fat-Burning Tips!
-
Business2 days ago
Hall of Fame won't get Freddie Freeman's grand slam ball, but Dodgers donate World Series memorabilia