Inside an LA polling station (4 of 6)
Story Transcript
CALIFORNIA VOTER: My name is Michael [“du-BA-sim”]. I currently work for Los Angeles [inaudible] and I am [inaudible] department. It was kind of a last-minute decision, to be honest. It was a very difficult decision. I favor someone who’s probably the more experienced [inaudible] I think Hillary Clinton’s got a little bit more experience having her husband being a past president. And I liked Clinton’s term as well. So I’m leaning more towards Hillary at the moment.
VOICE OF PAUL JAY, SENIOR EDITOR: In terms of policy, were there any policy issues that differentiated why you picked Clinton over Obama?
CALIFORNIA VOTER: Not really. I did like Obama wanting to stop the war, bring the boys back. I really back that decision. But I’m going for more experience, really, at this point. I think we need someone who’s really going to try and fix the mess we’re in right now.
JAY: You thought that Obama actually might bring troops home more quickly than she would.
CALIFORNIA VOTER: So he says, yeah.
JAY: So he says. You think when it comes to execution it won’t be all that different.
CALIFORNIA VOTER: You know, at this point in the process right now, there’s a lot of promises they’re throwing around, and you actually see what happens within the first year of office [inaudible] hold your breath and hope for the best that they’ll follow through with their words.
JAY: He’s talking about change—
CALIFORNIA VOTER: [uh huh]
JAY: –and he says fundamental change—
CALIFORNIA VOTER: [uh huh]
JAY: –But you didn’t actually buy the language, the rhetoric.
CALIFORNIA VOTER: Not really, no, no. It’s going to be more difficult than he thinks. To do as much change as he wants to do, he’s going to need three terms.
JAY: Now, your friends, there’s a lot of people getting very excited about Obama.
CALIFORNIA VOTER: Oh, yeah.
JAY: So amongst your friends there must be some pretty excited Obamans.
CALIFORNIA VOTER: Yeah. Uh-huh.
JAY: What do you make of that?
CALIFORNIA VOTER: I have a lot of friends that are voting for Obama. And they’re excited. It’s probably the fact that he’s an African-American going for president. So I think that’s what is going to be the most exciting factor right now, to see if he actually makes it in.
JAY: And does that excite you?
CALIFORNIA VOTER: His skin color doesn’t make any difference to me. That’s all. No.
JAY: Are you of Latino background?
CALIFORNIA VOTER: I have some Puerto Rican in me. My father’s Filipino-Chinese-Hispanic; my mom’s Puerto Rican-French-Caribbean. So a little bit of both.
JAY: The gender issue or the race issue had nothing to do with it for you?
CALIFORNIA VOTER: No, not really. I want someone who’s had experience.
JAY: In terms of your own economic situation, and where you work, does it deal with unemployed people?
CALIFORNIA VOTER: We deal with a lot of unemployed people. We deal with youth between 16 and 24 years old, job training. So we try to give them some direction. A lot of them are high school dropouts, some who come from provincial program. So we’re dealing with the workers, people who are making and building houses, and working in the nursing industry, or in our public transport system as well.
JAY: We’re heading, if predictions are correct, into a rather serious recession.
CALIFORNIA VOTER: Oh yeah.
JAY: An economic crisis will make it very difficult for the kind of people you’re dealing with.
CALIFORNIA VOTER: Uh huh.
JAY: Do you think these candidates are offering solutions that give you any hope?
CALIFORNIA VOTER: To be honest, I’m not familiarized. I’m not familiar with that subject and what their issues are with that topic.
JAY: With the economy.
CALIFORNIA VOTER: Yeah. Yeah.
JAY: Was there one issue that you were most concerned with?
CALIFORNIA VOTER: Not really. No. I was honestly just looking forward to having somebody with a lot of experience.
DISCLAIMER:
Please note that TRNN transcripts are typed from a recording of the program; The Real News Network cannot guarantee their complete accuracy.
Story Transcript
CALIFORNIA VOTER: My name is Michael [“du-BA-sim”]. I currently work for Los Angeles [inaudible] and I am [inaudible] department. It was kind of a last-minute decision, to be honest. It was a very difficult decision. I favor someone who’s probably the more experienced [inaudible] I think Hillary Clinton’s got a little bit more experience having her husband being a past president. And I liked Clinton’s term as well. So I’m leaning more towards Hillary at the moment.
VOICE OF PAUL JAY, SENIOR EDITOR: In terms of policy, were there any policy issues that differentiated why you picked Clinton over Obama?
CALIFORNIA VOTER: Not really. I did like Obama wanting to stop the war, bring the boys back. I really back that decision. But I’m going for more experience, really, at this point. I think we need someone who’s really going to try and fix the mess we’re in right now.
JAY: You thought that Obama actually might bring troops home more quickly than she would.
CALIFORNIA VOTER: So he says, yeah.
JAY: So he says. You think when it comes to execution it won’t be all that different.
CALIFORNIA VOTER: You know, at this point in the process right now, there’s a lot of promises they’re throwing around, and you actually see what happens within the first year of office [inaudible] hold your breath and hope for the best that they’ll follow through with their words.
JAY: He’s talking about change—
CALIFORNIA VOTER: [uh huh]
JAY: –and he says fundamental change—
CALIFORNIA VOTER: [uh huh]
JAY: –But you didn’t actually buy the language, the rhetoric.
CALIFORNIA VOTER: Not really, no, no. It’s going to be more difficult than he thinks. To do as much change as he wants to do, he’s going to need three terms.
JAY: Now, your friends, there’s a lot of people getting very excited about Obama.
CALIFORNIA VOTER: Oh, yeah.
JAY: So amongst your friends there must be some pretty excited Obamans.
CALIFORNIA VOTER: Yeah. Uh-huh.
JAY: What do you make of that?
CALIFORNIA VOTER: I have a lot of friends that are voting for Obama. And they’re excited. It’s probably the fact that he’s an African-American going for president. So I think that’s what is going to be the most exciting factor right now, to see if he actually makes it in.
JAY: And does that excite you?
CALIFORNIA VOTER: His skin color doesn’t make any difference to me. That’s all. No.
JAY: Are you of Latino background?
CALIFORNIA VOTER: I have some Puerto Rican in me. My father’s Filipino-Chinese-Hispanic; my mom’s Puerto Rican-French-Caribbean. So a little bit of both.
JAY: The gender issue or the race issue had nothing to do with it for you?
CALIFORNIA VOTER: No, not really. I want someone who’s had experience.
JAY: In terms of your own economic situation, and where you work, does it deal with unemployed people?
CALIFORNIA VOTER: We deal with a lot of unemployed people. We deal with youth between 16 and 24 years old, job training. So we try to give them some direction. A lot of them are high school dropouts, some who come from provincial program. So we’re dealing with the workers, people who are making and building houses, and working in the nursing industry, or in our public transport system as well.
JAY: We’re heading, if predictions are correct, into a rather serious recession.
CALIFORNIA VOTER: Oh yeah.
JAY: An economic crisis will make it very difficult for the kind of people you’re dealing with.
CALIFORNIA VOTER: Uh huh.
JAY: Do you think these candidates are offering solutions that give you any hope?
CALIFORNIA VOTER: To be honest, I’m not familiarized. I’m not familiar with that subject and what their issues are with that topic.
JAY: With the economy.
CALIFORNIA VOTER: Yeah. Yeah.
JAY: Was there one issue that you were most concerned with?
CALIFORNIA VOTER: Not really. No. I was honestly just looking forward to having somebody with a lot of experience.
DISCLAIMER:
Please note that TRNN transcripts are typed from a recording of the program; The Real News Network cannot guarantee their complete accuracy.