What These Swing Voters Have To Say About The 2024 Election 43:49

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Hello and welcome to the FiveThirtyEight Politics Podcast. I'm Galen Druk. For today's show, we're going to do something a little bit different. I'm on vacation this week, so we're going to share a couple interviews I did with voters in Simi Valley, California, back in late September. I was there covering the second Republican primary debate, talking to voters for a story that I was doing for ABC News.

We were in Simi Valley because it's the home of the Reagan Library and that's where the debate was. But the politics of the place are actually pretty fascinating and can tell us a lot about the state of the country today and even the upcoming 2024 election. And that's because of the actual political orientation of Simi Valley. So it's traditionally been conservative.

Actually, in the mid-2000s, a study of voting patterns found it was one of the most conservative cities in America, and it voted for the Republican candidate in every single presidential election since the town was incorporated in the 1960s. That is...

until 2020. So in that election, Simi Valley flipped for Joe Biden by less than one percentage point. This happened in part because of large demographic changes in the suburb that have happened there in Simi Valley, but also in suburbs across America. So Simi Valley's Hispanic and Asian populations have doubled over the last 30 years. And the share of residents with bachelor's degrees has also grown by more than half.

And those are strong indicators of voting for Democrats and are part of the reason that the suburbs have become more democratic in general.

But as we've seen in poll after poll this month, Joe Biden appears to be losing support amongst voters of color. And while Simi Valley is in California and therefore does not actually matter in terms of determining who wins the 2024 election because of the Electoral College, suburbs like Simi Valley in more competitive states like Arizona and Nevada in particular could go a long way to determining who

who does actually win the 2024 election, because these places are really on a knife's edge in terms of how they could go.

Also, I want to add here that these are just two interviews. They are two data points. They shouldn't be taken as representative of how everyone in Simi Valley or everyone in suburban America views things or how the election will turn out for that matter. But these interviews are examples of the complex or heterogeneous ways that people might be thinking heading into the 2024 election.

So with all of that, our first interview is with Susan and Rudy, a couple in their 40s with Hispanic backgrounds. You may hear their dogs also barking a little bit. I found them out in a park walking their dogs, and they were just about to pick up another dog that they were adopting later in the day. So here are Susan and Rudy and their two soon to be three dogs.

So have you been following the Republican primary at all? A tiny bit. Not as much as we probably should. And how about you? He talks to me about it every morning, about what he hears, what he sees. You know, he follows certain people. And what are your thoughts so far? Well, he vents out and tells me what he means. Well, specifically about the primaries, I mean, you know, we just...

Well, I don't know. I guess we're just kind of leaning toward the Trump side, you know? Yeah. Yeah. And why is that? We just like the way that things were going when he was in office. I mean, aside from COVID, that kind of threw a wrench into everything. Yeah. Aside from that, you know, you think things were things were going good.

And when we say that, again, of course, believe me, he has a way of saying things, right? That, you know, I was just telling him as a president, I just remember presidents speaking differently, right? But...

At the end of the day, he got things done and he put our country first, I feel, you know? And he's a business guy, so he really... It affected us. Even gas, just you see it in different things versus...

a president now, right? Again, we're the type of people that were Trump supporters, but whoever they choose as a president for us, okay, he's the new president. We respect him, right? Because he is our president. And we forget about, let's look into what he's going to do and let's support him. But when you start seeing things, what is it that you're really doing? If you're not doing anything, you're just speaking like, I don't know, I shouldn't say this, but like Obama. I love Obama and I love his wife.

I love them as a couple and everything. Very sweet president, but they're sweet and you can talk nice, but what do you do for the country? At the end, we all want the same thing, right? You know, somebody that brings us together, not apart, you know? And brings us together means economically we're doing good, right? Everybody's, but when it starts affecting your pocket or starts affecting different, then, I don't know, it's just everybody's,

stressed out, divided. Yeah. That's what I think. We hear a lot that, you know, Trump is the one dividing us, but we don't really see it that way, you know, because...

Both sides go pretty extreme with a lot of things, you know, and if you just kind of read between the lines and kind of see what's happening, it's like he's not dividing us. It's like we're dividing ourselves kind of. Yeah. And then things happen to the point where, believe me, we do care for the country. This is where we live. But when you start hearing things and things are voting and all that, we haven't voted, as sad as it is. And I know the whole meaning, well, one vote counts.

I don't know. How can you? Does your vote really even count? Like, does this stuff even matter? I don't know. It's just, yeah. I mean, have you voted in any recent elections? Yeah, we voted in the last one. We voted for Trump.

Who did you vote for in 2020? Trump. Trump, yeah. And did you vote in the primary as well? No. No. How about in when it was Obama and, you know, McCain or Romney? Who did you support in those elections?

I voted for Obama. You voted for Obama? Yeah, well, because he, I like him. And until this day, I think he's, when I talk about Obama, I say he's a nice guy. Yeah. You know, but you don't want to say that about your president. You want to say, you know, like back our past presidents, right?

Like, what did they do for your country? But for me, Obama, he was just, he's a nice guy. Him and his wife, his family, it's a nice people. And then you voted for Trump in 2016 and 2020? No, in 2020, I voted for Trump. And who did you vote for in 2016? I don't think we voted. I didn't vote. And what do you think about the Biden presidency so far?

He's a nice old man. You know? I'm sure he means good, but we just need somebody up there who can take charge. And really, what are we doing for our country? Like, he might be a little too old, you know? Yeah. And... I don't know. I guess I just, I don't really see him focusing a whole lot on, like, us as Americans. He's very, I don't know. And again, I don't,

know a whole lot. I don't read too much into, you know, like, all the details. But, yeah, it just seems like he's very focused on kind of foreign relations and stuff like that. And, like, we have a lot of struggles going on here, you know, that still can be fixed or, you know, improved at least. Like, yeah. What are the issues that are most important to you? I don't know. For me, it's more of, I think, just let people...

think for themselves like you know and I feel like the media the new technology yeah no offense it's okay it's okay I can take it I can take it it just it just divides people with saying things that weren't said or bringing stuff um I don't know I I think I was telling Rudy but you're asking the wrong girl because I in my perfect life right if we could just all we're all humans like let's

care that humanity for each other. Like you said earlier, it doesn't matter where you come from, what you are, what we're just, we're all humans. But I feel the media technology has just separated us.

saying the wrong things sometimes. Don't get me wrong, there's issues that need to be corrected, but sometimes they over... it just creates more separation. And what are the... what issues are most important to you? I guess probably the economy.

only because that directly affects our everyday life, you know, our work-life balance and all of that stuff, you know, things that we can and can't do. It all comes down to affordability and what the economy is doing, you know, if gas prices are too high, we can't travel too much or, you know, this and that, food prices, everything, you know, so I guess the economy. What has your experience of the economy been like lately?

Just that we've definitely noticed an increase in prices everywhere, you know, from gas to fast food to groceries. It's just prices are just up all over the place. Have you, I mean, this is a personal question, but do you feel like your wages are increasing as well? Or do you feel like they aren't keeping up? Um...

Well, I mean, they have increased, but I feel like we work so hard. I work with customers and they do tell us, like I said, why can't you make your payment? You know, let me help you. And they're like, what's the reasoning you're behind? Well, just the economy. You know, you go to the groceries and our bills are higher than they used to because one little thing, this little thing, that thing, it all adds up.

I said, I understand, but, you know, everybody's in different situations. We see economy, but then we just work harder. He's studying extra just so he can get to the next level to pay more. So we just...

have to work, I think, harder just so we can keep getting paid more. To maintain. To maintain. He was just telling me that the hourly wage might go up to 20-something. I'm like, wow, we had to get a degree and all that just to pay. Yeah, we had heard recently that California specifically, I guess, is trying to, over the next few years, they're trying to increase their minimum wage to like 20 bucks.

And I was like, man, I had to have my degree and three promotions before I made $20 an hour. So, you know, but it's not bad. It's just, you know, I think there's nothing wrong with increasing minimum wage and stuff like that. I have no problem with that. But it's like at the rate that they're increasing, our salaries don't increase at that same rate. Exactly. And also, it's like when you do stuff like that,

You know, you hear a lot of complaining and I guess people forget that minimum wage jobs aren't meant to be careers. You know, they're not supposed to be forever jobs and, you know, buying a house on minimum wage and stuff. That wasn't really a thing. Yeah, we barely bought our house. You know, we have kids, you know, that are...

that are teenagers making this money and you know since they still live at home they got all kinds of money in the bank. And you're wondering well it seems like you guys are doing fine because you're getting a third dog and everything but see I have to cut down from okay I won't do my nails I won't do my eyelashes there's stuff I cut down on right so that we can get a third dog so that we can still pay our bills and you just don't get me wrong times are hard but you just have to

Yeah. Yeah. Change things out then. And I'm curious, is there anyone in the Democratic Party that you would consider voting for today? Are you pretty settled on voting Republican in the next election? No, we... There was... I forgot his name, but we considered him. No, but he's also running Republican. DeSantis. You're considering DeSantis? Yeah. Yeah. And what do you like about DeSantis? Um...

The way he's been running Florida has been good, you know, with the education system, you know, and kind of not allowing certain things, you know, for kids. It's like, I don't know, we've always felt that kids have a hard enough time growing up just being kids. You know, it's like, and now you throw all of the...

You know, the LGB ideologies on them and stuff like that. It's like, well, let them be kids first, you know. And DeSantis, we feel that he feels like that. You know, so that's kind of a big thing too. Yeah. Let them decide. Let them grow up and then tell us, right? Because we have a daughter and we're going through that, so we understand. But what we feel is just don't force things on people. Let them...

how they feel, you know? Yeah. And then we go from there. Like, if I can ask, what is it that you're going through? Well, you know, just with our daughter. And we understand. But as parents, right, we just want to make sure that nothing is being influenced, that it's something out of you. Yeah, because kids are highly influential, right? If you show them a Superman movie, they're going to want to be Superman. They want to fit in. They want to be part. If you show them anything. Yeah. So, I mean, we have...

Friends, you know, couples, you know, men, men, women, women. We're all, it's just, we want to make sure that everything is on you. Nothing is being forced on you. Yeah. I'm curious, you know, I think that for a long time, Democrats have assumed that Hispanic Americans are going to vote for Democrats. And we saw in...

2020 that there was a shift towards Republicans. Now, I don't know how you identify. Are you Hispanic Americans? We're Hispanic, yeah. And what's your sort of background, if I can ask? I'm Guatemalan. And I'm Mexican and Filipino. And so what do you think about that relationship sort of between the Hispanic community and Democrats and the Hispanic community and now Republicans as well? Well, I guess we feel...

Like we support more on the more conservative side because, you know, we believe in like hard work and just working our way up to where we want to be in life without. We teach our kids that. Without depending a whole lot on the government. Of course, we love. Yeah. We love health, right? We're not against it. Yeah, it's very hard because I have a sister who has special needs. And I think, right, for that kind of help.

But we feel like Democrats, or at least, you know, in our sphere of, you know, people we see, that they depend too much on the government, you know, and then it makes them lazy, you know, and these are a lot of the same people that complain about minimum wage not being enough because

Because they're 40 years old, trying to make a career on a minimum wage job, you know, and they complain about it. It's like, okay, well, read a book, upskill yourself, you know? Like, what are you doing to make yourself better? And believe me, we have family members, too, that fit in that group. So we'll tell them, like, well, you know, I get up every day and work hard. You need to... So we're not...

you know, we're hard to everybody, even our own family members, if they're trying to do something like that, like, no, you need to get up and you need to go. Yeah. Do you feel like Simi Valley as a community has changed politically at all in recent years? No, we've only been here for a few years, so we haven't really seen much change. Before living here, we were in the valley, in San Fernando Valley. So we didn't,

One of the reasons why we came here was because LA County is very liberal and there's just homeless everywhere, you know, and to the point where if I'm not home and she wants to walk to the market or walk, just take a walk through the neighborhood, I don't feel comfortable with it, you know.

But here, as you can see, we feel I think they're more on the conservative side because there's not a lot of homeless here in Ventura County. There's more peace of mind. Yeah, and believe me, it's nothing against them because you'll see me drop off stuff, food to them and stuff. It's more of a...

We work hard every day, you know, and I want to be able to walk through. And just because they made a certain choice that they don't want to live by rules, go to a house where they can help them because there's rules, then that's where, you know, it's very hard. Yeah. We're not...

I don't know if we're confusing everybody, but we go for Trump, but at the same time, we're not like hardcore, we're going to be riding with the flags. No, because at the end, we just want a good president. We may lean more, I guess, on the moderate side, but we're conservatives, but we're kind of in the middle. Yeah, but if from the opposite side, a new president comes up and he does an amazing job, we're looking to him as our president, right? We just want somebody up there to...

I don't know. Yeah, I have a couple of friends where, you know, in the last election, you know, we were all, you know, Trump and we go back and forth like, well, why this and that? And, you know, but then when Biden ended up winning,

I was like, oh, you know, congratulations, guys. I hope he does a good job. Yes. You know, that's all we want. Rambo? It's okay, Rambo. That's all we want, you know. Hey, Rambo. You see a dog? Oh, you see another dog. Yeah, another dog's coming. Another dog's coming. You know, like some of the criticisms that people lob against President Trump, I'm curious what your takes on them are. So one, like, I mean, what do you think about the whole January 6th thing and how the 2020 vote went? I...

So the 2020 vote thing, I don't know. I don't really have an opinion on that because you hear different things. And the problem these days is that you don't know what's true and what's not.

The January 6th things, they're like, oh, you know, they say, oh, he influenced and started it. I'm like, we listened to the speech. We didn't hear that. I didn't, you know, hear him tell me to go and riot, you know. And we noticed that actually throughout his entire term, you know, like the media said, oh, he called veterans losers or something. I forget what they were saying, right? Yeah.

And like, and then you listen to the full speech, not just the edited version. And he didn't say that, you know? Yeah. And just so many other things like that, you know, where they're kind of, they pick and choose which pieces to run.

And then all of a sudden, you know, like he's the devil or he's a bad guy. And then you have people who grab that bad stuff that is not even true, but then they'll turn it into... Yeah, and then you have the hardcore right. Right. Who take it the whole different way. And now you're making it seem like he's creating these rioted people, but they're...

Their mindset is in the wrong, you know. We get it. We understand that there's some people that took it all wrong and like, oh, let's, you know, represent him in the wrong way. But don't get me wrong. He could fix his speaking. He does. I understand that. I even tell him. And he said, well, babe, there's so much that they keep getting thrown at you. You're gonna. I said, no, but, you know, he could fix.

He's a business guy. He's a smart guy. But as a president, he could work on how he says things, right? I get it. That was another thing, too, that people kept saying was that, oh, he's not even a politician. You know, he's a businessman. And I was like, you know, in my mind and I'm like, OK, well, and I would ask, I'm like, OK, well, what does that mean? They're like, well, he's never been in politics. I'm like, OK, so I'm like, so. But in my mind.

He's been a very successful businessman. I mean, you know, he's a multimillionaire because of it. And when you're a good businessman or a good CEO, let's say, for example, right? When you're a good CEO, you have employees. You care about your employees. You care about strategic partnerships with other companies.

right? You care about the revenue and the finances of the company, right? So it's like when you're president, you care about your people. You care about foreign relations. You care about the economy, right? So it's like

I'll take a good businessman. I'll take a good CEO. I don't have a problem with that, you know? Is there anything that the other candidates who are running in the Republican primary could do or say that would convince you that they should be the nominee instead of Trump? Or do you feel pretty settled at this point, like it should be Trump? I guess. Well, I'm sorry. No, I mean, if they have, if they can bring

What Trump does, which is puts his country first, right? Anything we're first and then add that desire of other presidents to bring everybody together, right? And care for each other. And I'll be honest, like I said, for this for this portion, for the primaries, I haven't really been paying a whole lot of attention. So, yeah, I guess that part is on me. So I don't really care.

you know, kind of know what else to say. But for 2024, how are you feeling in general? Like, if it's a Biden-Trump rematch, you've made up your mind? Yeah, for sure. Oh, with Biden? Yeah. Yeah, but if it's... We were considering, like...

You know, if it's another president that's running, again, whoever is going to do good for the country. You know, we're not set on Trump. It's just, if you give me Trump and Biden, I mean, the truth is what has Biden done right now? Again, he's a nice person, I'm sure, a nice old man, but we need a president, you know? But, yeah. Will, is there anything else you want to say while I have you that I haven't asked you or that's important that you want to get off your chest?

I guess for me, I kind of wish they would get over the race thing in politics, right? I saw a piece where Biden gave a graduation speech at a kind of primary black college. And he was like, we have to fight racism. And it's like, you're giving a graduate... You know, these are...

young black people trying to make a good future for themselves they're graduated college how about some encouragement don't talk about racism right now you know like i don't know i just yeah that part i wish would kind of because you know in this day and age there are racist people but i think as a country we're not you know i mean obama you know obama won two times

And people like us voted for him, you know, who think like we do.

Do you think, I mean, obviously you probably heard people accuse Trump of being racist. Yeah. And I think particularly on the immigration issue and things like that. I mean, how do you process that? What do you say in response or what do you think about it? You know, my uncle said something and my uncle's a hardworking man. Like he, you know, has his truck business. Yeah. And he just said, mija. Who is an immigrant. Who is an immigrant. And he said, mija, for me,

Because I work hard and I have my business. Trump did good for me. A person that works hard, I liked him as a president. Yes, I think, again, how he speaks can come out through

So I told him I don't care if whatever, he should be able to take classes, do something, look at his videos and realize, oh, that did come out wrong. But I didn't mean it like that. Maybe I can change my way of speaking. If he can change that, I think he would change a lot of people that don't like him to like him because then he'll have both, right? Yeah.

Do I think he's racist? I mean, I don't think he is. I think he just needs to watch how he says things, right? Because I can say something, I really truly don't mean it, but maybe it's how I said it, right? I say things to him all the time. I don't mean by how it comes out, right? It might come out wrong. But yeah, that's all with him. I mean, I don't think he is. I don't think he's racist at all. I think the media just kind of blows it up unnecessarily.

you know uh because uh a lot of the media is i guess i want to say controlled but influenced by you know kind of the the far left side and you know they're like well we got to find a way to attack them you know so that we can get votes on the next round you know or something like that you know like um i don't know you know we kind of got over coveted a lot you know and all of a sudden kobe's back and everyone's like oh well remember how trump handles covet he's back again it's like

OK, you know, a lot of. Yeah. So California's primary is on Super Tuesday, which is at the beginning of March. And California has the most delegates in the primary. So even though California is a very blue state, Republicans in California have the biggest say of any state in the country. Are you going to go out and vote in the primary, do you think?

Uh, maybe now after hearing that. Yeah, yeah, yeah. No, we didn't. We didn't. And so if the primary was tomorrow, who would you go for? Um, well, I'll be honest. I usually try not to just...

you know, go one way or the other without doing at least a little bit of research on maybe some of the ideas and, you know, policies that the other candidates have. So I guess I can't really say. I think like what he's saying is as much as you hear us trump people that just follow him because of what they think he's representing, they'll just say, trump, trump. We want to research, well, what does he have, right? Because at the end, we'll go this way if we have to. Because

Because we just want a good president, that's all. You know? Someone doing the right thing for our country.

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Arnett's interview is with Frank, who I found at another park in Simi Valley, celebrating something along with a bunch of family members and friends. Frank is a Turkish immigrant, and he was also there with his young son who was sitting on his lap. You'll maybe hear from him throughout the interview. But Frank's situation was also unique in that he voted for Biden and is now considering voting for Trump.

So have you been paying attention at all to the Republican primary or the upcoming election?

Not much. Not much. But I've been waiting for the primary and I'd like to see who are the candidates. So I know it's in March. Yeah, yeah. Do you have, you know, what kind of things would you like to hear the candidates say? Or what's the most important issue for you? I mean, not nationwide, but locally to like living in Los Angeles. So our main issue is here, the homeless problem.

Especially, I'm an educator, so we have homeless encampment around our schools, which is really disturbing, both for our students and for our safety of our students and our community as well.

So I believe that's the most pressing issue right now. Locally, I'm not sure about the nationwide, but California and Los Angeles, that's what we're dealing with right now. So it looks like Biden is going to be the nominee again for the Democrats, and Trump is leading the pack on the Republican side by a whole lot. So it looks likely at this point that there could be a rematch between Trump and Biden in 2024. If that's the case, which way do we— Okay, so I voted for Biden.

But right now, as I see the economy is not really doing well. I mean, we're recovering from the pandemic, I know, but we're not in really better shape than the Trump era. So I don't know yet, but I might be leaning toward Trump a little bit, but I don't know yet. I need to see the debate first because I'm a conservative, but I vote for Democrats, but I'm a conservative man. So I'm a religious man.

And I also like some policies. I like some policies of Trump. I like some conservative views of him. So right now I'm like in the middle. So I don't know which way to lean forward. I will see what I'm going to tell. I mean, what could happen that could change your mind between now and then? Well, there's one pressing issue. I mean, because I am a conservative and religious man. So in California,

We lately started pushing the LGBTQ agenda to the school and to the child, to the kid. Now we allow underage child, you know, get the parent consent for, you know, like gender changing surgery and those kind of stuff that kind of disturbs me. So I'd like to hear about their view on those, like protecting our child from those ideologies.

So that might be a game changer for me. And, you know, how have you voted in the past? You said you voted for Biden. I voted for Biden, yeah. 2020. What about before that? Well, before that, so that was actually the first time I was able to vote. So before that, I was always leaning towards the Democrats. So before that, I was supporting Hillary when they ran against Trump. But, you know...

The main idea that the Trump that I didn't like about him, his character, not the policies. Well, some of the policies I really liked, but his character, it really, because what frightens me, you know, I lived, we have our own dictator right now in Turkey. So I know his early stage, know the steps becoming to a dictatorship.

So, and Trump was kind of showing those early stages that kind of scared me for Trump. That's why I voted against him. I voted for him, I leaned forward to the Democrats' part. But right now, when I see that, you know, some like those issues that I mentioned, so I kind of right now start, you know, supporting the conservative policies of Republicans. And...

You mentioned one of them. Are there other issues that have sort of made you lean more towards Trump? I mean, that was the main issue. And I don't want to say the immigration policy, that it was too harsh. But no, but now we're too loose on immigration policy. So...

Kinda, you know, like see a way in between, you know, an optimum policy for immigration, you know, not hurting people who actually need to come here, you know,

for a well-being of their life, but also not to lose, you know, to just let everyone in, so regardless of their background. So that might be one pressing issue. Then I kind of liked his views on that one, but that was too much and too conservative. So maybe like a way in between. - Can you tell me a little bit about your own background?

My background, what happened here, so I came here on a H1 visa. So I used to be a computer science teacher back in Turkey and I heard that there's a teacher shortage here. So it was 2008 that actually I applied for one of the schools here, a charter school.

And so they sponsored me and I came in with an H1 visa. And after a year, so I got the greeting card, the lottery, the diversity lottery. I got my greeting card and then, so after five years, I got my citizenship. So since then, I've been teaching in a high school, public high school.

And of course, during Trump's campaign in 2016, he talked about a Muslim ban as far as immigration is concerned. Those are extreme views. I'm a Muslim. So those are extreme views. That's why his extreme views...

I don't like that. So, it has to be a way in between. So, you know, it's like this side is like too extreme, this side is too loose. So you have to find a middle ground so they can meet, you know. I'd like to see policies, you know, that actually meets in the middle ground. So not too extreme, not too loose, but somewhere actually, you know, optimum solutions. Is there anyone else that you would consider on the Republican side other than Trump?

I don't follow too much politics, so I don't know who else are the other candidates. So right now, who's running, you know, in the primaries? Ron DeSantis, Nikki Haley, do any of those ring a bell? Vivek Ramaswamy. I heard their names, but I didn't know about their because I need to, you know, actually check, you know, their policies, their previous policies to, you know, make a decision about them. So right now, I don't know much about them. What do you want to say? I think, uh...

I don't think Trump is trustworthy because he almost got into jail like two times. And I even asked my teacher, and I said, did you know that Trump went to jail? And I'm like, my teacher said, no, he almost went to jail two times. I just don't think he's trustworthy because a lot of people make fun of him and most people don't like him. Do you argue with your dad about politics?

- Yeah. - Not arguing, but yeah, he tells me his views and I kind of correct sometimes that that's not how you're supposed to view the things. So there are things that you don't know sometimes on the background, so. - Actually, I'm correct and you're incorrect. - You might be sometimes, right? You don't know. So, no, we argue, not the who's correct, but not to find out actually a better grant that argue our views. - My view is better.

What is it like for you raising kids in America? Obviously he has different views from you. What is that experience like for you? Okay, it's... You're going? All right. So one thing about the views, it's a different culture. I mean, so my kids, they all born here, now they grew up here.

So they actually expose the culture. We would like to keep our own culture.

at home, you know, along with the language that we speak. We speak Turkish, but like only Turkish with them so they won't forget. So we try that, I mean, but it's hard. I mean, it's not really easy to, you know, protect them totally, you know, we can just keep them in like a closed cage that, you know, but they will get exposed to other cultures. And especially in California, Los Angeles, there are like a thousand different cultures here. So they get to expose all different cultures around.

They're like good things and bad things, but we tried our best to protect both. So we try to raise them as a Turkish-American. They're American, but they're also the Turkish background. Is there anything Biden could do to sway you in his direction? I mean, so it's a hard question. So I mean,

Education, I'm in education right now. So we're not really doing well in education. So what do we face right now and nationwide, especially in California? We have a huge teacher shortage. You know, sometimes our education policies that are in agree some of those education policies from different districts and from California. So I would love to see more emphasis on education, you know, maybe

they can give more money to education or maybe they can just create some policies to make, you know, more teachers, you know, better teachers, better support them. So I'd like to see more support on education. So it's been, you know, overlooked. So for the past 15 years, since I was here from 2008. So I'd like to see better policies and better, you know, support for education. That would be like one thing that might sway me towards that direction.

And also, economy, you know, so right now the interest rates are too high. It's getting too high, it's becoming more and more, you know, it's harder to become a homeowner, right, specifically in California. So I know it doesn't have an exact influence on those interest rates, but, you know, overall economy, you see the gas prices are rising up, so it's almost $7 right now. So I would like to see some relief, you know,

So, it was like economy and policies on education and homelessness. That's the issue. Are there any, it may be a similar question, are there any issues that you'd like to hear the Republican candidates who are debating on Wednesday night talk about? I like the views Republicans on protecting our childs from those gender fluency agendas, you know.

Don't get me wrong, I'm more supportive of everybody, like every gender out there. But once they try to get into our, you know,

to our child's space, actually. So I know some districts, they start passing policies that they don't have to ask parents to actually get for childs to decide themselves, even like get surgery themselves. They don't need parents' consent.

So those kind of scares me a lot. So I don't know which direction art is going to. So when it comes to protecting our kid, I really like Republicans' views on conservative views on protecting our kids. Specifically, you know, I'm a religious person and I like to protect my kids.

And that is it for today's show because it's a holiday week. This will be our only episode this week. So also with that, happy Thanksgiving. I hope you enjoy it with your family and friends and that you eat good food.

But until next week, that's it from here at the FiveThirtyEight Politics Podcast. My name is Galen Druk. Tony Chow is in the control room. Our producers are Shane McKeon and Cameron Chertavian. And our intern is Jayla Everett. You can get in touch by emailing us at podcasts at FiveThirtyEight.com. You can also, of course, tweet us with any questions or comments. If you're a fan of the show, leave us a rating or review in the Apple Podcast Store or tell someone about us. Thanks for listening, and we'll see you soon.

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