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Voters in Waldo County said Tuesday as they came and went from the polls that they feel deep unease over the cost of food, healthcare, housing and other basic expenses.
In Belfast, Scott Hall said he’s worried about how his kids will build their lives after college.
“Jobs, costs, rent, food, transportation, healthcare. They’re about to go off of our [health insurance] plans and what next? Do they go uninsured?” he said. “It’s ridiculous.”
The midterm election comes at a time when the cost of living is punishingly high, and many Americans feel deep pessimism about the country’s economic prospects. More than three-quarters of Americans feel the economy is getting worse, according to a recent Gallup poll. Gallup’s economic confidence index, a measure of Americans’ views on the country’s current economic conditions and outlook, is at its lowest level in four years.
For Phyllis Rackliffe of Belfast, the cost of healthcare is a major worry. Her son has a brain tumor and she worries about how his family will keep their home given the cost of medical care and insurance.
“I just feel like they’re going to lose everything if something doesn’t change,” she said.
Outside Swanville’s town office, Leon Gould said the cost of everything is shockingly high.
“I can’t believe Hannafords,” he said. “You go get a bag of groceries for 100 bucks now.”
Nearby, Bob New said he had spent the morning planting fruit and nut trees in response to the increasing unaffordability of food.
“The more prices go up, the more I’m absolutely dead set on growing more of my own food for my family and for everybody in the neighborhood,” he said.
He’s “all in” for Platner, he said, though he generally doesn’t participate in the party system.
“There’s an obvious elaborate joke on one side and a maybe slightly less obvious joke on the other,” he said.
Across the parking lot, Jack Pollack said he and his wife live on Social Security and are used to living within their means. But he’s still watching his spending more than before.
“If I was thinking about buying five things at the store, I might buy four,” he said.
His wife, Barbara Robbins, said, “I feel like the people who have the least are getting screwed the most.”
As a volunteer for the Belfast Soup Kitchen and Meals on Wheels, Betsey Feeley of Belfast said she sees people’s economic troubles growing.
“More and more people are coming” to the soup kitchen, she said. She hopes whoever takes office next will support those programs.
Affordability is her number two priority, she said. Number one? “I’m looking for good character and somebody that can stand up to Trump,” she said.
In Camden, where polls were busy with long lines most of the day, Robin, a Camden resident in her 80s who declined to give her last name, said she lives in an over-50 community that is supposed to be affordable, but says many of her neighbors are struggling to pay for rent and food.
She feels the government is increasingly out of touch with regular people.
“A lot of people don’t, number one, have qualifications and, number two, don’t understand the common person and everyday struggles,” she said.
Even 10 years ago, she wouldn’t have been able to imagine how many rights people have lost and how much they are struggling, she said.
“You just hunker down and hope that you make it through,” she said. “But that’s not what we want for ourselves and that’s not what we want for our children or grandchildren.”