“Sure. Come on through.”

That was U.S. President Donald Trump’s team on Tuesday. We were in Lubbock, Texas, where the President was holding a rally for the upcoming midterms. We wanted to get in to cover the event for TDA.

We walked up to a grey trestle table that was sticky-taped with a piece of paper that said “Press Entry”. We told them we were Australia’s biggest youth media outlet. A few minutes later, someone else gave us a lanyard. It said: “The White House Press Pool.” We were in. A Secret Service agent escorted us through.

It was a surreal experience – and one that was not replicated when we tried the same entry point for a rally featuring former U.S. President Barack Obama, this time in Georgia. (They had the same trestle table, but “different Secret Service protocols,” the team told us.) 

In today’s newsletter, I’m taking you behind the scenes of what it’s been like to report on the ground in the U.S. ahead of the midterm elections. 

Before we get into it, let’s quickly run through a refresher on what the midterms are. They’re called the ‘midterms’ because they happen halfway through a U.S. President’s four-year term.

Do they affect Trump’s position as President? No. But they do tell us how Americans are feeling about his presidency. 

The midterms are largely about control of the two houses of Congress – the House of Representatives and the Senate. Republicans currently hold the majority in both, but polls tell us that could change after these elections. (Although history tells us that it is quite common for voters to swing away from the President’s party during the midterms.)

Speaking of history, these midterms are already historic. More money has been spent on these midterms than any other U.S. election cycle to date. It’s the first time more has been spent on political advertising during the midterms than the previous presidential election.

To give you a comparison, $US3.9 billion was spent on political advertising during the 2018 midterms, according to AdImpact. As of Monday this past week, $US11.21 billion had been spent.

It’s always interesting going into an experience like this. Like many of you, I’ve read a lot about Donald Trump’s America. I’ve listened to podcasts, religiously read the news, and watched heated clips on social media.

When you’ve consumed so much about the division on the ground, you have preconceived ideas about what it’s going to be like when it’s your own boots on the ground. 

After my first week in the U.S, here are some of my reflections on what I’ve noticed so far. 

The person matters more than the policies. As we know, voters often judge politicians on their ability to persuade, rather than the ideas they are persuading you on. When we spoke to young people at both of the rallies, very few pointed to the actual policies of the politicians they supported. That was reflected in the speeches we heard – speakers focused on the vision they are selling, and on personal attacks on their opponents. 

It is heated. As TDA’s producer Orla Maher and I approached the Trump rally, the first people we met were protesters, screaming at us. Cars drove past every 10 seconds, with people shouting from their windows (some in favour of Trump, some against). You know how people say the things posted online would never be said in real life? It turns out they are saying it… on the streets of U.S. political rallies.

Young people are engaged. The aim of TDA’s trip was to speak to young people about politics in the country. They haven’t been hard to find. At both rallies, young people were everywhere. And most young people were there in big groups. It seemed like, to them, this was the equivalent of going to the movies with friends. They are engaged, they are interested, and they are voting. 

In the lead-up to this trip, I read a lot about Trump struggling to fill rally venues. But what we saw at both the Trump and Obama rallies were lines that probably stretched for over a kilometre. Thousands of people were turned away at both. (Counting is based on eyesight estimation only, and I’ve lost my glasses while here – but I’m fairly confident this is accurate!) 

It is true for Trump that his venues are smaller than they once were (this one was at a venue with a capacity of about 4,500). However, once we were inside, there were no empty seats. 

In Australia, trying to get vox pops of people on the street is not easy. We have to do a lot of convincing. But in the U.S, we’ve had about an 80% success rate when approaching people. In fact, people came up to us, asking to be interviewed. People were so willing to speak about their political opinions, even when they said they didn’t know a whole lot. 

Friendships aren't as politically divided as you might think. We asked people: Are you friends with people who have different political views? Every single person said yes. At the Obama rally, we even spoke to two people from the same friendship group who did not agree. One was passionately in favour of the Democrats, the other was a supporter of Trump, but was open to changing his vote based on what he heard at the rally. Many young people said their parents support Trump, and that they are still able to have respectful debates without judgement.  

That is it from me! It’s now getting late, so I’ll leave my reflections there, but if you want to know more, I spoke with Zara on the podcast on Friday. You can listen on Apple here, Spotify here, or YouTube here.

We’re now preparing to travel to Michigan to speak to more young people, ahead of the midterms on Tuesday.

As always, you can hit reply to this email if you have any questions you want us to answer!  

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