美国人对政治的看法, 用厌恶来自形容已经不够
How do Americans feel about politics? 'Disgust isn't a strong enough word.'
https://www.spokesman.com/stories/2023/oct/06/how-do-americans-feel-about-politics-disgust-isnt-/
By Jack Healy, J. David Goodman, Jenna Russell and Alan BlinderNew York Times
作者：杰克·希利、J·大卫·古德曼、珍娜·拉塞尔和艾伦·布林德《纽约时报》
惠特尼·史密斯的手机响起了她母亲发来的短信，提醒她华盛顿最近发生的令人难以置信的混乱：“极右翼驱逐了众议院议长。 现在完全混乱了。”
35 岁的史密斯是一名簿记员，在菲尼克斯郊区注册为独立人士，他不想参与其中。 她试图通过投票、志愿参与当地竞选活动和参加城市会议来参与公民生活。 但在过去的一周里，政府勉强避免关门和共和党控制的众议院领导层政变的混乱证实了许多美国人对联邦政府最愤世嫉俗的感觉。
“这就像，天哪，现在怎么办？” 她说。
抱怨政治是美国历史悠久的消遣——但最近，该国的政治情绪已跌至有记录以来最糟糕的水平。
在经历了特朗普总统任期的混乱、流行病、国会叛乱、通货膨胀、多次总统弹劾以及极右翼共和党人关于 2020 年选举舞弊的普遍谎言之后，选民们表示，他们感到疲倦和愤怒。
在最近全国各地的数十次采访中，无论年轻还是年长的选民都对下一次超越党派界限的总统选举表达了普遍的悲观情绪，并对政治机构的信心摇摇欲坠。
白宫和国会已投入数十亿美元来修复和改善国家的道路、港口、管道和互联网。 他们已经批准了数千亿美元用于应对气候变化和降低处方药的成本。 乔·拜登总统取消了数十亿美元的学生债务。 然而，这些成就尚未完全得到选民的认可。
一小群极右翼共和党人将国家推向政府关闭的边缘，然后在他们煽动投票时使国会陷入混乱，在民主党的支持下，众议院议长、加利福尼亚州共和党人凯文·麦卡锡被免职。 民主党人押注选民会将麻烦归咎于共和党人。 本周接受采访的许多选民表示，他们认为整个事件是华盛顿广泛失灵的证据，并指责政治领导人被工作场所的戏剧所吞噬，而牺牲了他们本应服务的人民。
“他们似乎与我们格格不入，”57 岁的银行高管凯文·巴斯 (Kevin Bass) 说，他住在德克萨斯州西部乡村小镇纽霍姆 (New Home)。 他在当地学校董事会任职，有两个孩子在公立学校，另一个在大学。 他称自己是保守派，两次投票支持前总统唐纳德·特朗普。 “我并不真正认为任何一方都对我们的国家有利，”他说。
选民们表示，在人们全神贯注于如何支付不断上涨的医疗保健和食品杂货账单，或应对不断增长的医疗保健和食品杂货账单之际，华盛顿的内讧以及共和党人对债务违约和政府关门的不顾后果地让人们的工资、医疗保健和福利面临风险。 快速变暖的气候在全国几乎每个角落引发了自然灾害。
“厌恶这个词还不够强烈，”亚特兰大地区的民主党人、五个孩子的祖母比安卡·瓦拉 (Bianca Vara) 说，她在一个跳蚤市场上经营着一个摊位，那里充斥着政治讨论。
她说，她希望华盛顿领导人解决枪支暴力问题，或者只是有意义地打击她接到的机器人电话。 相反，她沮丧地看着共和党控制的众议院因自相残杀而震动。
“这比小学还糟糕，”她说，“就像操场上，就像躲避球一样：‘你出局了！ 你不再是说话者了！ 用红球打他的头！’”
一些人表示，他们故意忽略政治新闻，而是关注奶油奶酪价格（6.99 美元）等细节或完全与政治无关的事情——芝加哥熊队战绩为 1-4，泰勒·斯威夫特出现在堪萨斯城酋长队的比赛中 。
当史密斯的母亲向家庭短信链发送麦卡锡被罢免众议院议长的消息时，没有人回复。 最终，史密斯回复了一张她刚刚在家里摆上的新架子的照片。
“麦卡锡是谁？ 我什至不知道。”38 岁的罗斯玛丽·沃森 (Rosemary Watson) 说道，她是亚利桑那州梅萨市的一名注册独立人士，该州是一个战场州，在过去的两次选举中，民主党以微弱优势击败了特朗普式的共和党。 “为了我自己的健康和福祉，我特意做出了这个选择。”
沃森是切罗基族成员，她在 2020 年投票支持特朗普，并表示拜登为保护美洲原住民神圣土地或提供数十亿美元的新部落资金而采取的行动并没有让她感到政治上的感动。 她表示，她将支持小罗伯特·F·肯尼迪 (Robert F. Kennedy Jr.) 参加 2024 年总统竞选，以此对两党制度进行一次冲击。
58 岁的辛西娅·泰勒 (Cynthia Taylor) 是休斯敦地区的一名共和党律师助理，她的丈夫在一家步枪制造商工作，她对麦卡锡的下台和最近的政府关门感到震惊，称这种边缘政策是美国社会日益无法无天的表现。
“我们似乎开始走这样的路线：如果我不同意你的观点，我就会把你踢出去，”她说。 “每个人都是为了自己。 每个人都为了 15 分钟的成名而出局。”
皮尤研究中心 7 月份进行的一项调查发现，这个国家因其政治领导人的不满而团结在一起，这种不满跨越了种族、年龄和党派分歧。 约 65% 的受访美国人表示，当他们想到政治时，他们感到精疲力尽。
只有 16% 的美国成年人表示他们信任联邦政府，接近七十年来民意调查的最低水平。 近30%的人表示不喜欢民主党和共和党，创历史新高。 然而近年来，美国人的投票人数创下了历史新高——主要是为了连任现任议员。
“我从没想过我会生活在这样的时代，”新罕布什尔州多佛市 66 岁的寡妇辛迪·斯瓦西 (Cindy Swasey) 说。 斯瓦西两次投票支持特朗普，但认为自己是独立人士，她说她曾经喜欢佛罗里达州共和党众议员马特·盖茨(Matt Gaetz)，以及他在发挥核心作用之前为国会注入的更新、年轻的活力。 在本周的动荡中。
她最近决定不观看未来的总统辩论。
美国工薪阶层和中产阶级的工资最近有所上涨，但许多人表示，与不断上涨的生活成本相比，涨幅相形见绌。 从汽车行业到医疗保健行业再到好莱坞，成千上万的工会工人用脚投票，通过罢工争取更好的合同。
哥伦比亚广播公司 (CBS) 节目《海豹突击队》的编剧助理麦金利·邦迪克 (McKinley Bundick) 表示：“现在，我要做的就是重新开始工作，弄清楚如何把食物放在盘子里、如何为我的头顶遮风挡雨、如何为我的车加油。” 在美国作家协会罢工期间，他失业了五个月。
几名民主党选民表示，他们对美国政治现状的厌恶源于特朗普的愤怒不满以及煽动 1 月 6 日骚乱的选举谎言。 与此同时，一些人表示，他们担心特朗普和拜登之间再次展开竞争的前景，宁愿快进到下一个总统周期，找到新的人选——任何人。
“这就是你们能给我们双方最好的回报了吗？ 你在开玩笑吧？” 49 岁的芝加哥科技产品专家 Joseph Albanese 表示，他在 2020 年投票给了拜登，但正在考虑完全跳过明年的选举。
对于生活在与国会大厦完全不同的海岸的人们来说——尤其是年轻选民——华盛顿的功能失调似乎就像遥远世界中耸人听闻的内讧。
“这是压倒性的； “发生了很多事情，”28 岁的迪安娜·比蒙 (Dionna Beamon) 说，她住在洛杉矶南部的瓦茨 (Watts) 社区。 “所以说真的，无知就是福。”
发型师比蒙表示，她和她的朋友们更关心包括心理健康在内的问题。 她的母亲不到两年前因心脏病去世，她一直在努力解决如何缓解悲伤。
“我觉得现在很多人都很沮丧，”她说。 “对于我这个年龄段的人来说，这是一个很大的话题。 新冠病毒爆发后，世界已经不一样了，当它开始时，我们才 20 岁出头。”
21 岁的维维安·桑托斯·史密斯 (Vivian Santos-Smith) 是华盛顿特区霍华德大学的一名大四学生，她表示，她最担心的是毕业后必须开始偿还 10,000 美元的学生债务。 拜登本周取消了 90 亿美元的学生贷款债务，但他取消约 4000 亿美元的更广泛努力却被最高法院挫败。
她想成为一名政治科学家，而她面临的首要挑战之一就是试图理解这一时刻。
“看来《纸牌屋》现在已经成为现实了，”她说。 “前景黯淡。”
美国选民对政治高度反感 恶心都不足形容
www.creaders.net | 2023-10-06 23:40:51 中央社
美国联邦众议院议长麦卡锡遭自家共和党强硬派发动罢免而落马。美国媒体发现，选民不分党派、种族、年龄、地域，均反感政治，还有人觉得“噁烂”都不足以形容政坛纷乱。
“纽约时报”指出，历经川普总统任内纷扰、COVID-19疫情、国会山庄暴动、高通膨、多番总统弹劾攻防以及共和党极右派仍四处宣扬2020年大选舞弊后，美国选民表示已感厌倦与愤怒。
纽时近期在全美各地的数十次街访发现，选民不分年龄与党派，普遍对2024年总统大选感不抱期待，对政治制度的信念也摇摇欲坠。
57岁的巴斯（Kevin Bass）是住在德州西部小镇一名银行主管，同时也任职当地学校董事会，3个孩子都还在念书，他自称属于保守派且2016、2020两次大选都投川普。如今他觉得政治人物与民众严重脱节，“我真的觉得这两个党都不是好东西”。
住在亚特兰大地区的华拉（Bianca Vara）是位有5名孙子的祖母，在跳蚤市场摆摊且常与人聊政治。属民主党的华拉表示希望华府要员处理枪枝暴力严重问题，就算只解决氾滥的语音电话轰炸也行，但却只能沮丧地看共和党掌握的众议院内斗。
华拉说：“用噁烂（disgust）都不足以形容。这比小学还不如，跟在操场打躲避球般你砸他、他扔你，把人打出场一样。”
美国选民对政治高度反感 恶心都不足形容
（图/NBC News）
好几位受访者表示，他们刻意不看政治新闻，关注如奶油乳酪价格等琐事，或是像支持的职业球队究竟第几名、女星泰勒丝（Taylor Swift）演场会等，反正就是不想碰政治议题。
58岁的泰勒（Cynthia Taylor）住在休斯敦从事律师助理，丈夫在步枪制造商上班。共和党人的她惊骇于麦卡锡（Kevin McCarthy）遭罢免，觉得这种剑走偏锋的极限作法是美国社会越来越无法无天的徵兆。
泰勒说：“我们看似已开始走上『若不同意你，就把你赶走』。每个人都只为一己之私。”
皮尤研究中心（Pew Research Center）今年7月所做调查发现，不分党派、种族与年龄的美国民众，都一致对自家政治领袖不满。65%的受访者表示，一想到政治就觉得没力。
只有16%的美国成人表示信任联邦政府，几乎是作相关调查70年来的最低水准；近30%的人表示两党都讨厌，创调查新高。
一些民主党选民表示，他们对美国政治现状的反感源于川普的招牌愤怒牢骚及煽动2021年1月6日国会山庄暴动的选举谎言，很怕看到2024又再次上演“拜登vs川普”，也很想跳过这次等2028年的新面孔。
49岁的艾班尼斯（Joseph Albanese）是一名在芝加哥的技术产品专家，2020年投给拜登，但这回他考虑明年不投票，“这就是两党所能端出的最佳对战组合？开什麽玩笑”。
21岁的桑托斯史密斯（Vivian Santos-Smith）目前是历史悠久的传统非裔院校“霍华大学”（Howard University）高年级生，她说将来想当政治学者，但第一个挑战是得先搞清楚当前的美国政坛。
她说：“现在看起来宛如『纸牌屋』（House of Cards，美国一部政治权谋题材网络连续剧）真实上演，前景真是暗淡。”
How do Americans feel about politics? ‘Disgust isn't a strong enough word.'
https://www.spokesman.com/stories/2023/oct/06/how-do-americans-feel-about-politics-disgust-isnt-/
By Jack Healy, J. David Goodman, Jenna Russell and Alan BlinderNew York Times
Whitney Smith’s phone buzzed with a text from her mother, alerting her to the latest can-you-believe-it mess in Washington: “Far right ousted the House speaker. Total chaos now.”
Smith, 35, a bookkeeper and registered independent in suburban Phoenix, wanted no part of it. She tries to stay engaged in civic life by voting, volunteering in local campaigns and going to city meetings. But over the past week, the pandemonium of a narrowly averted government shutdown and leadership coup in the Republican-controlled House confirmed many Americans’ most cynical feelings about the federal government.
“It was just like, Oh God, what now?” she said.
Griping about politics is a time-honored American pastime – but lately, the country’s political mood has plunged to some of the worst levels on record.
After weathering the tumult of the Trump presidency, a pandemic, the Capitol insurrection, inflation, multiple presidential impeachments and far-right Republicans’ pervasive lies about fraud in the 2020 election, voters say they feel tired and angry.
In dozens of recent interviews across the country, voters young and old expressed a broad pessimism about the next presidential election that transcends party lines, as well as a teetering faith in political institutions.
The White House and Congress have pumped out billions of dollars to fix and improve the nation’s roads, ports, pipelines and internet. They have approved hundreds of billions to combat climate change and lower the cost of prescription drugs. President Joe Biden has canceled billions more in student debt. Yet those accomplishments have not fully registered with voters.
A small group of hard-right Republicans drove the country to the brink of a government shutdown, then plunged Congress into chaos when they instigated the vote, that with Democratic support, removed House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif. Democrats are betting that voters will blame Republicans for the trouble. Many voters interviewed this week said they viewed the whole episode as evidence of broad dysfunction in Washington and blamed political leaders for being consumed by workplace drama at the expense of the people they are meant to serve.
“They seem so disconnected from us,” said Kevin Bass, 57, a bank executive who lives in New Home, a rural West Texas town. He serves on the local school board, and has two children in public school and another in college. He describes himself as conservative who voted for former President Donald Trump both times. “I don’t really look at either party as benefiting our country,” he said.
Voters said that Washington infighting and the Republicans’ flirtation with debt default and government shutdowns recklessly put people’s paychecks, health care and benefits at risk at a moment when they are preoccupied with how to pay rising health care and grocery bills, or to cope with a fast-warming climate unleashing natural disasters in nearly every corner of the nation.
“Disgust isn’t a strong enough word,” said Bianca Vara, a Democrat and grandmother of five in the Atlanta area who runs a stall at a flea market that crackles with discussions of politics.
She said she wanted leaders in Washington to address gun violence or maybe just meaningfully crack down on the robocalls she gets. Instead, she watched with dismay as the Republican-controlled House was convulsed with an internecine melee.
“It’s worse than in elementary school,” she said, “Like a playground, like dodgeball: ‘You’re out! You’re not the speaker anymore! Hit him in the head with a red ball!’”
Several people said they purposely tune out political news, focusing instead on details such as the price of cream cheese ($6.99) or matters wholly unconnected to politics – the Chicago Bears are 1-4, and Taylor Swift is showing up at Kansas City Chiefs games.
When Smith’s mother texted the news of McCarthy’s ouster as House speaker to the family text message chain, nobody responded. Eventually, Smith replied with a photo of new shelves she had just put up at home.
“Who’s McCarthy? I don’t even know,” said Rosemary Watson, 38, a registered independent in Mesa, Arizona, a battleground state that has narrowly elected Democrats over Trump-style Republicans in the past two elections. “I’ve purposely made that choice for my own health and well-being.”
Watson, a member of the Cherokee Nation, voted for Trump in 2020 and said she did not feel politically moved by actions Biden has taken to conserve land sacred to Native Americans or to provide billions of dollars in new tribal funding. She said she would support Robert F. Kennedy Jr. in the 2024 presidential race as a jolt to the two-party system.
Cynthia Taylor, 58, a Republican paralegal in the Houston area whose husband works for a rifle manufacturer, was aghast at the ouster of McCarthy and the latest near-shutdown, calling the brinkmanship a symptom of growing lawlessness in American society.
“We seem to be starting to go down the line of, if I don’t agree with you, I’m going to kick you out,” she said. “Everybody is out for themselves. Everybody is out for their 15 minutes of fame.”
A survey that the Pew Research Center conducted in July found a country united by a discontent with their political leaders that crosses race, age and partisan divides. Some 65% of Americans polled said they felt exhausted when they thought about politics.
Only 16% of American adults said they trusted the federal government, close to the lowest levels in seven decades of polling. Nearly 30% of people said they disliked both the Democratic and Republican parties, a record high. Yet in recent years, Americans have turned out to voted in record numbers – mostly to reelect incumbents.
“I never thought I’d live in times like this,” said Cindy Swasey, a 66-year-old widow in Dover, New Hampshire. Swasey, who voted twice for Trump but thinks of herself as an independent, said she used to like Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., and the infusion of newer, younger energy he had brought to Congress – before he played a central role in the turmoil this week.
She has recently decided to skip watching future presidential debates.
Working-class and middle-class Americans have seen their wages rise lately, but many say the gains pale in comparison with the rising cost of living. Thousands of union workers, from the automotive industry to health care to Hollywood, have voted with their feet by striking for better contracts.
“Right now, it’s just been about getting back to work – figuring out how to put food on my plate and keep a roof over my head and put gas in my car,” said McKinley Bundick, a writer’s assistant for CBS program “SEAL Team” who was out of work for five months while the Writers Guild of America was on strike.
Several Democratic voters said their revulsion with the state of American politics was rooted in Trump’s brand of angry grievance and the election lies that stoked the Jan. 6 rioters. At the same time, several said they were dreading the prospect of another contest between Trump and Biden, and would rather fast-forward through the next presidential cycle and find someone – anyone – new.
“This is the best you can give us from both parties? Are you kidding me?” said Joseph Albanese, a 49-year-old technology product specialist in Chicago who voted for Biden in 2020 but is considering skipping next year’s election altogether.
For people living on an entirely different coast from the Capitol – especially younger voters – Washington’s dysfunction can seem like sensational infighting in a distant world.
“It’s overwhelming; it’s a lot going on,” said Dionna Beamon, 28, who lives in the Watts neighborhood of South Los Angeles. “So really, ignorance is bliss.”
Beamon, a hairstylist, said she and her friends were more concerned about issues including mental health. Her mother died of a heart attack less than two years ago, and she has grappled with how to address her grief.
“I feel like a lot of people are depressed now,” she said. “That’s a huge topic for my age group. The world hasn’t been the same after COVID, and when it started, we were in our early 20s.”
Vivian Santos-Smith, 21, a senior at Howard University in Washington, D.C., said her biggest concern was the $10,000 of student debt she would have to start repaying after graduation. Biden canceled $9 billion in student loan debt this week, but his wider efforts to cancel some $400 billion more were scuttled by the Supreme Court.
She wants to be a political scientist, and one of her first challenges is trying to make sense of this moment.
“It seems as if ‘House of Cards’ is reality now,” she said. “The outlook is just bleak.”
This article originally appeared in The New York Times.
