Presidential Politics, Polka and Wisconsin

Wisconsin, the land of fried cheese curds and the Inexperienced Bay Packers, is one among a half-dozen key battleground states the place President Biden is Health-shots/2024/05/20/1252453299/biden-campaign-ad-obamacare-trump”>attempting to make Health Care a key concern in his anticipated November matchup with former president Donald Trump.

Biden narrowly received Wisconsin in 2020, after IT went for Trump in 2016. And whereas current polling signifies that Trump now holds a slight edge, many individuals right here nonetheless can’t determine whom to vote for, or whether or not to vote in any respect. Throughout the state, the rising value of Health Care is excessive on their listing of considerations.

A Wisconsinite to my core, I wished to gauge what’s motivating voters. Among the many greatest locations to know the state’s temper are the numerous summertime polka festivals that draw voters of all political stripes.

This previous weekend, for example, I met Bob Prelipp, 79, on the Birnamwood Polka Days in Birnamwood, inhabitants about 700.

A Republican who served in Vietnam throughout his stint within the Navy, Prelipp voted for Trump in 2016, then switched to Biden in 2020. Prelipp stated Trump angered him along with his comments disparaging military veterans.

After Trump supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, “I knew I couldn’t vote for him once more,” Prelipp stated. “I can’t imagine we will’t discover a higher Republican candidate. I’m nonetheless attempting to determine what to do.”

His veteran Health Care has improved remarkably below Biden, but he nonetheless can’t abdomen voting for him. “I’m not proud of Biden,” he stated. “Every little thing is getting so unaffordable, even Health Care.”

Birnamwood is in a rural a part of the state that’s ruby crimson — Trump hats pepper the gang and Trump flags dot the panorama. Biden supporters are extra seen in liberal, closely populated cities like Madison and Milwaukee.

Greg Laabs, a tuba participant in an area polka band, proudly shows a Trump sticker on his instrument.

“There are literally thousands of individuals coming throughout the border,” Laabs stated, expressing concern over a Democratic president offering immigrants missing authorized residency entry to Health Care — an thought he recalled Vice President Harris Health-care/?itid=lk_inline_manual_21″>supporting in 2019 and that California has handed. “We can’t help the entire world.”

In the meantime, Biden and members of his administration try to win over voters by touting main Obamacare expansions whereas promising to do extra to develop entry to care, particularly in rural communities.

“9 million extra individuals have Health Care due to fights this administration has taken,” Neera Tanden, Biden’s home coverage adviser, stated final week within the metropolis of Rothschild, saying an $11 million federal funding within the Health-care workforce. “There’s a transparent selection.”

However Wisconsin voters on the Rothschild city hall-style occasion advised Tanden and Health and Human Companies Secretary Xavier Becerra that the state dropping hospitals and clinics has upended entry.

“We had a hospital that’s been serving our group for over 100 years shut very all of the sudden,” stated Michael Golat, an impartial voter who lives within the city of Altoona and believes Biden would prioritize Health Care, but says the president should do extra to develop entry to Health Care and psychological Health remedy. “IT’s actually a disaster right here.”

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