Bethlehem sits in Northampton County, Pennsylvania, where voters have an uncanny knack for predicting the outcome of US presidential races.
It’s a swing county within a swing state that voted for Barack Obama twice, then Donald Trump, then Joe Biden.
Since 1912, the county has changed hands with the nation all but three times: in 1968 when Richard Nixon took office and then in 2000 and 2004 when Republican President George W. Bush defeated Al Gore and then John Kerry. .
The election is incredibly tight because both Kamala Harris and Trump made late-stage efforts to sway voters at rallies just days after the Nov. 5 vote.
Voters nationwide are 48 percent split when it comes to their favorite president, according to the latest New York Times/Sienna poll.
In the shadow of the rusting towers and pipes of Bethlehem Steel, 87-year-old former steelworker and registered Republican Don Young tells 7.30 why he will vote against the party again.
“My vote for Kamala Harris is based solely on the fact that she is not Donald Trump, and with Kamala Harris, I expect to continue the democratic traditions of the country,” Mr. Young said.
“Donald Trump – I fear he is going to destroy the democratic government of the United States.”
Mr Young says Trump “preaches a bright future without any real data or a plan to back it up”.
The tight race in Northampton County has exposed divisions between neighbors, colleagues and even families, including Don Young’s.
“My wife is a passionate, passionate Trump supporter. She really sees Trump as the Orange Jesus, the savior of the nation. And I have to live with that. But, she’s a good woman.”
In nearby Allentown, the poll also caused problems in Gary Ward’s household. He’s voting for Trump, and he and his wife fell for his lawn signs supporting Democrats.
“The vibe is not good. So I can’t wait until this election is over and we can get back to being a friendly husband and wife,” Mr Ward told 7.30.
“It’s just, I’m surprised, the first time in our more than 50 years of marriage that an election has affected the way we treat each other.”
Mr. Ward sells oriental rugs from a warehouse in Allentown and believes Trump is better suited to fix America’s rising cost of living.
“I like him because, like me, he’s a business man, and I’m sure he’s not as inspired as … career politicians are,” he said.
“He knows about profit and loss, and I believe that if this country was run like a business we could bring things in or curb things, like inflation, and issues like the border issue. can solve.”
They will put aside their personal dislike of the former president to vote for Trump.
“I literally hold my nose when I pull that lever or mark my ballot, because I want to show that I’m not really happy with who I’m voting for,” he said.
“I’m all for his policies, but I don’t like the guy.”
Anger over abortion rights
Mr. Ward’s colleague, office manager Kathy Scripts, can’t understand why so many people here, including her employer, Gary, are voting for Trump.
“Most of my friends are Democrats and will vote that way. We all feel, and it’s awful to say, but we’re voting for the lesser of two evils,” he said.
“I will not vote for a convicted felon. I will not vote for someone who took away my daughter’s choice.”
Ms Scripts said she had a friend, a nurse, who had an ectopic pregnancy and survived thanks to emergency surgery that is now illegal in some US states.
“If she had been in a situation where she hadn’t had an abortion, she would have died,” he said.
βShe was bleeding while she was driving.
“It’s very important not to take it too seriously. And I do, and for that reason, I will vote for Kamala Harris.”
Ms Scripts says she can’t believe people will vote for Trump after he was found guilty in a criminal trial in May of falsifying business records.
“He’s not a good person,” she said.
“He’s a felon, a 34-count, convicted felon. He can run the country from prison.
“Isn’t that funny? Not even in a ‘haha’ kind of way, kind of mind-blowing that there are smart people who would still vote for him.”
‘Americans can trust him’
One of the smartest people who will vote for Donald Trump is emergency room doctor Jim Sweetland.
For most of his adult life, Dr. Sweetland has voted for Democrats.
His politics turned on the Affordable Care Act β known as Obamacare β which he called a “tax” rather than health care reform.
“Someone has to pay for it in the United States. [and] This is middle class. So they are paying for it indirectly through higher premiums for their healthcare insurance,” Dr Sweetland told 7.30.
He says he didn’t abandon the Democrats β the Democrats abandoned him.
“I was the youngest of five children, and I was lucky enough to go through school to become a doctor.”
“I think everybody in the United States has an opportunity to achieve, and I don’t think the Democratic Party is into that anymore. It’s more of a Republican issue.”
In July, Dr. Sweetland’s political transition landed him at a Donald Trump rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, where he sat with his wife, Lois, in the crowd behind the former president.
Minutes after Trump’s speech, Dr. Sweetland heard gunshots and saw Trump running into a swarm of Secret Service agents.
It was clear that someone in the crowd was injured.
Dr. Sweetland recounted the incident: “I heard a woman say very loudly, ‘He’s been shot. He’s down,’ which is EMS parlance, ‘This man is seriously ill, come on now.’
Dr. Sweetland waded through the crowd and found an injured man slumped between rows of seats, later discovered to be firefighter Corey Comparator, 50.
“He’s a big guy, and I couldn’t lift him,” Dr. Sweetland said.
Another colleague helped lift him onto a bench, where Dr. Sweetland performed CPR until emergency services arrived.
Comperatore’s wife Helen was with Dr. Sweetland as they continued resuscitation efforts. Four months later, he remains haunted by the events of that day, where Comparator dies.
“I’ll never forget the look on his face, and for many, for more than a few months, it has kept me awake at night, but the look on his face was one of utter shock and horror, rather a little There is hope.”
Dr. Sweetland says he has tried counseling since the rally.
Since the shooting, Dr. Sweetland has spoken at Trump events.
“I’ve given speeches, and I always end it by saying that we as Americans need to turn down the temperature in the living room, and we can do it. Call someone you know who He doesn’t have it. The same political view as you, and just say, I want to talk to you respectfully.”
Lowering the temperature is not something the often-outrageous former president is known for, Dr. Sweetland acknowledges, while adding that Democrats are also guilty of being callous.
“He’s a bombshell in some ways,” she told 7.30.
“It’s not – and I love the guy – but he doesn’t have a mind-to-mouth filter.
βSo a lot of stuff is exposed without a filter, and that’s its downfall, I think, as well as its strength.
“Americans can trust him. He just said something I didn’t say, but I know what he’s thinking. And when he says he’s going to do something like that in his first administration, So he did.”
look 7.30Monday through Thursday at 7:30 p.m ABCI View and ABC TV