In just one month, American voters will have to choose between Kamala Harris and Donald Trump. And the vote appears extremely close, as in Georgia, one of the pivotal states which can tip the balance to one side or the other.
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Four years ago, Georgia, a traditionally Republican southern state, created a surprise by preferring Joe Biden to Donald Trump, with a tiny gap of less than 12,000 votes.. Georgia has a large black community, predominantly Democratic, especially in large cities like the capital Atlanta.
But it is also an emblematic state of what is called the “Bible Belt”, (“Bible Belt”), the band made up of around ten states in the extremely religious south of the country. These states mostly have a secessionist past and a fundamentalist electorate that Donald Trump seduced in 2020, by promising to return to America’s traditional Christian values. Today, Georgia remains one of the pivotal states that can tilt in favor of Kamala Harris and Donald Trump on November 4.
Clayton, a small town of 2,000 inhabitants, is one of the bastions of fundamentalist Georgia. HASn the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains, homes are set in a lush landscape of forests and lakes, with just one main street, a handful of stores and several churches.
In the Baptist church, Cliff Lewis, one of the pastors, describes the mentality of this country: “Clayton has been rural Georgia for a very long time. Many families grew up here, from generation to generation.” Here, people literally believe that the world was created with Adam and Eve. “We were educated in fundamental Judeo-Christian valueshe explains, and as the rest of America becomes openly opposed to Christian or traditional values, the people who still defend those values are really struggling.”
“Abortion and transgender issues, we see the harm it does”adds the pastor. This is also Mary Ann’s opinion. This Donald Trump voter walks the cemetery above the church, where Confederate flags fly on some graves. This standard of the Southern States has become a sign of the extreme right, in a county where 90% of the population is white. “JI am totally anti-abortionshe says. I have a gay son. I had a hard time admitting it at first but today I say that you shouldn’t hate gays. For God could not be wrong.” But the transgender issue involving body modification poses a problem for him.
“When transsexuals want to have surgery to change what God created, I believe it is wrong.”
Mary Ann, Donald Trump voterat franceinfo
Mary Ann shakes her head. In these remote communities of rural America, the church is at the center of everything, of social life, which is very communal. A lifestyle that Reverend Cliff absolutely wants to see continue. “If the rest of the world goes crazy and rejects everything that we’ve built on and that’s been good for us, we’re going to hold on tight to it.”he assures.
It is with this in mind that this region should overwhelmingly vote in favor of Donald Trump. In 2020, the region voted 80% for the Republican candidate and residents applauded the possibility of finally changing abortion laws. Abortion in Georgia has become almost legally impossible.
But since the beginning of the campaign, Donald Trump has moderated his tone on abortion, he has declared that he does not want to ban it at the national level and leaves the states free to choose. The candidate understood, during the mid-term elections, that the Democrats had succeeded in saving the furniture by mobilizing around this issue.
Jason, who attends another church in the area, has not forgiven her: “Kamala Harris is openly for child sacrifice. And Donald Trump has changed his mind on abortion a dozen timeshe castigates. He’s trying to appeal to conservative voters.”
“I cannot support a candidate who accepts child sacrifice.”
Jason, former disappointed Donald Trump voterat franceinfo
This disappointed voter decided he would not vote this time. He looks back on the former president’s exercise: “He said when he was president that he would stop funding Planned Parenthood, iHe never did it. He lied.”
The Reverend Cliff Lewis hammers it home, pastors do not have to tell their flock who to vote for. But he insists, on the other hand, that they go to the polls. “We are at a breaking point, for the most conservative among us, when we see them give ground on very important societal issues.he declares. Should we take a stand now and say : ‘If you do that, we won’t vote for you’ ? These are difficult decisions. If someone says we should stop voting for Trump because he has strayed too far from the pro-life cause, ultimately that could mean more abortions of babies. It’s a complicated calculation.”
But when asked what he thinks of Donald Trump, the pastor prefers to laugh. “I don’t like the manhe admits, he is hotheaded, arrogant, abrasive. But every person is a mixture. There are things you like about people and others you don’t. That’s how it is in families, in society. But when it’s a national political figure, it makes headlines.” So in Clayton, as always, we will follow the church, we will vote. With our hearts or holding our noses, we will vote red: Republican. We will vote for Trump.