Tomorrow is the official election day, but in Nevada, hundreds of thousands of people voted early over the last two weeks.
On the ballot are a race for governor, a senate race, congressional contests and important ballot questions.
While those are the issues and candidates on the ballot, former Clark County Commissioner Rory Reid believes the election is really a referendum on President Donald Trump.
“Right now, Donald Trump and his supporters have control of the country,” he said, “They have the Senate, the House, the Supreme Court and this is an opportunity for people to stand up and say they want that power checked.”
Former State Assemblyman and State Senator Warren Hardy doesn’t entirely agree. He believes that some people will vote depending on how they feel about the president’s personality, many more people will ignore some of the president’s more inflammatory statements and actions and vote based on how well the economy is doing.
“I also think it’s a referendum on the economy,” he said, “People do have strong opinions about the president but a lot of folks I’m talking to are putting those feelings aside because of how well the economy is doing.”
Michael Schauss with the Nevada Policy Research Institute, a libertarian think tank, says it is a weird time in politics.
“There are some people who might find Donald Trump kind of repulsive but they like how the economy is running,” he said, “They like some of the policies he has put in place.”
While the panelists disagreed on whether people will vote based on their personal opinions about the president, they did agree the country needs to get away from tribalism and division in politics.
“We have this inability in the United States of America today to say, ‘that individual is somebody with whom I disagree,’” he said, “I disagree politically with Rory most of the time. I disagree with his father [former Senator Harry Reid] most of the time. There are not two men I respect more than Rory and his father.”
He said we shouldn’t see people we disagree with politically as evil people.
Reid agreed. He said the only thing he and Hardy agree on is that it’s time for the Dodgers to win the World Series.
“I think that we need to find a way back to where people that disagree can have a conversation,” Reid said.
Schauss said we need to remember that we have more things that bring us together than we have things that pull us apart.
“We kind of slipping into a dangerous spot where I see people saying, ‘look at all these Trump voters or look at all these Hillary voters and aren’t these horrible people,” he said, “They’re just normal people. They are probably your neighbor.”
Former State Sen. Warren Hardy; Former Clark County Commission Chair Rory Reid; Michael Schauss, Nevada Policy Research Institute.
