Health, heat and deportations: the issues driving Nevada caucus voters
Presidential Elections,Nevada Caucus,Voting,Elections
Saturday’s ‘first-in-the-west’ vote brings a diverse electorate more in line with the demographics of America and the party.
As Nevada prepares for the caucuses that could reshape the US presidential race, Democratic voters here remained divided on who is the best candidate to end the tumultuous presidency of Donald Trump.
But across the state, Democratic primary voters agreed that making Trump a one-term president is a priority – and that their daily struggles looked very different than the experiences of voters in Iowa and New Hampshire.
“Nevada really is representative of the rest of the country,” said Deb Lomando, a 70-year-old Las Vegas resident and retired geologist. “We are going to set the narrative for the race.”
Nevada’s closely watched caucuses on Saturday will be the third vote in the primary this year, but the first in a state with a diverse population that more closely resembles the demographics of America and the Democratic party. While the first two states are 90% white, Nevada is nearly 30% Latino, 10% black and has a growing Asian American population. That makes the “first in the west” caucuses a pivotal test of the diversity of each campaign’s supporters.
Recent polls have shown the Vermont senator Bernie Sanders with a sizable lead in the state after establishing himself as a frontrunner in Iowa and New Hampshire. But the Massachusetts senator Elizabeth Warren had a particularly strong debate performance in Vegas, which has energized her campaign and could shake up the caucuses. Former vice-president Joe Biden is hoping for some kind of comeback. And Saturday will also illustrate whether the more moderate candidates from the midwest, Pete Buttigieg and Amy Klobuchar, can attract voters of color in the west.
From Las Vegas in the south to Reno in the north, voters told the Guardian this week that the race was highly personal and urgent, mentioning the suffering caused by Trump’s deportation machine, the imminent threats of the climate crisis, the fights for labor protections and better jobs for low-wage workers, the protection of public lands and more.
