Julie Stout and her father have split views when it comes to politics, and during election season, that can be apparent to anyone who drives by their shared, two-story brick home in Niles, Ohio.
“My dad and I, we have an agreement: Republican in the front yard, Democrat on the side yard,” Stout said. “People who drive past, they just don't know what to think at all.”
Two "Trump 2024" banners hang in the windows flanking the front door. Stout, a 49-year-old progressive Democrat, said she respects why her father supports Trump.
"He thinks the Democrats are just totally out of control. They don't have an agenda. They don't have a plan, They don't have a vision," she said.
Stout herself would likely say that about most politicians. To her, they are an interchangeable cast of characters who don't make good on their promises and are ultimately driven by self-interest, not service.
She summed up her view of the November election in one word, said twice for emphasis: “Blasé, blasé.”
A graduate of Youngstown State University, Stout worked at Taco Bell for $12 an hour last spring.
“I'm what they call a service champion,’” Stout said. “I wait on customers directly at the drive-thru window. I take orders, and I serve customers.
She quit Taco Bell and, over the summer, got paid signing people up to vote. That job ended this month.
Stout considers herself poor. She's a Medicaid recipient. She doesn't pay for housing — her dad owns the house — but her car payments, insurance and gas gobble up most of her income.
“It sucks up all my money,” she said.
Mass transit is not an option. Trumbull County currently has two bus lines, operated by the Western Reserve Transportation Authority. Both of them serve Warren, with the nearest stop roughly six miles from Julie's home. The future of these routes is uncertain. They're only funded through March 2025.
Stout's lived experience as a low-income worker and Medicaid recipient informs her progressive politics. She said many of the reforms she’d like to see, such as Medicare for all, and a $15 federal minimum wage are pipe dreams.
“I feel like I'm like most poor people. I'm completely alienated,” she said. “Like over 50% of people don't even vote... I go and vote. I cast a ballot. But when I look at the list of people to vote for, there's nobody I'm endorsing. There's nobody I want to vote for. There's nobody representing me. All the candidates are garbage.”
On average, about 57% of the electorate has voted in presidential elections after 1968, according to data from the University of Florida’s Voter Lab. Only about 41% voted in midterm elections over the same period.
Stout has long been disenchanted with the Democratic party and electoral politics. She hasn't cast a vote for president in years, choosing instead to focus on down-ballot races. She had no plans of voting for President Joe Biden, whom she said failed to raise the federal minimum wage or wipe out her student loan debt. She estimates she owes about $60,000.
Now that Biden is out, she’s not sure she’ll back Vice President Kamala Harris either, even if it means a victory for former President and Republican Donald Trump. She said her support will depend on Harris’s position on the Israel-Hamas war.
“The Palestinian people deserve dignity, just like everyone else,” Stout said.
The war has further fractured an already polarized Democratic party. Hundreds of thousands of voters cast ballots marked “uncommitted” in Democratic presidential primaries earlier this year, when Biden was still the candidate, in opposition to his administration's handling of the Israel-Hamas war. Some congressional Democrats, like U.S. Rep. Ilhan Omar of Minnesota, want the U.S. to impose an Israeli arms embargo in order to pressure the country into a ceasefire with Hamas. More than 40,000 Palestinians have died in Gaza, including roughly 16,600 women and children.
“I see what's happening to Palestinians. That's my red line, is Palestine,” Stout said.
But other issues are also on Stout's radar: a $15 federal minimum wage, Medicare for all, and the environment. She is certain this year's presidential and Congressional candidates will not address them.
Even though Julie Stout thinks elected officials will not improve her life, or the lives of folks like her, she maintains she's "very engaged" in politics.
“I mean, I’m hopeful,” she said.
So hopeful, in fact, she spent the summer registering people to vote.
