What swing state voters are saying ahead of midterm elections

The 2022 midterm elections are now three weeks away, with control of both the House of Representatives and the Senate — along with three dozen gubernatorial races — at stake.

To get a sense for which issues are most important for prospective voters ahead of casting their ballots this November, The Washington Post dispatched reporters to NFL stadiums across the country Sunday. While some fans considered their pregame rituals too sacred to sully by talking politics, the tailgate lots proved to be a fertile ground for finding voters willing to share their opinions. Here’s what likely voters in Miami, Atlanta, Cleveland and Pittsburgh had to say.

In the warm, teal-tinted shadow of Hard Rock Stadium in Miami, several prospective Florida voters discussed topics reflective of the state’s always-sizable role in national politics — including the potential 2024 presidential hopes of Gov. Ron DeSantis (R), who is on the ballot for reelection this November, and the recovery efforts following Hurricane Ian.

Almost unanimously, they resisted the caricature of the “Florida Man” and insisted that no matter their personal views, they held nuanced opinions about the most pressing issues in the state.

“A lot of people around the country like to be like, ‘Eff Florida, Florida sucks.’ They do the meme of Florida being cut off [from the rest of the country],” said Josh Zele, 25, who added that he hadn’t decided how he would vote. “But there’s a lot of good people in this state who aren’t just like super MAGA or super left. There’s a lot of good people.”

While the people interviewed Sunday most commonly cited crime and climate change as the issues important to them, other topics outranked those in a Spectrum News-Siena College poll of likely Florida voters. In that survey, which asked voters to select from a list of issues and name which one would be most important in determining their vote in November, 39 percent selected economic issues (including inflation and cost of living), 16 percent chose threats to democracy and 11 percent cited abortion.

The closely contested Senate race between Herschel Walker (R) and incumbent Raphael G. Warnock (D) has received national headlines following a news report that Walker, who has said he is pro-life, paid for an abortion for the mother of one of Walker’s children that she says he wanted her to have. (Walker has denied doing so, including during the debate this past week.) But of the people interviewed outside Mercedes-Benz Stadium before Sunday’s Falcons-49ers game in Atlanta, none said the report had changed their minds about who they plan to vote for.

Several interviewees did cite candidates’ values as being a deciding factor, however. “You shouldn’t worry about Democrat or Republican, you just need to listen to the views of people running and decide who is the best representative for Georgia,” said Laurice Brown, 44, of Dawson. Brown said she planned to support Warnock and gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams (D); the most important issue to her in this election is abortion rights, in the wake of the Supreme Court overturning Roe v. Wade.

The prospective voters cited the economy, abortion and the preservation of democracy as being important issues to them, which was similar to results from a Fox News poll conducted in late September. That survey asked likely Georgia voters to choose from a number of issues which would be most important in determining their vote in the Senate race. Coming in first was inflation and higher prices at 25 percent, while 18 percent named the preservation of American democracy and 13 percent identified abortion as being most important.

The responses of prospective Ohio voters outside FirstEnergy Stadium before Sunday’s Browns-Patriots game were reflective of its status as a swing state. After Ohio went for Donald Trump in the past two elections, this year’s Senate race is expected to be close between Tim Ryan (D) and J.D. Vance (R), who has received support from Trump.

“I can’t trust J.D.,” said Mark Haas, 64, of Richmond Heights. “If he’s associated with Trump, I don’t want any part of it.”

“I voted in the 2020 election for Joe Biden,” said Cleveland resident Zak Baris, 34. “I’m no longer a fan. I will be voting Republican in this election.”

Voters cited inflation, abortion and immigration as the issues that would be most critical to their decisions. A Marist College poll conducted in mid-September asked Ohio voters to choose from a list of five issues and identify which was “top of mind” heading into the election. Over a third, 36 percent, chose inflation, 28 percent said preserving democracy, 18 percent said abortion, 11 percent said health care and 6 percent said immigration.

Outside Acrisure Stadium ahead of the Steelers-Buccaneers game, political opinions generally fell along geographic lines: Pittsburghers said they would side with Democrats, while suburbanites and rural voters favored Republicans.

Steve Bland, a 63-year-old city resident who was setting out grilled mini-burritos and waiting for his friends to arrive, said he planned to vote for “whoever is running in the Democratic Party and believes the 2020 election was fair.”

“We have a certain faction of our society that believes the 2020 election wasn’t fair,” he said, “and they are not abiding by the rule of law.”

Bob Smith, 55, who lives in the suburb of White Oak, said he plans to vote for every Republican running this year, adding that his opposition to the Democratic Party has hardened since the 2020 election and citing rising costs as one reason.

“Inflation, gas prices, everything is going up,” he said.

Those two answers reflected the results of a Fox News poll from late September, which asked likely Pennsylvania voters to choose which issue would be most important to them in the Senate race. There was a tie at the top, with 21 percent choosing inflation and higher prices and another 21 percent naming the preservation of American democracy. Abortion was the third-most-cited issue, at 15 percent.