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Good morning.
It's Sunday, November 3rd, 2024.
We're in the closing days of the presidential election campaign, and both of the major candidates are making their final swings through the swing states, delivering their last appeals to voters.
Many of those voters are more than ready for the campaign to end.
To get some political closure, yes, but also because of the strain the election is putting on some relationships with friends, work colleagues, family.
So this morning, we want to hear from you.
Is the election affecting your relationships?
If you're supporting the Harris Walls campaign, please call in at 202-748-8000.
If you're supporting the Trump Vance campaign, 202-748-8001.
If you're neither decided nor undecided, 202-748-8002.
If you'd like to text us, that number is 202-748-8003.
Please be sure to include your name and where you're writing in from.
And if you'd like to find us on social media, facebook.com slash C-SPAN and on X at C-SPANWJ.
Now for some data on just how this election has been affecting people's relationships, there's a story here in Fox News.
Election strain pushes one of three Americans to limit time with family and friends.
The presidential election is already stressful for most Americans, and these stressors can trickle down into relationships.
A new poll from the American Psychological Association found that 77% of Americans believe the future of our nation is a, quote, significant source of stress, along with the economy, 73%, and the upcoming election, 69%.
A bit more detail from that American Psychological Association survey.
32% of adults say the political climate has caused a strain between themselves and family members.
30% have limited their time spent with family members who don't share the same values.
Half of adults admitted that tensions around social and political topics make them want to connect less with others.
And 28% say they have nothing in common with people who have different political opinions.
Now, American Psychological Association CEO Author Evans joined us on Washington Journal yesterday and discussed how people can repair some of those frayed relationships after the election.
A couple of things that I would say to really think about what matters and where you agree as opposed to where you don't agree.
What I have found over my career, particularly, I've worked in political environments quite a bit, actually 20 years I spent in political environments.
And most of the time we come into those kinds of situations thinking about where our differences are and starting the conversation there.
And if you step back and think about where are we similar and how can we start the conversation on the things that we agree on, you actually get a lot further.
Most people are probably going to agree on maybe 80% of the things.
Again, people may not agree on how to approach those things, but there are a lot of things that people will agree on.
The other thing is to approach those conversations, not trying to convince the other person, but really trying to listen and try to understand.
If you think about it, most people have pretty set political views.
You know, I've heard some of the callers right before this segment.
They're probably not going to change their viewpoints around who they're supporting politically.
But they can step back some and try to understand why people who think differently than them have those positions.
So I think it really is about trying to understand, try to listen, and then trying to find common ground where there is agreement.
Let's get right to your calls.
John is in New York and is undecided.
Good morning, John.
Hi, thank you, and thank you for taking my call.
Yeah, basically I'm kind of undecided.
You know, I'm looking, I try to make a sheet and list the positive points of view and the negative points of view of each candidate.
And, you know, I look at it and I'm looking at Kamala Harris, and I like the fact that she's focusing on health care.
I think that's extremely important.
And other populist issues, you know, concerning maybe child care and looking at affordability.
But on the other hand, I look at Trump and his record on the economy and his record on immigration are very distinct and powerful points of view that I have with him.
And one of the things that really disturbs me is the lack of scrutiny that they apply to each side.
For example, with Trump, they're constantly criticizing him, the law affair, the attempted assassination, the rhetoric, the vitriol, and things like that, and the latest comments by Joe Biden.
So, John, I wonder, though, how this election has affected your personal relationships as you've been kind of going through this and trying to make that decision.
Well, thank you for asking that question because it has.
I find myself at odds from time to time with close friends and members of my own family.
They don't like Trump because of his bombast.
They don't like him because, you know, his overall demeanor.
And what bothers me in that, and maybe some of your viewers can comment on it, is I think you've got to separate the noise from everything else.
Trump has made definite gains.
And, you know, I'm trying to look at it from a neutral point of view and giving Reference to the Biden-Harris side.
And sometimes when you look at the facts, you know, objectively, one side comes out ahead.
And that's very hard to do because people are obstructed with emotions and they react accordingly.
So, again, you know, with close friends and even family members, you know, the best solution I found is that when we're at two holiday dinners, nobody talks politics.
It's a written rule, and we're able to get along.
But not to digress, I'm really kind of concerned and worried about the direction that we're going because, you know, this election can have long-lasting implications.
So, again, I mean, I urge people to be objective, and that's what I'm trying to do.
And when I look at it in this manner, I'll hopefully vote the right way.
But I think that we all.
Let's hear now from Ernest in Bristol, Florida, who is supporting Trump.
Good morning, Ernest.
Yeah, I just want to say most people vote for someone because they like them.
They don't vote for the policies.
I vote for the policies that the candidates have.
And how have you found this affecting your personal relationships over the course of the campaign?
Well, the last four years have been real hard on me and my family because the prices of everything has went up since Biden and Harris got into the White House.
And I just think Trump's policies is a lot better.
The economy was a lot better.
The border was secure.
I think the whole country is more safe.
Now, Ernest, is most of your family also supporting former President Trump?
Yeah.
Yeah.
And is there anybody in your life who doesn't support Trump where you've had any kind of challenges with those relationships?
No.
Everybody I know supports Trump on count of his policies.
And especially like in Pennsylvania, I don't know how anybody can vote for her.
I mean, I'm not saying I don't like her, but her policies.
Can you imagine yourself being friends or starting a new kind of friendship or relationship with someone who maybe doesn't support former President Trump?
Yeah, yeah.
Yeah.
Okay.
Great.
Let's look at a comment from Facebook.
Mark Freeman says: Unfortunately, I have not remained friends with anyone who thinks the 2020 election was stolen.
I can only maintain friendships with people who live in reality.
I still have Trump supporting friends and relatives, but we must agree on that one fact.
Melvin is in Richmond, Virginia, and is supporting Vice President Harris.
Good morning, Melvin.
Good morning, Kimberly.
Thank you for taking my call.
Kimberly, I am a person who generally does not deal with the opposition.
You know, I don't really have any family members who are not supporters of the Kamala Harris, maybe one or two, but we don't talk to that person, you know, just because we feel they're just ridiculous.
You know, so in my environment, in my little circle of life, like Social media friends, they know that I'm going to post what I like.
And if they challenge it, I will just take them off my friends list.
And of course, my friends are mostly supporters of Kamala and Mr. Wall.
So, you know, you have to be staunch sometime because we're living in a dangerous time if Trump gets elected.
You know, you can't have anybody poisoning your thoughts because it's just too dangerous.
I do wonder, do you think that after the election, you'll be able to restore some of those friendships, some of those people who you've removed from your friends list?
No, because it's a mindset.
You know, people who support Trump really are racist at heart.
They're either racist or they are, they just don't understand.
You know, there's a reason why Project 2025 wants to remove the Department of Education because people who are not educated fall for Trump's bank.
If you look at all the polls, there's always a sharp difference between people who have a college degree or better education and people who don't.
The more education you have, the more likely you are to be a Democrat.
And the less education you have, the more likely you are to vote for Trump.
That is why they want to get rid of the Department of Education, because if you keep people ignorant, they will vote for Donald Trump.
All right, so let's hear from John in Nampa, Idaho, who is supporting Trump.
Good morning, John.
Good morning.
Thank you for taking my call.
I have to just wholeheartedly disagree.
Unless Trump lives forever, there's no way you can continue to vote for Trump.
He can't run again for office anymore after this is over.
If he wins, then he would be president for four years, and that's it.
He can't do anymore.
So that negates that last caller's conclusion is what he had about Trump abolishing the educational system.
If you want to talk about the educational system, it's been a complete failure.
It's been a money pit for the unions, and one doesn't have to look far to see that.
So, John, I wonder, though, if you can share how you think this election has affected your personal relationships, people in your life.
The people in my life, the ones that are Kamala supporters, I have not left them, and they have not left me.
We have an unwritten agreement that when something comes up between the two of us that we want to discuss, but we know it's a hot-button issue, it's kind of like two boxers.
We go to each one of our own corners and we think about it, and then we talk about it the next day by phone or in person.
And by doing so, we give ourselves enough time to cool off.
We never blow up, and we don't ruin a friendship that we've had for some time.
And that's the most important thing.
We can't let politics ruin our relationships that we have in this life.
If we do, we're not going to have any friends.
So it takes a little bit of patience.
It takes a little bit of love to know that the other person has a belief and an understanding the way they're going to believe and understand.
The thing that I do disagree with Kamal the most is when she was addressing the African-American males and how she was going to take care of them, and that was to help them get started in the marijuana business.
Last time I checked, marijuana is still a drug.
It may have been declassified a little bit by the United States government, but it's still a drug.
And I don't want to see my brothers and sisters go down being addicted to another drug.
I disagree with it, and I think it's evil by the way that it's been done.
Okay.
That's it.
We have a text message from James in Troy, Michigan, who says, I live in Michigan.
I think that 75% of people don't associate with people of the other party.
The division will never be repaired.
Sean is in Houston, Texas, and is a Harris supporter.
Good morning, Sean.
Good morning.
How has this election been affecting your relationships?
So it's definitely been affecting my relationship as far as coworkers go.
In the past, people would assume that I voted for Barack Obama because I am African American.
And now I do have coworkers who are Trump supporters.
I don't discuss those type of things at work.
However, it's always discussed.
How do you navigate that to maintain a good relationship with your coworkers?
To me, I just don't talk about it.
If we are talking about it, I change the subject right away.
I found it to be very problematic.
I am a Harris supporter, and, you know, through the Trump administration, it's total chaos lies.
And I find it very problematic.
Okay.
Sean is in Baltimore, Maryland, and is a Trump supporter.
Good morning, Sean.
Good day to you.
How has this election affected your relationships?
All right, I just want to say this real quick: that guy talking about Trump supporters are uneducated.
That's an asinal statement, and it's ignorant.
I have a college degree, four-year bachelor's degree in science, and I am a Trump supporter.
So that negates his statement.
As far as my relationships, you better believe it does affect a lot of them.
Being a black American, I'm a foundational black American, and you already know supporting Trump is a problem because a lot of people in our community are brainwashed by the Democrats.
I will say it's better.
A lot more black people are supporting Trump this election versus 2016-2020, but it's still an issue.
A lot of my family, they're Harris supporters.
So some of them I could talk to, like my mom and dad, we get along.
They support Harris.
They know how I feel.
But then I got some cousins.
I'm like, I just want to keep it to myself.
And I mean, it's not, it doesn't get out of hand, but you know, I just kind of keep it to myself.
And same with my in-laws.
Some of my in-laws are Harris supporters.
So, and my wife is a Trump supporter.
So what we do is, you know, we just, we just kind of keep it to ourselves.
As far as coworkers, It's 50-50.
Some of them I could talk to about Trump.
Some of them who are Harris supporters, we can have a civil conversation, even with friends.
But at the end of the day, I think it's a good idea that I just keep it to myself and I don't talk about politics because the ones who are Harris supporters, Harris supporters, they get delusional like that guy talking about, you know, you're uneducated and then, you know, I'm supposed to.
Sean, just because, and I want you to finish up your point, but just because several folks have referenced this, I went ahead and looked up the data from Pew Research on the connection between party affiliation and education.
And so I'll just give some of those data points.
The relationship between education and partisanship has shifted significantly since the early years of the 21st century.
The Republican Party now holds a six percentage point advantage over the Democratic Party among voters who do not have a bachelor's degree.
Voters who do not have a four-year degree make up 60% of all registered voters.
By comparison, the Democratic Party has a 13-point advantage among those with a bachelor's degree or more formal education.
This pattern is relatively recent.
In fact, until about two decades ago, the Republican Party fared better among college graduates and worse among those without a college degree.
So just because several folks have brought up those numbers.
Go ahead, Sean.
All right, so it's not all.
No, of course not.
All people who have degrees don't support Democrats.
And then, number two, there is a secret Trump supporter.
Like I said, I can't go around saying I support Trump because of the backlash I would get.
And I will be honest, some people will just straight up get so angry you think they're about to commit violence.
And you better believe I know how to fight, but I'm 43 and I got two kids.
I'm married, so I'm not trying to even deal with that.
So I just keep it to myself just to keep the peace.
So those polls, I mean, they might be somewhat true, but you better believe people just keep to themselves to avoid trouble and avoid violence.
And I just wrapping my point real quick: just at the end of the day, I just keep it to myself because a lot of people in my community, if you are not voting Democrat, then they get angry.
And notice key words.
I said, not voting Democrat.
I didn't even say vote Republican because at first I wasn't supporting Trump or Sean.
I do want to give a little bit more data from that American Psychological Association survey that I mentioned at the beginning of the show that actually breaks down the strain on relationships that politics is causing people based on race.
And so as we mentioned earlier, politics strains relationships for nearly one-third of U.S. adults.
That's 32% overall.
When you break it down by gender, it strains more relationships for men, 36%, compared to 28% of women.
And then if you break it down by race, 39% of Latino adults feel like politics is straining their relationships compared to 30% of black and white adults versus 27% of Asian adults.
There's also a difference depending on your gender orientation or sexual orientation, with LGBTQIA plus folks feeling 41% of them feeling like politics is straining their relationships versus 30% for heterosexual cisgender adults.
Willie is in Annapolis, Maryland, and is a Harris supporter.
Good morning, Willie.
Good morning.
And how is this election affecting your relationships?
Well, it's not having any effect on me because I was for a Democratic and a Harris supporter from the get-go.
And I think some of this place of the polls telling about who this and that, I think it's just a lot of dramatics on the side of the pollsters and the people who make this publicity.
And I was kind of surred about the gentleman who said that about Harris trying to appeal to black men in that the I don't know where this misinformation comes from that because if she's appealing to black men, that's going to cause cocaine of marijuana to go up.
I think that's a whole lot of brainwashing and things put out by the media and by the pollsters.
But as far as my relationships are going, I don't have one way or the other.
I have pretty good relationships regardless of what side people are voting on.
But I just think how anybody could vote for a man that didn't apply for this kind of violence we had at the Capitol.
And that scares me what's going to happen if he gets in.
So I am definitely a supporter for Harris.
Okay, let's go to Ryan in Orange, Massachusetts, who is a Trump supporter.
Good morning, Ryan.
Hi.
The question was about how has it affected your relationships?
Well, I can tell you in Mount Watcheset Community College in Gardner, I've been alienated, downgraded for being a Trump supporter, and actually been threatened to have been thrown off campus.
I filed a civil rights claim against them and won.
Okay, I've had people who I went to high school and college with on my Facebook that have unfriended me because obviously they're cyber Nazis and can't handle different opinions.
So what I do is I make different accounts, log back on, and then I say it again.
I get a high school reunion coming up, and I can't wait.
If Trump wins, I am going to rub it in so bad it's not even funny.
Now, the whole comment about people being uneducated voted for Trump, totally wrong.
I have degrees in paralegal studies and business administration.
I've been a former Democrat, turned independent, now unenrolled.
I voted for Trump, and I voted for Republican all-down ballot.
So this whole as for affecting personal relationships, I just dumped a girlfriend over the summer who tried to push LGBTQ nonsense on me.
It doesn't bother me whatsoever because people should be able to express their opinion without having to be alienated.
If you don't mind, Ryan, can I ask you how old you are?
I'm 37.
You're 37.
The reason I was asking is because that American Psychological Association survey that I was mentioning earlier found that 46% of adults would not date someone with different political opinions, and half of Gen Z respondents in a life stance survey said they considered political compatibility to be an important factor in dating compared to 42% of millennials, 31% of Gen X,
and 29% of baby boomers.
One-third of all respondents claimed they would not date someone who disagreed with their political views, while 28% would consider it a deal-breaker.
And it says almost a quarter of Gen Z and millennials have ended a romantic relationship due to at least one political disagreement.
So that sounds like you, Ryan.
Yeah, because she tried to push the genderbender pretender politics on me.
And I said that I told her the biological facts.
And they can't handle the fact that, frankly, believing in more than two genders is delusional fantasy.
And that's what it is.
Okay.
Let's hear from Diana in Livingston, New Jersey, who's a Harris supporter.
Good morning, Diana.
Hi, good morning.
Yes, it definitely has affected almost all my relationships.
My husband and I are childhood sweethearts, so we have the same socioeconomic friends who are blue-collar workers.
My husband was a sheet metal union worker.
He's retired now.
His family is a large Irish family.
I'm Italian.
We're both Catholics.
His nephews, who came out of the military, they're in their 40s about 10 years ago, they couldn't find life readjusting to get a job.
We got them into the union with some contacts, also.
They applied and went through the requirements.
So their union was supposed to be union workers.
And I come to the conclusion, I have friends too, that's about 50-50 more women support Harris because of the abortion issue.
But what I find is it can't be about just his when they say it's that we don't agree with them, that they love Trump's policies.
But when you examine Trump's policies, they were anti-worker, anti-union, anti-freedom, right?
It was supposed to be your conservative, you're less government, your freedom of religion or not, because you respect the First Amendment.
So, Diana, you've laid out some of the demographics and background of your family, your husband and relatives.
How many of them are aligned with you in supporting Vice President Harris?
Okay, my sister and her family is, but they're in Florida.
She finds it very difficult to, again, her relationships.
But the way we get along when you ask how does it affect is we either don't associate with them anymore, like I don't attend any family functions with my husband's family.
Because as soon as you, you know, even if you try to avoid politics, it seems like politics, though, is your life.
Like when you discuss the economy, that's not politics.
That's real, you know, it's either real or not.
Is it a good economy or not?
I was set at a confirmation party, and I was seated next to one of my brother-in-laws, and he insisted about a year and a half ago that we were in recession.
And I just said, no, we're not.
And I start spouting facts by the BLS, by the, you know, I watch a lot of Bloomberg news and CNBC.
I manage my money, so I'm definitely aware of what, you know, what's up, what's down, where to go, their interest rate.
So, but he insisted.
And I said, well, what is it?
He said that he didn't agree with the economists.
And I said, well, you're smarter than the economists.
It's your feelings.
We should go by your feelings.
And he stood up and threatened to stab me in the neck with a butter knife.
And then people intervened.
Yeah, I was shocked.
So since then, I don't associate with any of them because they took it like as if, you know, that I shouldn't bother people with facts.
Like I was by, you know, we don't know what other people are going through and, you know, that type.
So since then, I don't.
And with my friends, it's like, well, how about I went to the racetrack for a reunion in the summer?
And again, as long as I didn't mention anything, it was just, you know, casual talk, then we could get along.
So that's what has happened in my family.
But I became what it is.
I feel bad for him because he's definitely a Harris supporter and he's a union man and he realizes that Biden's policies with bailing out the Teamsters pension and everything.
And we follow, like I say, the policies.
The Republicans who backed Trump, they're kind of using him because the rich were the Republican Party was notoriously about big business and wealth.
I want to actually play an interesting ad because there was an ad that came out in the last week or so from the Harris Walls campaign put out by Vote for Common Good that has many conservatives upset.
Here's a story about it in The Hill.
Conservatives in Furor over Julia Roberts' ad because Julia Roberts voiced this ad, which encourages women to vote for Vice President Harris in the presidential election, even if their husbands are backing former President Trump.
Let's play that ad.
Your turn, honey.
In the one place in America where women still have a right to choose, you can vote any way you want.
And no one will ever know.
Did you make the right choice?
Sure did, honey.
Remember, what happens in the booth stays in the booth.
Vote Harris Wallace.
Vote Common Good is responsible for the contents of this ad.
Reading more from that article in The Hill about this, Republicans have responded to the video with outrage, with some claiming that a wife lying about her vote is as bad as an affair.
Let's now go to Frank in Silver Creek, Georgia, who is supporting former President Trump.
Good morning, Frank.
Hi, good morning.
Yeah, I'm a longtime Republican voter.
I'm all about small government.
And only thing they need to do is provide for the sovereignty and the protection of this country.
That's it.
None of this education.
Now, let me tell you, there is a divide between the generations, the younger generation, especially, because they seem to equate the Republicans with George Bush and his little 20-year fiasco in the Middle East that cost 10,000 lives and $3 trillion, and we got nothing to show for it.
Now, that is what the younger generation sees, and that's the reason they're so against it.
But what they don't see is the whole picture of the Democratic Party, and everything they touch, they screw up.
You know, number of things.
Bay of Pigs invasion, big mistake.
Now, then, Frank, you were talking about sort of the differences between the younger generations and how they view the Republican Party.
Have you seen that show up kind of in your personal relationships with younger folks in your life?
Oh, yeah.
The younger people are, I mean, the Democrats are basically buying the younger vote.
They're going to crash the economy of this country, and then we're going to have a real war.
Okay?
Because you guys don't know what a real war is.
But when Kamala gets done, you'll see what a real war is.
Okay.
Frank, I was just hoping to hear from you.
Baby, say something about your education system.
Please, let me say something.
We were number one until Jimmy Carter became president in education.
Our education is kaput.
We need to do away with this national department of education.
All right.
So this topic is about personal relationships.
Let's hear from Anthony in Baltimore, Maryland, who's a Harris supporter.
Good morning, Anthony.
Good morning.
Can you hear me?
Yes, we can hear you fine.
Oh, okay.
I just wanted to say that the problem with the relationships is that the white Republicans are not telling the truth.
These people are racist.
That's why the relationships are going, but they're not telling the truth.
Race is not about black people.
It's about white people.
White people are the ones who have a problem with race.
They will not accept people of color as human beings.
The man who calls from Baltimore, there's no black, the black vote for Trump is going to be less than 5%.
Black people are not voting for Donald Trump, okay?
Race is about white people.
Race is about white people.
With that kind of perspective, Anthony, how have you seen this campaign affecting your relationship with white people or other folks in your life?
For the most part, I'm pretty civil with white people because they don't want to have an honest conversation.
It goes back to my main point.
We don't talk about it.
We know that an honest conversation about race is going to be explosive and maybe even violent because white people like white Republicans don't want to admit that they're racist.
They're racist.
This is about race.
White people.
That feels like a pretty sweeping judgment of a big group of people.
Look, the history of this country is the truth, that the history of this country tells us this is about race.
Just read your history.
It's not, I'm not making these things up.
People are not making these things up.
This is the ugly reality of what this country is.
All right.
Let's hear from Rick in Cotkill, New York, who is undecided.
Good morning, Rick.
Hi.
I think what the gentleman was getting at goes even further back.
When you look at all the different presidents that we had, each of them had an issue and a problem.
The Gulf of Tompkin, when the Democrats found out that it was our problem that we created Vietnam, the Democrats were angry.
When Kennedy had an affair with Marilyn Monroe, the Republicans were angry.
When Nixon had Watergate, the Democrats were angry primarily.
Clinton with Lewinsky, the Republicans.
It kept going and going until now.
We've got Congress and the Supreme Court who are both corrupt.
So it's Rick, I was just wondering if you could bring that to how this is affecting your personal relationships since the election.
Well, yeah, when I talk about these things with people, they do agree with me.
So I have, right now I'm voting for the lady, and I will continue to support her because what I've seen come out from Trump is, well, he's a felon, a rapist, a liar.
So I couldn't possibly vote for him.
It hasn't been available in my relationships.
Why do you think that is?
Why hasn't it affected most of your relationships?
Because folks agree with you or something else.
Yeah, because when we talk through the issues calmly, people are agreeing with each other.
They bring out points that I agree with.
You know, Trump has a, you know, he's a celebrity.
He knows how to work a crowd.
Anala really doesn't.
So, you know, there's a reason people like him.
There's a reason people like her.
She stands more on policy and what she's going to do for people.
And Trump is a showman and appeals to those types of people.
All right.
Let's hear from Jim in Highland, Indiana, who is a Trump supporter.
Good morning, Jim.
Yes, I'm a Trump supporter.
I'm in a red state of Indiana, and I have a family.
I was a staunch Democrat until that Baukey decision came about.
I have two daughters.
They're college grads.
And they both have master's degrees from IU Bloomington.
And my youngest daughter is a rebel.
That's it.
Point blank.
Do we have arguments?
No, we're a family.
As far as it goes with Harris and Trump, you got to realize we didn't get a good selection this year.
And a lot of people just don't understand.
Who do you take the worst of?
If you vote for Harris, you can bet everything we own that the Chinese are going to invade Taiwan and we're going to get stuck with a war.
For all you mothers that have sons that are worried, you should be worried.
Because as soon as Biden got in, what happened?
The Russians invaded Ukraine a couple months later.
And if you don't think the Chinese are waiting for this opportunity, then you've got to be crazy.
So, Jim.
Stereotyping.
This one guy said, all educated people are going to vote for Democrats.
That's not true.
My family ranges from the, like I said, the master's degree to people that are in political power.
I'm a union member myself of 1010.
And like I said, I changed.
I vote for what they do.
Yeah, Trump's a character.
Harris is over her head.
I wish you people would realize it.
The Arab community in some of these third worlds, it's a man's power.
It's yes, it's friendship.
So, Jim, you mentioned that one of your daughters disagrees with you politically, but that you're still able to maintain your relationship.
What are some of the things that you do as a family to make sure that you're able to still maintain that relationship?
Well, when I, and you're not going to believe this, I was in a Chicago hospital, and I actually died 14 minutes, according to the doctors.
And my family went there, and the doctors called them back and said, Look, you got to come back because he's dying.
So my family is unified because of the love we have for each other.
We're there for holidays.
Do we talk about politics?
No.
We're a family that is unity that will never split up.
Now, ironically, my best man for my wedding, since I voted for Trump the first time, he doesn't talk to me anymore.
We're done.
He hates me, in fact.
His wife hates me.
She's a staunch Democrat from Illinois.
So, you know, what can I do?
I tried to make amends, and it just didn't, I just, the glue wasn't there.
This guy was my best man.
My two best friends changed when I went for Trump.
And I told him, look, it's about unity for the country.
And that's what we're lacking.
We just had a big fight in my area yesterday over somebody that was a Trump supporter.
It got all like a hand fist deal, like the Wild West.
Jim, that sounds so hard to lose your friends like that.
Do you think there's any chance after the election of maybe salvaging some of those relationships?
This happened on the first time.
Yes, I tried.
I went to his mother's house.
I even told him.
And I called him, and it was like, well, you know, like I had the plague.
My best college buddy, the same thing.
And my best friend who used to be with me like Alaska was with Jeff.
They just are in their own world.
They don't realize the reality of the situation.
We're headed, if nothing gets put back together into a civil war.
That's how bad it is.
All right.
Let's move on to Mike in Valley Center, California, who's a Harris supporter.
Good morning, Mike.
Hi, thank you for being there.
And how has this election been affecting your relationships?
Well, me and my best friend, we don't talk anymore.
And I plan on mending the fences after the election's over.
But, you know, he's a Trump supporter, and he believes all the conspiracy theories.
Unfortunately, he is racist, and he even didn't like Obama.
But, you know, hopefully after this is over and things settle down, we can get back together.
Do you think that the outcome of the election will determine whether or not you can mend fences?
Like, do you think there will be a difference in whether or not you're able to repair that relationship, depending on whether Trump or Harris wins?
Well, I really think that Trump has a campaign of lies, and I think that he's running to avoid prosecution and to enrich himself and his family.
I think that he is going to, his economic policies are terrible.
They're going to cause our country to balloon the national debt.
And it's going to end Social Security sooner than it would be under Harris.
And because of that, we may not be able to get back together if Trump is elected.
But I have a joke for you guys.
It's clean and everything.
If I can give it to you.
Quickly, yes.
Okay.
McDonald's is making a new burger in honor of Trump's photo op.
They're calling it McFellan.
Next up, we have Crissaw in Houston, Texas, who is undecided.
Good morning, Crissa.
How are you?
Yes, hi.
Good morning.
How are you?
Good, thank you.
You are doing a wonderful job.
You look beautiful today, by the way.
Thank you.
Happy weekend.
I just wanted to say, as far as relationships go, I am a single mom in this economy raising two young daughters.
And I can tell you the divide in the relationships with my friends have really, it's been such a struggle.
And when you're a single mom living in a world that is so scary right now, it's crazy to see all of the infighting.
You know, we'll just be so glad when this is over with.
And I listened to your caller a few calls back.
You know, if he thinks that Trump supporters or Kamala supporters are racist, how are you going to go back and mend those fences?
You know, it's just, you know, you think about relationships.
Nobody's really mentioning a lot about that.
But it is really hurting relationships.
And I will be so glad when it's back over so our children can, you know, even in their young teenage years, it has really affected their relationships at school, you know, because it flows over from the household into the schools.
Are you hearing a lot about that with teenagers?
Not so much, but tell me more about what you're hearing.
Well, they come home and, you know, school, junior high is hard enough as it is.
My daughters are, one just turned 12, one will be 14.
I have one that's actually a very gifted child, which makes life incredibly difficult, believe it or not.
But, you know, they come home and it's been very heavy on their hearts.
You know, their friends' parents talk about who they're supporting.
They know who their dad, which, you know, we're not together, but they know who their dad is supporting, who their family is supporting.
And it's just a lot of back and forth.
And I don't think people realize what this is doing to the Gen Z generation, to the generations of these younger kids that already have so much conflict in their life with school, you know, with bullying, with everything else that's going on.
So I really hope that everybody just really stops and thinks about what they're doing before they quote unquote pull that lever.
And, you know, as far as Julia Roberts, the whole Julia Roberts thing, I mean, what if she'd been married like 20 times?
God love her.
But the whole ad that she is doing, we have enough division in this country.
Let's not do that.
Thank you so much for everything you do.
I really appreciate you.
God bless.
Speaking of ads, the Harris and Trump campaigns released their final ads of the campaign in the recent days with Harris's final campaign ad focusing on unity with the concept of neighbors, not enemies.
Let's play that ad.
Hey, Hannah, come here, Hannah.
Shake my hand.
How you doing?
Good.
And bring everybody back together.
And that's exactly how I feel.
That's how I'm doing, man.
Okay, you have to stay in touch with me, okay?
I'm very serious about this.
Okay.
Throughout this campaign, I've seen the best of America, and I've seen what is holding you back and weighing you down.
High costs, fundamental rights taken away, and politics that have driven fear and division.
You deserve better.
As president, I'll bring a new generation of leadership.
I'll take on price gouging and bring down the cost of groceries and housing and prescriptions.
I'll fight for your freedom to make your own choices, and I will protect your health care and your benefits, not take them away.
The vast majority of people in our country have so much more in common than what separates them.
Good people, hardworking people.
We see in our fellow Americans neighbors, not enemies.
We believe in each other.
We believe in our country.
We're not falling for these folks who are trying to divide us.
Together, we'll build a brighter future for our nation, where we stand for freedom.
We stand for justice.
We stand for the dignity of work.
We haven't yet quite reached all of those ideals, but we will die trying because we love our country.
And then there is the most recent ad from the Trump campaign, which came out yesterday.
Let's have a look at that one.
Four years ago, we took a wrong turn and lost our purpose.
We lost the strength that makes Americans who we are.
If we dared to speak the truth, it was called hate speech.
And our values were labeled shameful.
That's when everything we care about fell apart.
We surrendered our borders, our paychecks, and our courage.
Our patriotism was called toxic.
Men could beat up women and win medals.
But there was no prize for the guy who got up every day to do his job.
Now we're being asked to settle for the way things are.
And we're wondering if America can make a comeback.
We can.
Because we've done it before.
When we get knocked down, we don't stay down.
We get up again.
We fight.
I'm Donald J. Trump, and I approve this message.
Let's get back to your calls on how the election is affecting your personal relationships.
Next up is Roy in Texas, who is a Trump supporter.
Good morning, Roy.
Good morning.
How y'all doing this morning?
Doing well.
Thank you.
Yeah, I just wanted to chime in and say that I do support Trump and Vance.
And the main reason being is because, one, when Kamala Harris was asked point blank what she would do differently than Joe Biden, who gave us a horrible economy, she said nothing comes to mind after she has been saying that she's going to do all this stuff different.
So, again, I just don't think she's fit for the office.
I have a problem with Walls who has stolen valor.
And the hypocrisy of the Democratic Party, I sat there and listened to people talk about how they just hate Donald Trump's tax breaks.
They only helped the rich.
Well, part of the rich people are Democrats.
They benefited from those tax cuts.
Roy, I wonder how many of them affected your personal relationships.
Are the folks in your life mainly Trump supporters or is it a mix?
Most of the people I deal with think the same way I do, though it's not really affecting my relationships.
But I just wanted to be like other people that have called in and give my opinion and just say, again, the hypocrisy of the Democratic Party is pathetic.
They'll take money from people that benefit from Donald Trump's tax cuts and then condemn Donald Trump for the tax cut.
Have a great day.
Okay.
Joe is in Dudley, Massachusetts, and is a Harris supporter.
Good morning, Joe.
Good morning.
First of all, I'd like to state I'm a 60-year-old white male.
I'm a retired New York City police officer.
And a couple of callers back mentioned something about this race, this election being about race.
And I can't agree with him more.
And I just want to give a shout out to all the women that are going to say about democracy, like they always do, especially the black community.
Now, about the race thing, I've seen a lot of research.
I'm wondering if you can talk about how this election has affected your personal relationships.
Oh, well, it's affected it a lot.
I have three brothers that are Trump supporters.
And we grew up in our neighborhood with, you know, with Spanish people, black people, those were our friends.
And all of a sudden, how can you be a Trump supporter and not say that you're not racist?
I just don't understand it.
I mean, everything that he's done over the years has shown that he's a racist.
And I don't support that.
I have a son, and I've taught him that we're all equal.
And I'm fine with being a minority today.
I mean, the white community today, yes, we are the minority, but I'm fine with that.
The United States is built on migrants.
I'm an immigrant.
My grandparents come from Italy.
So they migrated here many years ago.
So all this nonsense.
I just, as far as like my personal thing, it's heartbreaking to see that my brothers are the way they are.
And how's that affected your relationship with them?
Yes, we have no relationship because I refuse to associate myself with anyone that is a racist.
I just don't have time for it.
I'm too old.
I'm too old for the B.S.
You come up they come up with excuses about the economy and everything.
Listen, Trump did nothing for the middle class.
I'm middle class.
If you're a rich person, yes.
I could see you voting for Trump because you're going to benefit.
But if you're middle class or you're poor, the Republicans have nothing to offer you.
I mean, all the benefits are coming from the Democratic Party.
And I'm a little biased with that because I'm middle class.
I'm going to be relying on my Social Security.
So, Joe, I do want to get to a couple more folks before we have to end the segment.
Let's hear from Daryl in East Point, Michigan, who is a Trump supporter.
Good morning, Darryl.
Thank you very much for taking my call.
I want to get right into my relationship with my eldest daughter, who is a nurse, three children, and have been married for three years.
She works over at the University of Michigan Medical Center, of course, which is known as a rural school.
When she found out that I was voting for Trump, she told me how disappointed I was, how disappointed she was that I would make such a decision.
Of course, she didn't take into consideration that I am an independent at the time, and I wanted to vote for Robert Kennedy, but because of the situation with the Democratic Party in our Michigan ballot, which prevents me from checking Robert Kennedy's name, I have to vote for Trump if I want Robert Kennedy to have any influence on my children's health and the future, grandchildren, and et cetera.
So anyways, my daughter just came back from Europe.
She had passport, and we talked about all the places she visited.
And she visited about seven or eight countries in Europe.
She has many staffs.
And I asked her, I said, Tracy, how many staffs you have of China, Communist China?
She said, no, why would I have that?
That's a question I have to ask about vice president candidate warts.
Thank you very much.
Well, Daryl, before I let you go, I wonder how the relationship with your daughter, you said that she's disappointed in you, but if you're able to still maintain that relationship and how you think it's going to go after the election.
Well, I'll tell you this.
You know, we had bumps all during our life, false starts and bumps and things like that, and we managed to work it out.
And I'm sure after the election and after whoever wins, I have no idea, but after the election, we'll find some common ground because our common ground right now is our grandchildren, her children, my grandchildren, or my great-grandchildren have come.
I think that'll surpass all his arguments about politics.
I'm confident of that.
That's good to hear.
Last up, let's hear from Randall in North Dakota, who is a Harris supporter.
Good morning, Randall.
Good morning.
The Constitution declares that the Commander-in-Chief is the most important job the president has.
I've asked C-SPAN three months ago, and this is my second call to C-SPAN about this, to have a morning question show about why you're supporting Donald Trump every time a Republican calls in asking them how you support a man who degrades and demeans and disrespects our.
I understand you want us to do that question, Randall, but for our question today, can you talk a little bit about how?
Oh, I guess not.
Today is like ex-Elon Musk asking about this.
So we're going to go to a couple of text messages to finish up.
Rob in Fairfax, Virginia says, Trump, who identifies as a Trump supporter, says, relationship with family members became troubled in the lead up to the 2020 election.
Colleagues at work are overly partisan.
I have learned to be silent on the subject.
The point I would like to make is that I do not care if you supported Joe Biden and now Kamala Harris, but I do care that I support, the people do care that I support Trump.
It is as if I have revealed some fundamental moral failing.
And then Greg in Cleveland, Ohio says, it's night and day about those most recent political ads.
One is positive, one is negative.
And then Terry in Illinois says, yes, the election causes conflict and stress in my personal relationships.
I avoid talking politics with many of my friends and family.
If Trump wins or loses, Americans will experience chaos for years to come.
Sorry to say this, but that is where we are.
Thanks for your show.
And that's all the time that we have for this segment.
But coming up, we're going to hear from Jacob Rubashkin, who's the deputy editor of Inside Elections.
And he's going to join us to talk about the presidential contest as well as House and Senate races to watch on Tuesday night.
And then later, veteran political reporter Jerry Seeb is going to join us to discuss his piece in the Wall Street Journal, detailing what he says are some bright spots in the doom and gloom of our politics right now.
We'll be right back.
And we're in Lidditz, Pennsylvania, waiting for remarks from former President Donald Trump This is just one of several stops the Republican nominee has scheduled in this, the last weekend before Tuesday's election.
He has rallies scheduled today in Kinston, North Carolina, and Macon, Georgia.
We'll have live coverage of those events for you too, either here on C-SPAN or online at c-span.org.
And we're live in Littes, Pennsylvania, waiting for this rally with Donald Trump to begin.
Tell me.
And it's all I do.
Oh, yeah.
Love I know it's coming, love will know it's going.
No one creates your road to let it go today.
Walking your way when you think the time you laying on the line under rest my head guns knowing that you want mine.