A surprising conversation with 3 South Dakota voters

SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (Dakota News Now) - We are 91 days away from the 2024 presidential election, and with each passing day, the political tensions seem to be increasing between the Harris and Trump campaigns.

While we’re hearing a lot from the candidates, what are the voters thinking and feeling?

Dakota News Now sought out a registered Democrat, Independent and Republican, having never met any of them face-to-face, with no idea where they stood on the issues, and asked each of them about the political climate in the country and what is on their minds as election day approaches.

What is the current state of politics in America?

“Divided. We are divided,” said Bradley Smith.

“Disappointing and scary,” said Chuck Parsons.

“Some things are still working, thankfully, and some things need some attention,” said Bruce Blankley.

We sat down with all three of these registered voters, who were found when Brian Allen put out a call on his Facebook page. They were the first three who responded.

Bradley Smith lives in Sioux Falls and says American politics have become something they shouldn’t have.

“We have a long way to go. We need to learn to co-exist and accept each other for our differences,” said Smith.

Chuck Parsons said that instead of evolving, the American political process has devolved, focusing on topics that seem to involve everything except governing.

“Their race, who they’re married to, maybe things that have gone on in the past — it just gets a little sickening to me,” said Parsons.

Bruce Blankley said he’s tired of name-calling and insults masquerading as thoughtful debate.

“There’s positive things in both parties but not necessarily positive things coming out of the candidates,” said Blankley.

Brian Allen spent roughly 15 minutes with each of these voters, and they essentially told him the exact same thing, had the exact same concerns — which may not be all that surprising, except for the fact that Bradley Smith is a registered Republican, Chuck Parsons is a registered Democrat and Bruce Blankley is a registered Independent who finds himself as an Independent after being both a Democrat and a Republican.

“I lost some faith in the politics of the Democratic party,” said Blankley.

Blankley lost that faith decades ago after his father, late in life, lost his union-protected job. That union had close ties to the Democratic Party.

Blankley became Republican after moving to South Dakota, where he then lost faith after seeing Republicans at work at the Legislature in Pierre.

“They just didn’t seem like they were going to do things for making change and progressing South Dakota and doing things that would benefit a lot of people,” said Blankley.

Chuck Parsons has been a lifelong Democrat.

“When I turned 18, George McGovern was running for president, and I was proud of the fact that he was from South Dakota and represented us,” said Parsons.

Bradley Smith said that he is a Republican because he believes it’s the clearest choice when it comes to solving the real world problems America is facing right now.

“In this current day and age, I think it’s the best chance for us to get to that — to get to the solutions and the common ground,” said Smith.

It’s that idea of common ground that is especially interesting.

Polls say America is now the most politically divided it has ever been.

So why is that happening? All three of these voters have identified what they believe is the problem — political candidates are focusing on personal insults against their opponents because it’s easier and faster to try and make voters feel a certain way than it is to identify problems and think of the solution.

Again, these voters of different backgrounds, different ages, different parties used the exact same word in describing what political leaders and want-to-be leaders really need to focus on.

“You’re not just going to fix that without going across the aisle to work on compromise and solutions,” said Blankley.

“Compromise. That can apply to everyday people in relationships. You have to compromise and find common ground somehow,” said Smith.

And Chuck Parsons said what he believes George McGovern would think of the state of American politics — “I’d hope he’d shake his head and go, ‘People, we just need to rise up above this and become more about governing and compromise when we have to without feeling as though we lost.’”

Three South Dakota voters. Three different political persuasions. All thinking and wanting the same thing.

And of note — during these conversations, none of them felt the need to insult or degrade those who think differently.